2020 NFL Draft: Pittsburgh Steelers top positional needs

Wide Receiver

Ever since letting Antonio Brown leave during the 2019 offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had a serious problem at the wide receiver position. A problem that reared its head early in the 2019 season, with several passes being inexplicably dropped or missed entirely.

The Steelers brought in Donte Moncrief during the offseason and was immediately ineffective at the receiver position. So much so that the team released him halfway through the season, despite giving him $3.5 million guaranteed during the offseason. While with the Steelers, he made just four receptions on 15 passes, good for a grand total of 18 yards.

Coming into the 2019 season, the team was depending on JuJu Smith-Schuster to serve as the team’s primary wide receiver. In 2018, Smith-Schuster had logged in an impressive season statistically. With 1,426 receiving yards, 648 yards after the catch and seven touchdowns in 2018, the Steelers organization most likely felt comfortable letting Brown leave during a team’s offseason dispute, believing they had already secured their new “wide receiver number one”.

Smith-Schuster playing mostly from the slot left him vulnerable to zone coverage, linebackers and safeties. Without a legitimate deep threat on the outside to distract defenders, opposing teams were able to spend more time focusing on him.

Without Brown drawing double teams from opposing defenses, Smith-Schuster failed to recreate the success he had found in 2018. In 2019, Smith-Schuster was still a very solid wide receiver, racking up 552 yards and three touchdowns. But he failed to be the vertical passing threat that Brown had been for the Steelers for so many years.

The second-year wide receiver James Washington showed promise in 2019 but was inconsistent at times during the season. While finishing the season with an impressive 735 yards, he barely made more than half of all the passes thrown to him, bringing in 44 receptions on 80 targets. With just three touchdowns in 2019, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be apprehensive about depending on Washington in 2020.

Considering the team was playing with a back-up quarterback after Week 2, a little leeway can be given to the Steelers receiving unit. They hadn’t trained during the offseason to be fielding passes from the third-string quarterback Devlin Hodges. Their numbers in 2019 certainly deserve an asterisk and shouldn’t be used as a representative of their overall skill.

General manager Colbert is preparing the team for what could be Roethlisberger’s final season in the NFL. Combined with a tougher slate of division rivals in 2020, along with a better AFC in general, the Steelers will have to do better than Smith-Schuster if they hope to make a deep playoff push this season.

Free Agency: With free-agent receivers like A.J. Green and Emmanuel Sanders likely out of their price range, the Steelers organization will need to take a flier on a free-agent wide receiver or two that failed to impress with their previous teams. But with the strength of the receiver position in the 2020 NFL Draft class, there is a good chance that some real gems could be brought on to the roster for a considerable discount.

Breshad Perriman from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be a great fit for the Steelers. While he gave the Baltimore Ravens aneurysms when it came to dropping passes, Perriman was able to change the narrative about himself with the Buccaneers last season.

Perriman is big, fast and a great receiving option when trying to move the chains. He logged in 645 yards last season and got his team an impressive 29 first downs, according to Pro Football Reference. These numbers are slightly inflated, considering Jameis Winston‘s propensity to throw vertical passes. It might be difficult for him re-create this success in Pittsburgh, but having a proven deep threat receiver lining up opposite of Smith-Schuster would be incredibly helpful for the Steelers offense.

Over The Cap has Perriman projected to earn $7 million next season, which may be difficult for the Steelers to pay due to the cap. But if Colbert can convince the 26-year-old there is a future for him in Pittsburgh, the Steelers may be able to defer a large portion of his cap hit till after the new CBA is finalized.

2020 NFL Draft: This year’s draft class is chock full of quality wide receivers. Considering the Steelers history of scouting quality late-round wide receivers, I expect the team will wait till Day 3 to draft this position. However, considering many of the other 31 NFL teams will likely be doing the same thing, the Steelers may want to find one they like early and get them in either the second or third round.

LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson could give the team a nice complementary receiver to Smith-Schuster. The 6-foot-3, agile route-runner would make an excellent replacement for the Brown-shaped hole on the Steelers roster.

Having played under Joe Brady’s NFL-Esque offense last season in college, he should be well prepared for the demands of an NFL offense in 2020. Jefferson may be the best receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft to be selected outside of the first round.

The biggest wrinkle here is that the Steelers would almost certainly need to use their second-round pick during the 2020 NFL Draft to secure Jefferson. Considering their lack of early-round picks this year, Colbert may be apprehensive to use the second-rounder on Jefferson.

There are other issues as well. Jefferson thrives in the slot position, a spot definitely dominated by Smith-Schuster on the Steelers roster. The team could move Smith-Schuster to the outside receiver position. Despite playing well at the slot position, he actually thrived on go-routes in the NFL. But convincing him to switch positions, on a contract year, could be a big problem.

If 2018 and 2019 proved anything about the Steelers, it is that the team needs serious help on the offensive side of the ball. The 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers defense was actually very good and they have a solid core of players on the defense that should be with the team for several seasons. They need to prioritize the receiver position early in the 2020 NFL Draft if they want to get the most out of Roethlisberger’s twilight years in the NFL.