{"id":822010,"date":"2026-05-25T23:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822010\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T23:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:28:15","slug":"barnwell-doesnt-believe-michael-pittman-jr-is-good-fit-for-steelers-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822010\/","title":{"rendered":"Barnwell Doesn’t Believe Michael Pittman Jr. Is ‘Good Fit’ For Steelers’ Offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have their starting quarterback, they\u2019re sights are set on competing for a Super Bowl this season. Aaron Rodgers said he plans on retiring after this year, so he has a chance to end his career on a high note. The Steelers added a lot of pieces to their<\/a> offense in order to better support Rodgers, too. That includes trading for Michael Pittman Jr. to fill their No. 2 receiver spot. While Pittman is a solid veteran wideout, Bill Barnwell questions if he actually fixes any of Pittsburgh\u2019s offensive problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good fit for Aaron Rodgers,\u201d Barnwell said recently on ESPN\u2019s NFL Live.<\/a> \u201cI don\u2019t know that it\u2019s a good fit for the Steelers\u2019 offense\u2026 Aaron Rodgers last year threw the shortest average pass of anybody in football, the only guy under six air yards per attempt a year ago. Michael Pittman, 61st out of 68 qualifying receivers in terms of air yards per target.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, a guy who is catching underneath throws from a quarterback who throws a lot of underneath passes. That\u2019s a good fit, but what the Steelers really needed is an explosive downfield player. They were 30th last year in explosive play rate on drop backs\u2026I don\u2019t know if Pittman is a great fit for the Steelers\u2019 offense and what they needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnwell is correct that the Steelers\u2019 offense wasn\u2019t explosive enough last<\/a> year, and they didn\u2019t really add a piece to solve that problem. Pittman isn\u2019t a downfield threat, and that isn\u2019t rookie Germie Bernard\u2019s strength, either.<\/p>\n

However, Pittman could still help the Steelers\u2019 offense become more dynamic. His presence could open things up more for DK Metcalf. He\u2019s got a great combination of size and speed, but the Steelers often couldn\u2019t take advantage of that last year because defenses gave Metcalf a lot of attention.<\/p>\n

Still, there were flashes of Metcalf\u2019s dangerous vertical ability. Pittman should give Rodgers a reliable target underneath, allowing Metcalf more freedom to work downfield.<\/p>\n

Pittman being a good fit for Rodgers should make him a good fit for the Steelers\u2019 offense. If he doesn\u2019t click with the veteran quarterback, then what\u2019s the point in having him? Rodgers gets the ball out quickly at this point in his career. A deep threat would\u2019ve been nice, but Rodgers isn\u2019t the same player he was 10 years ago. His arm is still strong, but his athleticism has eroded, leaving him more vulnerable.<\/p>\n

The Steelers needed to give Rodgers another reliable receiver to target.<\/a> Pittman is consistent, recording at least 700 receiving yards in each of the last five seasons. He should play a vital role in the Steelers\u2019 offense, and perhaps someone else will step up and create explosive plays.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have their starting quarterback, they\u2019re sights are set on competing for a Super…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":822011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[2390,337901,216087,1232,264462,1545,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-822010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-bill-barnwell","tag-michael-pittman-jr","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-live","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116637814420283666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}