Much like last offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been linked to nearly every available or potentially available name on the wide receiver market ever since they traded George Pickens in early May. The Steelers insist they are happy with their current group, but fans are suffering flashbacks of similar statements last season that did not come to fruition on the football field.
Guys like Chris Olave, Gabe Davis and Keenan Allen have been the most talked about names in Steelers media, but The Pat McAfee Show’s Steelers beat reporter Mark Kaboly thinks the team has moved past those options.
“I am at the point now that if it isn’t going to be Amari Cooper that they are just going to roll with what they have, and hope [Calvin] Austin [III] becomes a Dawg,” Kaboly wrote in his mailbag on X. “I do believe Olave, Keenan Allen, and Gabe Davis are long gone from their radar.”
Steelers Mailbag: Rodgers winning already, the next extension and ranking top 5 of 2025
Mark Kaboly / Steelers Correspondent
For The @PatMcAfeeShow
PITTSBURGH — There is no doubt that a large number of people who tuned into the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday knowing that they were… pic.twitter.com/gUnOPPU8nt
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) June 25, 2025
The Steelers hosted Gabe Davis for a visit, but very little has been said about him since then. His knee issues from last season might be a bigger deal than initially thought, though it’s possible they could circle back later. Allen was an interesting option, but he told the world during a Twitch stream that he didn’t have interest in coming to Pittsburgh. Olave was always a long shot as the Saints’ best receiver on a team that just drafted a quarterback in the second round.
Could Amari Cooper make sense as Kaboly indicated? The free agent last played for the Buffalo Bills after the Cleveland Browns traded him last season. He appeared in 14 games and had 44 receptions for 547 yards and four touchdowns.
His 2024 season was easily the worst of his 10-year career and he’s approaching the end of his playing days at 31 years old. But it might make sense for the Steelers to bet on 2024 being an anomaly rather than the beginning of the end for him. He had two-straight seasons of 1,000 or more receiving yards in 2022 and 2023 and four of his last five seasons have eclipsed that mark.
If they did add Cooper, he would likely have the inside track to be the starting outside WR opposite DK Metcalf to form a formidable tandem. He has Kansas City Chiefs reclamation project written all over him if you ask me, but he does remain an interesting option if the Steelers don’t like what they see in training camp from Robert Woods, Calvin Austin III, and Roman Wilson.
A less exciting, but perhaps more logical option would be WR Allen Lazard given his history with Rodgers on multiple teams.
“Did you watch the McAfee interview? Does that sound like a person who would go to Mike Tomlin and make demands?” Kaboly wrote. “And if that was the case, Lazard would be here already.”
Lazard previously stated his desire to start building a legacy apart from Rodgers. And the Steelers would need to make a trade to reunite the two in Pittsburgh. And would Lazard really be an upgrade over some of the guys they already have?
Maybe the team really is satisfied with its current group. Austin started to break out last season and Wilson will finally see the field after losing almost his entire rookie season to injuries. Rodgers said there are guys most people “don’t know about” whom he expects big things from this season, for what it’s worth.
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