For the first time since free agency, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy spoke to the media and had plenty to say about prized addition Michael Pittman Jr.
“Michael [Pittman Jr.], frankly, I loved him coming out of the draft. He was someone we had graded very highly in Dallas. If you remember, CeeDee [Lamb] fell to us,” McCarthy said on The Pat McAfee Show Monday afternoon. “Watching his career, and just the way that whole deal came available, you gotta give Omar a ton of credit. He was watching that situation and then it timed up great. He’s perfect. He’s the way I love to play, he’s a bigger target, can play all three spots, can play the X, Z, and F, moving him around. And that’s just the way we like to play football. We like to play concept football and keep moving our guys around and try to create matchups.”
The 2020 WR class was rich with talent, but McCarthy seemed to imply Pittman was on their radar at No. 17 when they selected CeeDee Lamb. Pittman ended up going 17 picks later at the top of the second round.
Khan saw the expensive extension for Colts WR Alec Pierce coming and knew what that could mean for somebody like Pittman. McCarthy confirmed that Khan saw this scenario from a mile away. And after multiple years of failing to get the WR position right in the offseason, this was a relatively inexpensive fix with a proven player.
There was a large talent gap after DK Metcalf on the Steelers’ roster last year, and they felt that with what they were able to do in the passing game. They had to scheme up a lot of opportunities behind the line of scrimmage for Metcalf to catch short and run long. Even that strategy showed diminishing returns as teams worked to take him out of the game.
Now the Steelers will at least have a viable WR2 across from Metcalf to make it more difficult to scheme him out of the game. Pittman had fewer yards than Metcalf in 2025, but he had 21 more receptions and 10 more first downs.
Pittsburgh also has Roman Wilson, a pair of weapons at tight end, and 12 draft picks to continue to add to the receiving corps. Many project the Steelers to add a receiver over the first two days, if not with their top pick in the first round.
Pittman played roughly 30 percent of his snaps from the slot last season compared to Metcalf’s 14 percent. Expect that number to increase as they move their weapons around interchangeably to stress opposing defenses.
If that vision comes to life, the Steelers won’t just be deeper at receiver — they’ll be far less predictable.
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