He may have taken his time, but Omar Khan made the Steelers first major move of the 2025 free agent season, and he did so with a bang. The Pittsburgh Steelers have reached an agreement with the Seattle Seahawks to trade their 2025 second-round pick in exchange for wide receiver D.K. Metcalf.
D.K. Metcalf burns Terrell Edmunds for a touchdown. Photo Credit: Yahoo.com
The Steelers have been linked to via trade for Metcalf for close to a year, and now those rumors have come to fruition. With the trade comes a new contract for Metcalf, as the Steelers have tacked on 4 years to his existing 5-year deal, that will pay the wide receiver 150 million over the next five seasons.
- The Steelers we expected to add a veteran wide receiver room this spring.
Omar Khan said as much at the 2025 NFL scouting combine when confirming that the Steelers wanted a quarterback under contract for the start of free agency as that would impact what wide receiver they signed.
The Steelers of course do not have a quarterback under contract, begging the question, “Just who is going to throw Metcalf the ball?”
The Steelers had hoped to sign either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson last week. Its been indicated that the Steelers did make an offer to Fields, but that Fields declined to accept, instead wanting to test the free agency waters. The conventional wisdom has been that the Steelers been unable to sign Fields, they’d rever to Wilson, who actively wishes to return.
However, multiple reports suggest that the Steelers plan to make an offer to free agent Sam Darnold, most recently of the Minnesota Vikings. The Steelers can begin formally negotiating with Darnold today, Monday March 10th, at noon.
Impact on Pickens?
Time and time again it was shown throughout the 2024 season that the wide receivers were the Steelers weakest link. George Pickens proved he was a legitimate NFL number 1 receiver, but the Steelers had nothing behind him save for Calvin Austin.
- But Pickens has maturity issues.
These maturity issues have been evident since his rookie year, but have not been improving. That’s led some to suggest that the Steelers should be looking to off load Pickens this spring. Don’t expect that to happen in the wake of the D.K. Metcalf trade.
Yes, Kevin Colbert managed to get a third and 5th round pick for Antonio Brown and a third for Martavis Bryant. Omar Khan got a 2nd round pick for Chase Claypool and got Donte Jackson for Diontae Johnson.
But don’t expect the Steelers to reap a similar bonanza for George Pickens in the wake of the Metcalf trade. From the Steelers perspective, they still have a very thin depth chart at wide receiver.
And Pickens’ reputation precedes him in the NFL, making it highly likely the Steelers could get anything other than a day 3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
