The Steelers have been wheeling and dealing this offseason. They traded away George Pickens and traded for DK Metcalf. They had a pretty big addition at quarterback, too, adding Aaron Rodgers for the upcoming season.
With the departure of Pickens, Metcalf will become the instant number one option for Rodgers this season. That wasn’t the case in Seattle last year for Metcalf, as Jaxon Smith-Njigba emerged as the number one option as he led the team in targets, receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in the regular season.
A change of scenery will be good for Metcalf, who is coming off a mediocre season for his standards. He had a career low in receiving touchdowns last season with five, and his fourth-best yards total in his six NFL seasons, as he finished with 992. These numbers may be disappointing for someone of his caliber, but by no means are they something to be overlooked. Metcalf did miss two games last season, which means if he played the full season, he likely would have surpassed the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the third consecutive season.
Those are all hypotheticals, however, and the reality is that he finished 31st among all receivers in DraftKings fantasy scoring, totaling 202.2 FPTS. His 13.5 FPTS per game was the 32nd best among wideouts.
The good news is that Aaron Rodgers is a gun slinger. Whether he is able to show that as much in this offense remains to be seen, but last season Rodgers attempted 584 passes in 17 games. That averages out to around 34.4 pass attempts per game. Rodgers tends to throw to his best weapons more often than not, as Garrett Wilson finished the season with 1,104 receiving yards while Davante Adams recorded 854 in just 11 games in the Green and White.
This offense should be much more run-oriented in Pittsburgh, but Metcalf should still get his fair share of looks. The Seahawks ranked 6th last season in average passing attempts per game with 34.9, while the Steelers ranked 29th in that category with an average of 29.4. Despite transitioning into a less pass-happy offense, Metcalf will be going from the second receiving option on the Seahawks to the clear-cut bonafide number one target in Pittsburgh.
The 6’4″ receiver is one of the best veteran players to change teams this offseason, and ultimately, I think it will be better for his career. He is still just 27 years old and is back to being the focal point of a team’s passing game.
