Steelers’ trades show faith in Russell Wilson, but will they move the needle?

PITTSBURGH — More than seven months ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers proposed a rule change to push the NFL trade deadline back to the Tuesday following Week 9. The goal was to give teams more time to evaluate their rosters, analyze injuries and make the necessary tweaks.

The proposal passed, and on Tuesday, Steelers general manager Omar Khan used almost every bit of the extended deadline to swing a pair of trades.

First, Khan and company addressed the obvious question mark at wide receiver when they sent a 2025 fifth-round pick to the New York Jets for Mike Williams. Later, they addressed the defense by acquiring edge rusher Preston Smith from Green Bay for a 2025 seventh-round pick .

The trades themselves reinforce what we've come to know about Khan. While he earned the nickname the "Khan Artist" in 2023 for his ability to maneuver within the draft to land priority players, the GM said after this year's draft that he considers himself to be patient. He certainly took his time and did not sacrifice the Steelers' draft-and-develop approach by trading Day 3 picks. The new players might not be as splashy as the Brandon Aiyuk or Davante Adams pipe dreams , but they do add necessary depth at critical positions.

The Steelers should feel more confident than they did 24 hours ago that they have a receiver who can take advantage of the attention defenses pay to George Pickens , and that they are better positioned to handle an injury to T.J. Watt or Alex Highsmith .

At the same time — and maybe more importantly — the trades also tell us something about how the Steelers feel about Russell Wilson and where this team could go with him at quarterback.

When the Steelers remade their quarterback room this offseason by signing Wilson and acquiring Justin Fields in a pair of low-cost, low-risk moves, it was fair to question whether either signal caller could substantially change the team's ceiling. Had these two failed to stabilize the position, and had the Steelers floundered in the middle of the AFC North, it would have been easy to envision Pittsburgh sitting on its hands at the deadline, riding things out with Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III and waiting until the offseason to make a big move.

Instead, sitting at 6-2 and alone atop the AFC North, the Steelers have a legitimate shot to win the division and make some noise in the postseason. The two quarterbacks — especially Wilson — showed enough that it made sense for the Steelers to spend some of their future draft capital to win right now.

Beyond simply adding a receiver, it's the type of receiver the Steelers targeted that shows their faith in Wilson. Williams isn't just any receiver. He is a 6-foot-4, 218-pound target who can stretch defenses vertically and make contested catches. Stylistically, Williams is exactly the type of receiver who should be well-positioned to catch plenty of moonballs from a quarterback who has made a career out of bombing it deep.

In this way, the Steelers are surrounding Wilson with weapons that can help him play to his potential at this stage of his career and continue to play his brand of football.

By trading for Smith, the Steelers have solidified depth at one of their most critical positions on defense. Their defense is predicated upon pressure. When the edge rushers struggle to get home due to injuries or inconsistencies, the entire chain reaction falls apart.

While Smith might not be in his prime at nearly 32 years old, the Steelers won't need him to be — he's a depth piece who will play rotationally behind Watt, Highsmith and (sometimes) Nick Herbig . He rounds out that room and gives the Steelers a bigger-bodied option at 6-5 and 265 to defend the run compared to the 6-2, 240 Herbig.

Now, there's no guarantee either trade will significantly move the needle or substantially change the Steelers' ceiling.

Williams, 30, fell out of favor in New York and was publicly called out by Aaron Rodgers for running the wrong route on a game-ending interception against the Bills in Week 6. Williams failed to establish chemistry with a future Hall of Fame QB, which should give fans some pause about how impactful he can be. He's also just over a year removed from an ACL injury and was, to put it bluntly, seen as expendable in New York after the Jets acquired Adams.

There's also a case to be made that the Steelers should have been more aggressive in their receiver search, especially considering what other AFC contenders did. The Texans added Stefon Diggs before the season (even though he's now injured and out for the season). The Kansas City Chiefs added DeAndre Hopkins for only a fourth-round pick. The Buffalo Bills traded for Amari Cooper for a third-rounder. The Jets (who, admittedly, don't look like contenders) reunited Adams with Rodgers for a third-rounder. And the Baltimore Ravens added Diontae Johnson for a swap of fifth- and sixth-round picks.

; why did Giants stay put?

You could argue all of those teams added more impactful players to their receiving corps. Pittsburgh fans who watched Johnson bobble footballs and run backward might disagree, but the Ravens gave up less to get Johnson than the Steelers spent on Williams. The Ravens also addressed their weakness in the secondary by adding cornerback Tre'Davious White from the Rams , so, taken together, Baltimore was more aggressive at the deadline.

Even though the Steelers did not push all their chips into the middle, it's clear Khan and company believe in this team enough to make a pair of moves that give the Steelers a better shot to compete. To continue the poker analogy, the Steelers might not be all in, but they did ante up enough to have a seat at the high-stakes table down the stretch.

More than anything, the newcomers reinforce a receiving corps and a well-rounded defense that Wilson will need support from if the Steelers are going to win their first playoff game since 2016. Whether they can snap that skid or not, they are in a better place to do so than they were a week ago, and they did so without sacrificing the larger vision for the team long-term.