Can the Pittsburgh Steelers restore their trade deadline antiques?

Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan has been on an Antique Roadshow binge this year. If Hard Knocks were filming leading up to the bye week, he'd probably be seen blowing dust off of scouting reports for a 30-year-old at the bottom of a bin from 2016, marveling at how well creaky receivers have held up and seeking appraisals, and negotiating prices with rival GMs playing hardball. 

At 6-2, the Steelers believed their roster needed tweaks instead of earth-shaking deals. Their confidence is reassuring or hubris. It's hard to tell right now. At the trade deadline, Pittsburgh finally closed the deal on low-risk, low-reward trades they’d been hovering over for weeks. On Tuesday, they acquired Mike Williams and Preston Smith from the Green Bay Packers. Mike Tomlin has successfully restored Russell Wilson’s value in just a few weeks and it appears the same strategy applies to their strategy trade deadline decisions.

The Steelers missed opportunities at the trade deadline

Not trading for DeAndre Hopkins as soon as possible feels like a major blunder. It may be forgotten in the long run, but probably not. Having a technical route runner of his ilk would have been a net positive. Allowing the defending champs and an AFC foe to get him for roughly the price of Mike Williams was a miscalculation. In his inaugural game as a Kansas City Chief, Hopkins gathered earth receptions for 86 yards and reeled in a pair of touchdown passes from Patrick Mahomes in the back of the endzone.  

Hopkins is in the final year of his two-year $26 million deal, which would have given the Steelers an exit ramp in the off-season. Williams wound up costing the Steelers a fifth-round pick, which was approximately what Kansas City shelled out for Hopkins, although their pick becomes a fourth if certain conditions are met. The Steelers were reportedly in conversation with the Giants for Darius Slayton, who’s never come within striking distance of a 1,000-yard season. In Hopkins, the Steelers would have received a former All-Pro with gas left in the tank for approximately the same price, but whose value has been driven down by his role in anemic offenses.

Perhaps they were too fixated on the fantasy of acquiring Cooper Kupp to pull the trigger on Hopkins. Instead, they improved around the margins with lesser accomplished 30-year-olds amid career downturns, one due to injuries and the other stemming from a schematic transition.

Preston Smith 

Smith’s acquisition gives the Packers more pass-rushing depth after injuries to Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith left them using converted defensive tackles at linebacker for portions of the first half of the season. It also allows them to give Watt, who is on pace for a career-high in snaps, more opportunities to rest during the course of games. Smith has started slowly this season, but as illustrated by Alex Kozora, his 68.5 sacks since 2015 are the 13th most in the NFL, tied with Cam Heyward.

Smith requested a trade weeks ago due to the Packers' transition to a new system during the off-season. The first half of the 2023 season was undeniably rough for Smith.  In six seasons as a Packer, Smith logged 44 sacks, forced six fumbles, and 42 stops in the backfield. The 31-year-old vet registered 2.5 sacks and a pair of tackles for loss in Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 single-high defense. At 265 pounds, he outweighs Herbig and Highsmith by 20 pounds, allowing Smith to play a combination of defensive end in nickel or dime sets and pass-rushing linebacker in the Steelers' front seven.

Mike Williams

The Steelers have turned their obsession with discount deals into a pathology and Mike Williams is Exhibit A. Williams has only 12 catches this season, but was brought to Pittsburgh for a fifth-round pick to fulfill a basic role. Run go routes on the outside, and come down with Russell Wilson’s lobs over smaller defensive backs. How well the 6-foot-4 Williams can accomplish that in Pittsburgh remains to be seen. Whether it was the Jets offense’s lack of imagination, Aaron Rodgers’ arm, his recovery from a torn ACL last September, or his miscommunication with Rodgers, Williams was so ineffectual with the Jets that he was phased out.

He’ll be an asset in making contested catches, but he’s no longer capable of creating separation from defensive backs. It’s unreasonable to expect Williams to get up to speed as quickly as Hopkins has in Kansas City, but getting comfortable within the offense as quickly as possible is of the utmost importance because the post-bye week schedule is a gauntlet that includes seven games of their final nine games coming against the Commanders, Ravens, Chiefs, Eagles, and Bengals.