Steelers May Have Problem Brewing With Star Wide Receiver DK Metcalf

The Pittsburgh Steelers made an aggressive move in the 2025 offseason to trade with the Seattle Seahawks for star wide receiver DK Metcalf. The veteran is a physical specimen who leads the team in receiving, but he is not performing at a Pro Bowl level through 10 weeks. He may not even have an 1,000-yard campaign when it's all said and done, which is certainly not up to his standard. The offense is still lacking a true second option in the receiving corps as well, something that was very evident in the Sunday Night Football loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Aaron Rodgers is widely-recognized as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. One of his best traits is having the ability to find the open man, even though that exact characteristic wasn't on display versus the Chargers. Historically, he gets several pass-catchers involved in each contest, and that appears to potentially being taking a little bit of a toll on Metcalf.

On Tuesday morning, The Fan Morning Show, hosted by Adam Crowley, welcomed insider Mark Kaboly on to discuss the Steelers. The veteran reporter had a lot to say about the state of the organization. When talking about Metcalf, it was clear that the reporter believes that the wide receiver may slowly becoming more frustrated as each game passes, mainly because of the lack of targets.

"He might be getting a little bit frustrated because the ball's not coming his way," Kaboly noted. "He's not seeing as much, at least a little bit of single coverage and, Aaron Rodgers, I don't know to his detriment, or positively with him, is he throws to the open guy. If you're going to get double-covered, [Metcalf's] probably not going to be open very much."

The finger must be pointed at the Steelers' front office in this situation. While Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson may be respectable players, neither has lived up to the expectation of being a legitimate weapon. Fans must think back to how strong a duo of Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster was in 2017 and 2018; that is the kind of pairing that the Steelers need to be more successful on the offensive side of the ball.

It's going to be important down the stretch to get the ball to Metcalf more. For that to occur, other pass-catchers are going to need to pose more of a threat. Defenses have no reason to not double-team Metcalf because the other eligible receivers are not doing enough to scare anybody. The offense as a whole will be much more dynamic if Metcalf can get the ball in his hands more often, as fans experienced against the Minnesota Vikings.

The offense for Pittsburgh seems to still be a work in progress, and that is quite concerning because Thanksgiving is right around the corner. If there was any time to take big strides forward, it will be in Week 11 versus the Cincinnati Bengals. A great starting point will be getting Metcalf the ball more often, or he could start to display negative emotion, which is something the Steelers wanted to get away from after trading George Pickens.

Steelers Didn't Pay Metcalf For Him To Not Dominate

Over $30 million per year is not chump change. Pittsburgh had a clear vision for Metcalf after the sign-and-trade that occurred just prior to the new league year beginning. He has had some good moments, but he is being paid to operate as one of the best wide receivers in all of football. It's clearly time to find a way to feed him more consistently.

Do you think that the Steelers need to get Metcalf the ball more often? Let us know in the comments below!

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