Steelers Likely To Revisit A Former Pro Bowler Who Scared Pittsburgh Off With Injuries In 2024: "He Was Looking Good"

The fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers must find at least one solid wide receiver this offseason isn't a secret. The whole league knows they are bordering on desperation after a 2024 season without a true partner for George Pickens. The situation feels especially dire since there are no sure things, as was seen when they tried and failed to acquire anyone for the 2024 season. 

Since the inner workings of those deals aren't entirely made public in the initial stages of talks, no one is quite sure exactly what the offer is for a specific player; there's just speculation. However, the reports that went around over the past year include Pittsburgh in discussions with teams for multiple receivers, including Brandon Aiyuk, Davante Adams, Chris Godwin, and Christian Kirk. The deal for Kirk was supposedly nearly finalized when he suffered a devastating collarbone break that ended his season and stopped the trade.  

Opposing defenses realized quickly that if they shut Pickens down, the offense would collapse. Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin insisted that they were happy with and confident in their depth players, but that didn't seem to be the case. They brought Mike Williams in before the trade deadline and barely used him. In the nine games he played in black and gold, he only had 13 targets. This came despite him having a monster 32-yard catch for a touchdown in his first game with the Steelers against Washington in Week 10.

Now, the carousel of names is going around again, and some of them are the same as last season -- some are also new. One of the names that have popped back up is Adam Thielen, who is currently with the Carolina Panthers. Mark Kaboly, from The Pat McAfee Show, said that Thielen is a strong, viable option. On his podcast, Kaboly and Mack, he told his co-host Chris Mack that the Steelers might look into him again. 

"Adam Thielen's another one," said Kaboly. "They really looked into him at the trade deadline last year, but they were kind of scared away from that hamstring injury. Then he turned out to have a pretty good month and a half end of the season with Carolina. He was looking good the last four or five games of the year though."

Mack agreed and said that despite being 35, Thielen was a big part of why Carolina was able to have a somewhat strong finish to their season. They ended the season 5-12, which isn't a hallmark of a good season, but Mack still isn't wrong. When Thielen returned late in November, the Panthers were not getting blown out like earlier in the season. An undrafted rookie in 2013, Thielen had a remarkable run with the Minnesota Vikings that included two Pro Bowls.  

He ended the season playing in 10 games with 48 catches from 62 targets for 615 yards and five touchdowns. Remarkably enough, he led the team's receivers in targets, receiving yards, and touchdowns among all of their receivers. Former Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson was brought in as a backup to Thielen, but they quickly learned what Pittsburgh already knew and traded him. 

Steelers Have Limited Options

Kaboly and Mack noted that the pool of available veteran receivers isn't very deep or talented. They said that the news that the Cincinnati Bengals are likely to franchise-tag Tee Higgins eliminates the hope of getting someone elite like him. Mack pointed out that the remaining receivers are either "injury-prone or old or both." 

They are both less than impressed with most candidates, like Godwin, who they said shoots to the top of the list merely because he is 29 and not nearing his mid-30s like Thielen. Most analysts expect the Steelers to take a multi-prong approach to the receiver issue, picking up at least one veteran in free agency and trying to draft a player as well. However, after selecting Roman Wilson in 2024, they know there are no guarantees. 

What do you think about working out a deal for Thielen? Share your thoughts with us below!    

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