The Pittsburgh Steelers traded away a key offensive weapon recently in wide receiver George Pickens in a blockbuster deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
While one would assume Pittsburgh would be in the market to replace him now that they're back to square one at the position, it looks like that might not happen.
That's because general manager Omar Khan expressed confidence that the team has enough at wide receiver to not have to make more moves, even though there are nothing but question marks behind DK Metcalf.
"We wouldn't have done (the Pickens trade) if we didn't feel good about the receiver situation, about our depth there," he said, per Mike DeFabo of The Athletic. "I know people make a comparison about last year. It's not even close to being the same."
Why is Khan confident in the current group?
"Obviously, we made the investment with DK. We've had another year with some of the young guys and gotten to know them, watch them develop," Khan added. "We added Robert Woods. Roman's healthy..."
Once the Steelers' confidence in their shaky wide receivers room blows up in their face in 2025, Pittsburgh is going to be searching for an upgrade in 2026, and that could very well come in the draft.
And that's the scenario that played out in the 2026 mock draft of Sports Illustrated's Daniel Flick, who has the Steelers taking USC wide receiver Ja'Kobi Lane with the No. 16 overall pick.
"The Steelers will likely be in the quarterback market again next offseason, but they’ve become all-too-familiar with this position: winning enough games to be out of the picture for the top signal-callers in the draft," Flick wrote. "As a result, Pittsburgh pivots to receiver, where it has a bunch of question marks after DK Metcalf. The 6' 4", 195-pound Lane is lanky, athletic and poised for a big step forward in 2025."
Lane is entering his junior year at USC following a 2024 campaign in which he got more playing time and responded with career-highs in receptions (43), yards (525) and touchdowns (12).
His two best games came against Wisconsin (10 catches, 105 yards, two touchdowns) and Texas A&M (seven catches, 127 yards, three scores).
In all, he's got 50 receptions for 618 yards and 14 touchdowns during his two years in college.
Lane has the size to be a strong red-zone target, but also the athleticism to be a threat anywhere on the field, making him a good complement to Metcalf.
Assuming he can take another step forward in 2025, Lane could be an option for the Steelers in the first round.
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