It’s becoming hard to deny that the Pittsburgh Steelers have some level of problem on their hands with DK Metcalf.
The team’s top receiver and one of its highest paid players was held to four catches for 27 yards across nine targets in an NFL Week 2 loss to the New England Patriots on Sept. 20.
Almost all of Metcalf's yardage came after the game was out of reach. Before New England went up 20-3 in the fourth quarter, Metcalf had two catches for two yards.
Crucially, he dropped a third-and-3 pass late in the third quarter that would have extended a drive to possibly tie the game. The Steelers trailed 10-3 at that point but were instead forced to punt.
Two plays
later, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye found Romeo Doubs for a 63-yard gain that led to a field goal and a 13-3 New England lead. Rodgers fumbled on the Steelers’ next offensive drive, and Patriots' linebacker Elijah Ponder returned it 19 yards for a touchdown that functionally sealed the win for his team.
Metcalf wasn’t alone in having a rough afternoon; the Steelers totaled fewer than 300 yards of offense, but his drop was the moment when things seemed to unravel.
"All of this really leads to one thing, and that’s your players being confident," Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said after the game when asked about Metcalf’s performance. "When you’re not having success, when things are not rolling, flow’s important.
“We talk about playing up tempo and getting in and out of the huddle and putting our players in position through rhythm, timing and execution, and that’s not there. And that’s what happens. Whether you’re blocking, whether you’re catching footballs, whether you’re running routes, whether you’re throwing the ball. When the confidence isn’t right and it’s not peaked, execution suffers.”
It wasn’t a one-off bad day either.
Metcalf, a veteran in his eighth season, totaled two catches for 42 yards in the wild-card playoff loss to the Houston Texans back in January. He then had a drop and caught just two of five contested targets in the Week 1 opener against Atlanta in which the offense struggled to finish drives. He ended that game with four catches for 40 yards on 10 targets.
The total for those past three outings is 12 catches for 109 yards on 24 targets.
Looking even further back, Metcalf has been held to 55 yards or fewer in 12 of his past 13 outings. The lone explosive exception was a seven-catch, 148-yard performance against AFC North division rival Baltimore last December. He has a total of two touchdowns in that span.
In between, he was suspended for two of the Steelers’ most important games of 2025 because of an altercation with a fan Dec. 21 in Detroit.
The Steelers subsequently lost a Week 17 road game against Cleveland before holding on for a Week 18 win against Baltimore that sealed the division title and a playoff berth.
Add it all up and it’s middling production for a guy being paid to be a clearer No. 1 for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers gave up a second-round pick last March to acquire Metcalf in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks. They then signed him to a five-year, $150-million contract that averages out to $30 million per season.
For his part, Rodgers insists he isn’t worried.
"We're going to get it sorted out,” he told reporters after Week 2, echoing his vote of confidence in Metcalf from earlier in the week. “We've been on the same page since I came back. I'll talk with DK like I always do and we'll be fine."
It’s also true that the Steelers haven’t done a great job of drawing coverage off of Metcalf. Late last season, he was often the only viable outside receiver the team had. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was forced to turn to aging veterans like Adam Thielen and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in midseason acquisitions that helped only marginally.
This season, veteran Michael Pittman Jr. was acquired in the offseason to rectify the issue, but he’s battled injuries throughout training camp and the preseason and was forced to miss to loss to the Patriots because of a foot issue. His presence could have helped Metcalf in a tough matchup with New England star cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
Still, Steelers fans would prefer to see Metcalf cope better with that adversity and be the No. 1 that Rodgers can rely on in what he says will be his final season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Steelers aren't getting WR1 production from DK Metcalf – and haven't for a while
