The Pittsburgh Steelers are clearly taking a wait-and-see approach to their wide receiver room — and it’s making fans uncomfortable.
Beyond George Pickens, who is working on his identity in Pittsburgh’s new offense under Arthur Smith, are a handful of No. 3 receivers.
In a sideline interview on Monday, Missi Matthews of Steelers.com asked Smith whether the Steelers need a “quote-unquote No. 2 receiver.”
“Every year it changes,” Smith said. “If you’re talking historical, if you’re just playing static and not moving and you were spread out and you had wide receiver one, wide receiver two, wide receiver three… Things change year-to-year. You see it every year in this league — guys that may be fifth-round picks end up being the Rookie of the Year. Guys can get another opportunity, they step up. It’s constantly changing, and then, unfortunately, guys get injured.”
Smith continued dancing around Matthews’ question.
“You have to have depth, so you’re working all those contingency plans all up and down the offense… you got to have guys that have some position flexibility. So, there’s all these contingency plans as we’re building this offense, as we’re working in terms of the OTA and minicamp portion.”
Pittsburgh’s issue isn’t depth. It starts at the top. It’s been said repeatedly this offseason: Pickens will not respond well when all attention is on him because he lacks a bonafide playmaking wide receiver.