How can Pittman and Dowdle help Steelers?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms react to the news out of Pittsburgh, where the Steelers reportedly traded for Michael Pittman Jr. and signed Rico Dowdle.
Video Transcript
What the hell's going on in Pittsburgh?
They have added Michael Pittman Jr., as Chris mentioned earlier.
There was a late-round draft pick swap because they needed to get Michael Pittman's contract off the books once they paid Alec Pierce.
The Steelers and Pittman agreed to a three-year, $59 million contract.
I don't know if it's an extension of the year that was left or it's a fresh three years.
That one point has been a little bit vague, and we'll see the full contract at some point.
But I, how I remember meeting with Michael Pittman J- like, how, how is it that, th- g- Michael Pittman Jr. is already at the point where, "Well, we don't know."
Like- Yeah, I know it's crazy 'cause we, we sat with him at the combine.
You played with his dad.
I know.
It's like he still feels like he's new to the NFL.
But I guess, you know, it doesn't take many years to get to the point where a team is doing this cost-benefit analysis, and can we continue to justify this contract given the player's age, given injuries, given where he's going from here?
But for the Steelers, it was like, "Come on in.
Let's go."
Yeah.
well, th- they n- they need it.
we, we talked about him, and last year it, it was like, wow, okay, is DK Metcalf gonna make a play?
Okay, if it's not him, will it be Kenneth Gainwell, who you always sang the praises of?
But that was pretty much what it is.
It was like, th- th- there we go.
That was the offense.
Not gonna get it done.
And Mike McCarthy, he needs some new toys to play with, and Pittman, I think, is just a good complement to DK Metcalf on the other side.
First off, two big physical receivers.
They're gonna like that.
They're willing to run block.
That helps them out for sure.
But Metcalf, more the guy that we saw.
You can kind of just line him up out here.
He can dictate coverage.
If he's one-on-one, we go to him.
Pittman can kind of be your do all the other stuff, meat and potatoes guy, like we just kind of talked about.
He works over the middle.
He's a good route runner.
He's fearless as far as contact and physicality.
Just a well-rounded, really damn good wide receiver who can do it all.
And yeah, he's not the biggest play guy, but he still can scare you deep if he needs to.
But I think that's where that works right there for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It's just, yeah, now the big question is, who the hell's gonna throw them the football?
And you know, on the day that you were snowed in, and I talked to Omar Khan.
Yeah.
It was one of the first interviews I did that day.
I asked him about Tyreek Hill possibly being a fit for Pittsburgh, 'cause he's one of the ones who at least you could talk about- Yep because he's not connected to anyone.
And Omar said, "Oh, we're, we're, we're comfortable with the group we have."
And I know a certain amount of that is required, but Omar, I remembered what you said.
What That's, that's a, that's a negative.
That's a don't believe Omar the next time.
But I understand it's part of the game.
They're not gonna come out and say, "Well, you know, in free agency, we may be," or, "We may have a tra- we may, we may be trading for somebody who, who is familiar with this city in which we're currently sitting."
So, I get it.
I understand it.
And you're right, the bigger question is who's gonna play quarterback?
Now, you mentioned Gainwell.
They let Gainwell go to Tampa Bay, two years, $14 million.
He was the team MVP last year.
First time the team MVP, I asked you this question last week, first time the team MVP of the Steelers has left in the next cycle since Neil O'Donnell 30 years ago, when he led the Steelers to Super Bowl 30.
Gainwell goes, and in comes Rico Dowdle.
And I r- n- n- you could argue they upgraded, and they got him for two years, 12 and a half.
Gainwell leaves for two years, 14.
The Steelers actually You know, the way it was being presented before Gainwell left was, "Well, you know, the Steelers just can't afford-" Mm-hmm.
They're already paying Jalen Warren 5.9.
They just can't afford to, to pay another It's like, this isn't, this isn't, you know, 1999.
Like, five million for a running back's really not all that much money, grand scheme of things.
And, yeah, so out goes Gainwell, and in comes Dowdle for 6.25 million per year, making more th- than Jalen Warren.
And Dowdle had a couple of big games last year.
He did.
Back-to-back 200 yards from scrimmage, had over 1,000 yards working with Chuba Hubbard in Carolina.
you know, not the deal that I suspect he wanted.
We've seen a lot of two-year deals for the running backs.
Better than a one-year deal if it's a real two-year deal.
