Trades can be difficult for players, often sending them to cities and situations they never would have chosen for themselves. Michael Pittman Jr. had a different experience. He didn’t land with the Steelers—he chose them.
“It wasn’t as sporadic as people think. We kind of knew that it was coming and we had a plan,” Pittman said on Sirius XM NFL Radio’s Movin’ The Chains. “I actually got to pick where it was, and I picked here. Obviously I was excited about it, and I had a really good idea that Aaron was coming back. I didn’t know for sure, but I had some pretty strong hints. So I just wanted to come play with one of the best to ever play.”
Sometimes general managers give players a choice out of respect, as Ryan Poles did with Justin Fields and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024. More often than not, a player’s contract situation gives him leverage in choosing his destination. Teams acquiring a player who is dissatisfied with his contract have to consider that he won’t be satisfied with his new situation, particularly if he expects an extension. Pittman’s immediate extension following the trade suggests they were in talks for days, if not weeks.
The Indianapolis Colts were working on signing WR Alec Pierce to a four-year, $114 million contract. Pittman had one year remaining on his contract and a large $29 million cap hit. Everybody knew they would need to make a decision, which likely opened the door for several teams to call and check in on Pittman’s availability.
The number of teams competing for his services in the trade market is unknown, but the fact that he got to choose implies there were options.
Another reason he chose the Steelers was an opportunity to work with head coach Mike McCarthy.
“You always wanna play for an offensive coach, especially when you’re an offensive player. So that also had a huge factor into me coming here,” Pittman said. “When your head coach is also the coordinator, there’s an emphasis on throwing the ball. Defensive coaches, they always wanna run the ball; they wanna keep the defense off of the field. And I do wanna do that too, but I’m a receiver, so selfishly I wanna pass as much as possible.”
McCarthy’s offenses have been in the top 10 for pass attempts in 10 out of his 18 seasons. Reuniting with his former quarterback should only inspire him to lean further into that.
Pittsburgh also finally has the personnel to support a passing offense. A year ago, leading the league in pass attempts probably would have produced abysmal results because the Steelers lacked a significant wide receiver beyond DK Metcalf. Now Metcalf, Pittman, Roman Wilson, and Germie Bernard give Rodgers arguably the deepest receiver group Pittsburgh has had in years.
Pittman didn’t just choose the Steelers—he chose a situation that could set him up to thrive.