After years of making an oscillations on often mercurial talents in the position of days 2 and 3 of the NFL recovery, Pittsburgh took a big step for a goods known to the post, exchanging the former star of the Seattle Seahawks DK Metcalf. The Steelers will also sign their new Wideout to a $ 150 million contract over five years.
It is a massive commitment to Metcalf, because it will now put it just behind AJ Brown as the highest fourth in football on an annual wage basis.
Back to the “known goods” part of this equation; We are at a time of Metcalf’s career where the player “is who he is”. It is a very, very good departure X receiver in this league, but I would not call a receiver of the Top 12. I say that even as a long -standing admirator of his game dating from his time at Ole Miss, and I thought he was one of the most painfully excessive receiver’s receivers of a road view of the road.
It is easy to constantly recall the physical capacities of Metcalf and to imagine that there is another step to take. We are six years in his career. It is likely that he has reached this very good player level but not quite elite. He is strong against the coverage of man and one of the most underestimated receivers of the press to undo the line, but he does not too often play in his context in disputed situations, and he does not return to the ball in the area to present an always reliable target.
At the start of last season, I thought we could finally attend a local turning point for Metcalf. In weeks 1-5, he finished fourth among the wide receivers in reception with 421, following only Nico Collins, Ja’marr Chase and Justin Jefferson – an elite company. However, he rushed at that moment, as injury and some of his too familiar bad habits led him to blow himself up by Jaxon Smith-Nigba, which was one of the most effective receivers in the leaguelike the target greater than Seattle. Since the 6-18 weeks, Metcalf has ranked 30th among large receivers in the footage, being between names like his new teammate, George Pickens and Quentin Johnston.
He went from the company of the game to fall from the bucket of “volatile x receptors”. Somewhere between this cave is the perfect encapsulation for Metcalf as a player, if we are real.
Pittsburgh was desperate for a presence of wide veterans receptors and he had been around the fringe of commercial discussions for guys like Brandon Aiyuk and Davante Adams in the past. This probably exceeds its services, but this room had to be redone.
My attention now turns to Pickens, which, on the basis of a number of factors, is a candidate to deal with this off -season. There are archetype rides between him and the most recent Wideout Steelers.
Fantastic fallout
I think it is difficult to interpret this decision as a victory for the fantastic prospects of Metcalf.
There is much to determine on the infringement of the Steelers from the point of view of the staff. If Pickens is treated and no other target general public is added, Metcalf has the possibility of having a part of a lion of the target tree. I also like its adjustment with Arthur Smith from the point of view of the deployment of the route. Smith wants his n ° 1 receiver to align with X to run game breaks. Metcalf adapts better to these models than the deployment of linear X receptor that we have seen for him in the Ryan Grubb offensive.
Is it all enough to compensate for important concerns concerning a heavily heavily system with quarter-combined quarters with Metcalf’s limits? It is certainly not enough to completely erase these concerns, but that is part of the reason why I will not completely meet my dashboard.
There are also significant benefits in Seattle. The departure of Metcalf, as well as that of Tyler Lockett, establishes the status of Stone Smith-Might as an undisputed n ° 1 receiver. However, I thought it was a fact set on the basis of last season’s film. I would be amazed if Seattle does not add to a room which is now directed by JSN and Jake Bobo in the first two places. Any kind of “bump” that Smith-Migba obtains following this decision is completely offset by the fact that the Seahawks simply exchanged their quarterrier leaving in Geno Smith and have no clear path to a tangible upgrade of 2025.
