DK Metcalf Clearly Faces Most Pressure After Steelers Trade Deadline

My thing with the Pittsburgh Steelers is that if the idea was to run this team back with Aaron Rodgers and try to compete for a Super Bowl, how do you not go after a wide receiver at this year's trade deadline? 

I'm unsure what the Steelers were thinking from top to bottom in the organization, and whether they want to save some of those assets to try to find a quarterback of the future, but the reality is that the Steelers had an opportunity to improve their roster on both sides of the football and didn't decide to do so. 

In terms of trading for a wide receiver, there were multiple out there for them to land, and again, they decided to go in a different direction, for whatever reason.

As the Steelers get prepared for the second half of the season, the schedule isn't going to be very easy. 

There are some very difficult games on this schedule, taking on multiple division opponents and other tough teams. Simply put, the Steelers are going to have to play very good football if they want to win the AFC North.

But now that the trade deadline is finished and the Steelers can't really improve their wide receiver corps any longer, there are going to be a couple of guys in the current wide receiver room who have different lights put on them. 

That includes DK Metcalf, the big wide receiver who many considered one of the best in the NFL just a couple of years ago. Metcalf hasn't been bad in Pittsburgh, so to say, but his 2026 season has been one to forget.

That's exactly why one longtime Steelers analyst believes that Metcalf has to get back to the player that everybody knows he can be and show that he can be a true WR1 for a contending team.

"He's very much underperforming right now,” Mike DeFabo said, H/T Steelers Depot. "They need DK Metcalf to stand up and prove that he is a No. 1 wide receiver in the NFL, and right now he is falling so far short of that that it's significantly hamstringing this offense…

"They've tried some things-that's what concerns me. They've tried to throw him screens and just get the ball in his hands, allow him to create something after the catch. That hasn't allowed him to get going. I wonder if they could maybe hit him on a couple slants, try to get some yards after catch in that situation. Maybe move him around, move him into the slot a little bit more to create some advantageous matchups for him.”

It's almost tough to evaluate the season that Metcalf has had, considering over the past two weeks, he has just three catches for 60 yards. That includes one catch on six targets in the Steelers' win against the Cleveland Browns, and two receptions on six targets against the New Orleans Saints overseas.

For whatever reason, Metcalf's averaging just 11.5 yards per catch, the fewest of his career.

He's also on pace to have the fewest yards of his career by far, with 378 at the moment. It's tough to say that we should trust him, but Metcalf has also proven in Pittsburgh that he can be an above-average option, finishing with 850 yards and six touchdowns a year ago on 59 receptions.