When an organization like the Pittsburgh Steelers breaks long-standing precedent to trade for a player and give him one of the largest contracts in team history, it’s a safe bet that they thought about the move from every angle. What isn’t immediately apparent to fans or the media can often be the impetus for a blockbuster move by any organization. For the Steelers and WR DK Metcalf, part of that decision could be because of the lack of pass-catching talent in this year’s draft class.
The consensus has been that the class isn’t great at the receiver position, but it seems that NFL teams might view it even worse than initially thought. Bob McGinn does an annual series where he interviews anonymous scouts each year for Ty Dunne’s Go Long substack, and the scouting community is very down on this year’s receivers.
“A total of 60 wide receivers have been selected among the top 100 picks in the last four NFL drafts, an average of 15. That trend is expected to hit the brakes next month with one team reporting seven wideouts in the top 100 and another projecting the number of starters at eight,” McGinn wrote.
It’s hard to say for sure, but the Steelers’ plan seems to be centered on getting a defensive lineman in the first round of the draft. Had they not traded for Metcalf, they may have been forced to select a receiver, lessening their chances of landing the defensive lineman they truly want. Giving up a second-round pick for Metcalf took away some of the Steelers’ flexibility in the 2025 NFL Draft, but it also addressed one of their top two needs with a degree of certainty.
Metcalf is a known quantity, and there is no guarantee they would have been able to do better than him even if they used their first-round pick on the position.
“It’s possible that we could see a repeat of 2006, the last time only one wideout (Santonio Holmes at No. 25) went in the first [round],” McGinn wrote.
The Steelers were the team that took Holmes in the first round that year. Obviously that turned out great because of the Super Bowl heroics, but his career didn’t exactly pan out to be first-round worthy in the end, and the Steelers only had him for four seasons before they traded him to the New York Jets amid off-field concerns.
“This receiver group is terrible,” one anonymous NFC personnel man said via McGinn. “Absolutely terrible. There’s nothing here. Guys are going to move up a round or two just because it’s a terrible year. A third rounder is going to be taken in the first and a fourth rounder in the second. That’s how weak this group is.”
That sentiment reminds of the d-line group last year. Guys like Maason Smith were graded out by many as a third- or fourth-round talent who needed a lot of work, and he went in the top 50 because there were very few defensive linemen. Unless a player like Tetairoa McMillan falls to No. 21, chances are good that the Steelers would have needed to reach a bit to secure a starting-capable receiver in the first round. By acquiring Metcalf, now they can dip into the much richer talent pool of a position like d-line to ensure they are marrying value with need.
The lack of receivers in this year’s class could also explain the large contract figure for Metcalf. His $33 million APY in new money is pretty high up the list of receivers at the moment, but Ja’Marr Chase just reset the market at over $40 million per season. The market will soon follow that trend. The scarcity of new talent entering the league also helps drive up the price by way of simple supply and demand economics.
Some people still aren’t bought in the Metcalf trade or contract, but I would wager it will be unanimously praised in a year or two from now from a value standpoint.
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