Steelers Now
By bringing in Michael Pittman Jr. this offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers added another tall, big-bodied receiver to stick beside DK Metcalf. The two will easily be the most formidable wideout duo the black and gold have had since Ben Roethlisberger was slinging passes, but the No. 1 receiver role could change hands.
“To me, I think Michael Pittman, the odds should be pretty close to him just straight-up outproducing DK Metcalf this year in Pittsburgh,” Yahoo Sports’ Matt Harmon said Thursday. “Michael Pittman, what I think people don’t give enough credit to is that he’s just a perfect fit for Aaron Rodgers right now. We know that Rodgers wants to play the game in a very specific format. He wants to kinda spread things out, do the point-and-shoot thing, he wants a lot of these free-access throws and get the ball out of his hands quickly.
“And you look at Michael Pittman, he is still very good at being able to do that. … You look at some of the routes that he ran (last season) with high frequency — flats, curls — those are Aaron Rodgers routes. The quick hitches and everything as the ‘Z’ receiver, I think we’ll see a ton of that for Michael Pittman. Some of the quick slants and in-breakers and screens, as well.”
Pittman had 784 receiving yards last campaign, his fewest since his rookie season. However, he did pull down seven touchdowns, a career-high. Harmon can envision him pulling in the same amount of grabs this go-round as he did during the last one.
“Michael Pittman is just a guy that could easily walk into 80 catches this year,” Harmon said.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Analyst Takes Bold Stance on Steelers WR Pecking Order
