Steelers need to act fast before another WR trade comes off the table

Few secrets in the NFL are held as far away from the vest as the Pittsburgh Steelers' desire to trade for a wide receiver. In the offseason, they were heavily involved in pursuing Brandon Aiyuk. When that never materialized, their sights then turned to Davante Adams, then to DeAndre Hopkins and/or Amari Cooper, then briefly to Cooper Kupp, and the list goes on.

Now, with less than a week until the NFL Trade Deadline, that pursuit of a wide receiver hasn't stopped. ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on Saturday ahead of Pittsburgh's Week 9 bye that the team was almost to the finish line to trade for Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk but then the veteran suffered a season-ending broken collarbone, negating that interest.

What's interesting is that, with Kirk off the table along with the Rams dialing back any plans to move Kupp, the wide receivers potentially available at the deadline are thinning out quickly. And if that weren't enough to increase the Steelers' urgency to make any trade, they got even more reason on Sunday to act fast.

Steelers lose another potential WR trade target ahead of deadline

One of the best wide receivers rumored to be on the trade block before Tuesday's deadline was New York Giants veteran Darius Slayton. However, in the G-Men's loss to the Commanders in Week 9, Slayton suffered a concussion, adding to a long list of nagging injuries he's dealt with and putting his trade availability (or viability) into serious question.

If Slayton is now no longer an option, that puts the Steelers up against it, especially in a wide receiver market that's expected to be quite competitive. That's even truer if the Jets indeed take veteran Mike Williams off of the block after Thursday's win in Week 9, something that was reported as a possibility should New York beat the Texans.

Thereafter, the Steelers would now be looking at the likes of K.J. Osborn, Adam Thielen, Kendrick Bourne, and Tyler Boyd. Maybe they could give the Raiders a call about the availability of someone like Jakobi Meyers but that only further speaks to the desperation that Pittsburgh could well be feeling.

Despite all of this, the expectation remains that the Steelers will add a wide receiver before 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday when all trades must be final. But again, with more than just Pittsburgh vying for offensive help in this capacity and now with Slayton potentially being either a less enticing or unavailable option, Omar Khan needs to make his move with a quickness.