Saunders: Botched Aiyuk Pursuit Latest in Series of Steelers WR Misses This Offseason

The Pittsburgh Steelers missed out on Brandon Aiyuk, with the San Francisco 49ers All-Pro deciding to sign an offer with his existing team that was largely similar to the one the Steelers had offered him after months of back-and-forth between the three sides.

Landing Aiyuk was always going to be unlikely for the Steelers. The 49ers are trying to win a Super Bowl this year, and are fairly well positioned to do so. They need Aiyuk to make that push, and the Steelers did not have anything other than draft picks to offer in exchange — assets with technical value, but of little utility to a team chasing a Lombardi Trophy.

Simply put, a trade sending Aiyuk to the Steelers was going to be a bad deal for San Francisco general manager John Lynch, and he did everything in his power to keep from doing it.

The Steelers aiming at the top of the wide receiver board and missing is nothing to be ashamed about. It was always going to be a long shot. The problem with what Omar Khan and company did this summer at the wide receiver position was that they didn’t give themselves a Plan B.

49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk celebrates after a touchdown, Sept. 11, 2023 – Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

It’s late on Aug. 29 as the Aiyuk news broke. There are no other wide receivers that are currently available that move the needle. Maybe there will be some at the trade deadline. That’s the Steelers’ current best-case scenario, and it’s not a particularly hopeful one. NFL trades have been trending upward, but there are usually only a handful made in-season. That’s a low percentage play, as well.

But there were plenty of high-percentage plays that could have been made between the time the Steelers decided to trade Diontae Johnson this spring and their rejection letter from the 49ers on Thursday night.

There were 21 receivers signed as free agents to a new club, or traded this offseason that had more receiving yards in 2023 than the Steelers’ current No. 2 WR, Van Jefferson.

Some of them were expensive. Calvin Ridley cost the Tennessee Titans $92 million over four years. Some of then were cheap. Noah Brown is on the Washington Commanders’ practice squad right now. There were slot receivers like Keenan Allen, home-run hitters like Gabe Davis, big bodies like DJ Chark and speedsters like Curtis Samuel.

The only common thread on this list is that they’re not in Pittsburgh and they’re better than the receivers who are.

The Steelers have plenty of draft picks to trade. They have plenty of salary cap space. They could have afforded any two of the players on this list for the price that was paid. How different would the Steelers outlook be with Curtis Samuel and Stefon Diggs alongside George Pickens? How about with Tyler Boyd and Gabe Davis. Keenan Allen and Jahan Dotson?

Even the most expensive of these players didn’t cost as much as the Steelers were willing to pay Aiyuk, and even the most expensive to acquire in trades didn’t cost as much as the Steelers were willing to trade for Aiyuk. Yes, Aiyuk is a better player, but there has to be a point where a team makes the decision that shooting for that low-percentage home run isn’t worth it, and a common-sense move to bolster the lineup takes priority. The fact that the Steelers and Khan never got there this offseason is frankly baffling.

Pittsburgh Steelers WR Diontae Johnson against the New England Patriots, Dec. 7, 2023 – Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

Their trade of Johnson looked bad at the time in terms of the value received in return. Johnson was not desired in Pittsburgh because of his personality, but the player had value around the league. Only a handful of the players on this list had more yards than his 717 last season. The Carolina Panthers were gong to cut Donte Jackson if they couldn’t find a trade partner.

The Steelers did need a cornerback, so the return could have been forgiven, if they found another way to bolster their wide receivers room over the rest of the offseason. Using a third-round pick on Roman Wilson fell far short of replacing Johnson’s abilities and productivity, and there just weren’t enough moves elsewhere made to make what the Steelers did make sense.

The Johnson trade looked bad on paper, and the resultant gap on the depth chart at the end of the offseason looks even worse. What were they thinking? Was there a plan there that went awry? There was much reported confidence in the ability to land Aiyuk. Maybe they truly believed it. If so, they were played the fool.

Khan has done a very nice job in his two seasons as a general manager, but the handling of the wide receiver position this offseason has been nothing short of a disaster, and with the other components of the passing offense suspect in a very young and banged up offensive line and an aging and less mobile than he used to be quarterback in Russell Wilson, the shortcomings are likely to be laid bare over and over again over the course of the season.