Steelers Coaches Plot Metcalf Revival

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Steelers improving in the pass game come down to one man. What are the Steelers doing to get receiver DK Metcalf back to the impact he made in his first six years with the Seahawks?

Against the Browns November 1, Metcalf had one catch for four yards. A drop of a potential big gain played into that, but your top receiver had four receiving yards.

In three of the last four games he’s totaled six receptions for 72 yards. Halfway through the season, the 28-year-old has only 33 receptions for 378 yards (both 40^th in NFL). Extrapolate that over 17 games it would be a career-low for yards. Add into that he only has one touchdown, where his career low is five. Before coming to Pittsburgh, Metcalf never had fewer than 900 yards receiving in a season.

In order for real improvement to the passing game, Metcalf has to be a force.

“I think just like anything, I mean, I look at it as a play caller,” said Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy. “That's where I always start anything that I'm looking at offensively. Am I putting DK in position to be successful? So that starts with our game plan process. And that's definitely one of many things that we look at each and every week.”

The coaches focused on it during the bye week according to Steelers offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio. He echoed some of what McCarthy said about putting Metcalf in the right position to be successful.

“There's some things that we're going to try to do to help him and certainly get him more ops to be effective, because certainly he's a really dynamic player and we have a lot of confidence in him to be that player,” Angelichio said.

He used the word confidence a couple of times.

What else was said by both coaches is the opportunity for a couple of their top four receivers to join Metcalf on the field. McCarthy said receiver Michael Pittman, Junior, who has missed three of the eight games, and really wasn’t effective in those he played, is ‘getting close’ to a return.

“I think that I know his workout, I want to say Friday, was something that, you know, hopefully we can do more,” McCarthy said.

Pittman told Pittsburgh reporters last Monday he’s started jogging on the field on October 30 as he attempts to return from plantar fasciitis that has morphed into another undisclosed foot injury. The plan was for Pittman to be the additional veteran to help free Metcalf, but hasn’t materialized. Acquired in March, Pittman had 492 catches for 5,343 yards and 25 TD in seven years with the Colts. So far with the Steelers, seven catches for 89 yards.

There is also Roman Wilson. The third-year, third-round pick finally seemed to get some traction. In just five games in 2026 before suffering a broken finger, Wilson has a career high in receptions (14), yards (188) and touchdowns (2). In his previous two games before the injury, six receptions for 134 yards and both TDs.

For a second straight year, the Steelers took a flier on Marquez Valdes-Scantling as he’s spent the last couple of weeks on the practice squad, but hasn’t been activated. Ben Skowronek has a great relationship with Aaron Rodgers, the receiver went through limited practices leading up to the Cleveland game and could be ready on Sunday night.

Those are all potential helps, but it all goes back to Metcalf, if they don’t figure out how to get him going, the passing game won’t reach its potential.