The Pittsburgh Steelers have swung and missed on a couple of blockbuster trades for wide receivers over the past several weeks, though it was an untimely injury that appears to have kept them from landing a second-tier star at the position ahead of the NFL’s November 5 trade deadline.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Pittsburgh was in on Jacksonville Jaguars wideout Christian Kirk before he suffered a season-ending collarbone injury against the Green Bay Packers in Week 8.
“The Steelers were in the process of trying to get a deal done for Christian Kirk, and league sources told ESPN there was a reasonable chance that the Jaguars wide receiver was going to wind up in Pittsburgh until he broke his collarbone last Sunday,” Schefter reported via an X post on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The Steelers were in the process of trying to get a deal done for Christian Kirk, and league sources told ESPN there was a reasonable chance that the Jaguars wide receiver was going to wind up in Pittsburgh until he broke his collarbone last Sunday.https://t.co/8YDTPmxThd
Kirk is playing on a $72 million contract that runs through the 2025 campaign and had put up 379 receiving yards and 1 TD on 27 catches for the underperforming Jaguars through seven-plus games prior to his injury.
Pittsburgh was reportedly interested in both Brandon Aiyuk before he re-upped with the San Francisco 49ers this summer, as well as Davante Adams before the Las Vegas Raiders shipped him to the New York Jets in October.
The Steelers were not eligible to deal for Diontae Johnson, formerly of the Carolina Panthers and now a member of the Baltimore Ravens, because they had dealt Johnson to Carolina too recently to qualify for a trade.
Wideout George Pickens has come on some in Pittsburgh since the team switched QBs, moving from Justin Fields to Russell Wison. Still, the Steelers clearly believe their offense could benefit — and perhaps even elevate to a new level — by pairing Pickens with another top-end pass catcher.
That said, the options are growing thin as the league’s trade deadline grows perilously near. But the Steelers, nevertheless, remain a team — and maybe even the team — to watch in the receiver market over the next few days.
