DK Metcalf
DK Metcalf
The Pittsburgh Steelers had high expectations for DK Metcalf’s first season in 2025. For a variety of reasons, those weren’t entirely met. Now paired with some extra talent at receiver and in his second year with Aaron Rodgers, Metcalf felt primed to take off.
It’s only been one week, but that hasn’t exactly been the case so far. Metcalf had a couple of catches against Atlanta on Sunday but also a few crucial drops and penalties called on him. He was out of sorts, and former Steeler Chris Hoke is expecting some improvement.
“There’s 30 million reasons why he needs to step up and make those catches. And he can’t be making OPI, pushing off DBs, things he knows he shouldn’t do,” Hoke said Sunday on the KDKA Nightly Sports Call. “The reality is that DK Metcalf has got to improve. To me, it’s the overall play. It’s not just the dropped balls, it’s also getting your feet down on the sideline. It’s not having OPIs that kill your drives. Those kind of things you cannot see from your number one receiver, a guy that you’ve got to depend on quite a bit.”
Metcalf did do some nice things on Sunday and finished the game with four catches for 40 yards. Metcalf made a crucial catch along the sideline that extended a drive in which the Steelers were able to run a lot of time off the clock late in the fourth quarter.
But in totality, DK Metcalf was far from perfect. While he caught four passes they came on 10 targets – far more than anyone else received. And something that Hoke, as well as others are frustrated with, are mistakes such as Metcalf twice getting flagged for pass interference. Neither were especially blatant push-offs, but Metcalf did extend his arms, and each penalty set the Steelers back.
Drops became something of an issue for him late in 2025, and they popped up again on Sunday. His most notable one came on this beautiful Rodgers pass between defenders.
Got to have THIS, DK! #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/QoYfcQiFrN
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) September 13, 2026
To be fair, Metcalf made a couple of nice plays. And Rodgers clearly isn’t losing any trust in him, saying after the game about his desire to keep feeding Metcalf the ball. But the Steelers will hope their highly paid receiver can show a little more consistency going forward. Hoke certainly does.