Over the last calendar year, seemingly every pass catcher with a pulse has been linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers in some form or fashion. When you look at their depth chart, it’s fairly obvious why that is the case. The latest big name target officially on the trade market is Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf, who recently requested a trade as he enters the last year of his contract.
Over the past decade, NFL teams started to view wide receiver as a premium position, meaning good wideouts in their prime rarely hit free agency, because teams want some form of compensation in return. There are a plethora of organizations looking for a perimeter threat, but it begs the question: should the Steelers be in the mix for the 27-year old?
From the second he stepped foot in the league, Metcalf has been a productive pro, having amassing at least 900 receiving yards in all six seasons. At 6-foot-3, near 230 pounds with legit 4.3 speed, there simply aren’t very many physical specimens walking around the planet like him.
Those physical traits are a big reason why he’s become one of the most-feared deep threats in the sport. In 2024, his 16 receptions of over 20+ air yards led the entire NFL. Because of how modern defenses are putting a premium on capping explosive plays, having a player like this that can create splash in the blink of an eye is obviously very valuable.
For starters, Metcalf obliterates press coverage, which is the most important skill set for an X receiver at this level. Metcalf explodes off the line of scrimmage and if the corner doesn’t get hands on him immediately, he’s often able to stack them to put them in a trail position. There is a rare combination of acceleration and top-end speed still present in his game, in part because he has incredibly long strides that cover a lot of ground in an instant.
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Metcalf is a natural when it comes to tracking the football, effortlessly hauling in fades on passes that are lofted over his shoulder and shows pretty good sideline awareness as well. He’ll flash late hands down the sideline. Like all true WR1s, he possesses true coverage tilting ability. Because they’re at an athleticism disadvantage, defenders have to play with so much urgency, which allows Metcalf to be a dangerous player on double moves.
Defenses are terrified of single covering him and will often shade their free safety in his direction for this reason. He also changes the math for the offense. Per Field Vision, Seattle has seen split field coverages on 47.8% of their snaps which was the 4th-highest mark in the NFL last season, which makes their underwhelming run game even more disappointing when you factor in the light box counts.
Aside from go routes, Metcalf’s next-best asset is his ability to cross the face of defenders on slants and other in-breakers. When he’s hit in rhythm, he’s a threat to take it the distance after the catch. The rest of his game is predicated solely around his verticality. Much was made about his poor three-cone drill years ago during the NFL Combine but when facing off coverage, his ability to burst off the ball causes panic, as you’ll often see corners flip their hips to make sure they stay on top.
Even though Metcalf is a taller guy that has some difficulty gearing down, he’s still able to win in the intermediate area on curls/hinges/comebacks depending on leverage. Because of his size and strength, he’s not an easy dude to get on the ground, so when cornerbacks want to give him a lot of cushion pre-snap, it’s smart to swing it to him at the snap and let him go to work.
Metcalf is a tough player, who will attempt to make catches away from his frame over the middle and can hang on to the ball through contact shots from safeties, but is also surprisingly adept at scooping low thrown passes off the turf for his height. Because of his experience working with play extenders like Russell Wilson, he has a nice feel for how to work the scramble drill.
What makes Metcalf such a polarizing receiver in all circles, including the Seahawks’ fanbase, is that despite being a very good weapon, he’s also an incredibly frustrating player. One of the most misunderstood parts of his evaluation is this assumption that he’s a physically dominant player at the catch point, but that hasn’t actually been true since his breakout 2021 campaign. On 71 contested catch chances over the past two years, he’s hauled in just 24 (32.8%) according to PFF.
Those “50/50” balls that you’d expect your best players, especially one that is built like a Greek god, to come down with, he just hasn’t been able to do that with any sort of consistency. The Ole Miss product just doesn’t regularly overpower smaller guys with his size or time his jumps well enough to where he can take advantage of his incredibly leaping ability.
Another peculiar element is that he’s not detail-oriented in his route running. With a player of his build, you’d expect some change of direction limitations, but those are able to be worked around because he does still create separation. The maddening portion of his film is that he’s a habitual drifter at the top of the route, allowing corners to undercut the throw instead of having to work through his huge frame for the pass breakup. There are multiple interceptions over the past couple of years that he played a huge role in for that reason or just quitting on the route all together assuming he wasn’t getting the rock.
Metcalf is also one of the most penalized players at his position, being flagged at least seven times in four straight seasons. He’s certainly not a stranger to post-whistle flare ups. As an offensive coordinator, you have to be very conscious about keeping him engaged, but with that being said, you admire his competitiveness and it’s clear that he wants to win.
Metcalf comes equipped with elite physical traits and is inarguably one of the very best vertical threats in the entire NFL, but unfortunately despite that, he’s never been able to leap into the tier-one or even tier-two category of NFL wide receivers. Some will argue that is because he isn’t as well rounded as Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase or A.J. Brown, which is true. But there’s no doubt that the gap between him and those guys would shrink to a non-substantial margin if he was just more consistent at the catch point and with his route running.
Could he improve in those areas? It’s not out of the question. But as he enters his seventh season in the pros, it’s difficult to tell that story given, all of the proof. There’s a very real chance that Metcalf has plateaued as a good receiver that may never be the undeniable engine of a high volume, high quality passing attack.
The real cloudy part of all of this is how this would work with the Steelers. They’d be less concerned about if there’s enough balls to go around, instead more worried about how both George Pickens and the aforementioned Metcalf are similarly bucketed X receivers that have overlapping skill sets that work best along the boundary.
It’s not necessarily that having two go-ball monsters on the field at the same is a bad thing, but an efficient passing game is one that can provide layups for the quarterback. Usually teams will want to build their rooms out like a basketball team, meaning each player in the group ideally wins in different ways to different parts of the field.
We don’t know how the team feels about the long-term future of Pickens, given his own set of inconsistencies. With one year left on his rookie contract, there would be plenty of suitors out there that would find his upside tantalizing. But would paying top dollar for a another enigmatic receiver make sense as a replacement? That seems questionable.
There are reports out there that Metcalf is seeking a contract extension in the $30 million average annual value ballpark, which would make him one of the highest paid-players in the league at his position. There’s reports out there that suggest Seattle is looking for significant draft capital in return but a day-two selection is the most they should be realistically expecting.
If the Steelers really value the field stretching ability that much, he’s the ideal target because his skill set in that frame is hardly replicable, especially considering what else is available in free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft. But that would put the pressure on Arthur Smith to really have a good understanding of the few things he’s exceptional at, and how to minimize his weaknesses.
Last year under first-time offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, the Seahawks weren’t able to effectively do that well enough. In acquiring him, a team would be making a rather large bet that he’s going to become more consistent player through the athletic prime of his career. To put in kindly, it’s an expensive gamble to make.
