Steelers Still Interested in Making Trade for WR

Since the start of the offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers overhauled a majority of their roster with the wide receiver position getting one of the biggest makeovers. After the trade of Diontae Johnson, the only contributors from last season that will return are George Pickens and Calvin Austin III. With that development, the Steelers reportedly have tested the waters on a trade for a top-notch receiver to pair with Pickens.

While the team signed wide receivers such as Quez Watkins and Van Jefferson in free agency, neither of those guys can fill the void left by the departure of Johnson. Thus, the Steelers will likely make a trade or draft a receiver with an early pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

With the Steelers either hosting or have hosted six wide receiver prospects on pre-draft visits, the buzz around the Steelers trading for a receiver has died off a bit but according to one NFL insider, the team is still trying their hand at landing one via trade.

“For me, there’s a piece of information we don’t have yet, which is do they trade for a wide receiver before the draft,” NFL Insider Jason La Canfora said on the In The Huddle podcast. “It would not surprise me if they did that tomorrow, if they did it the Wednesday before the draft. If they did it while they were on the clock, if they did it in the run up to the draft that Thursday, I know that they’re really trying to make something happen there.”

In the last couple of weeks, reports have linked the Steelers to trade-candidate wide receivers such as Brandon Aiyuk and free-agent receivers such as Mike Williams and Calvin Ridley. With Williams and Ridley having signed elsewhere, the Steelers can still sign a stop-gap veteran but will likely wait until after the draft to see what wide receiver prospect they walk away with.

“They’ve done an incredible job drafting wide receivers,” La Canfora said. “So, if they don’t get a veteran plug-and-play guy, then yeah [they will draft one.]”

While the 49ers’ general manager John Lynch shut down the idea of trading away Aiyuk, the cost of a wide receiver via trade may cost less now than it initially did. Last week, the Texans traded a 2025 second-round draft pick for Stefon Diggs, a fifth and a sixth round draft pick.

Regardless if the Steelers trade for one or draft one, the team will be adding at least one more wide receiver between now and the start of camp. The tier of that player is unknown but the Steelers’ interest in adding an upper-echelon level player is very known at this point.