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The Steelers are acquiring WR DK Metcalf from the Seahawks and giving him a big contract extension. NFL Network reports that Metcalf is getting a four-year, $132 million extension tacked onto the final year of his current deal. That will pay him $33 million per year after this season and lock him in with Pittsburgh through 2029. Seattle is getting a second-round pick (52nd overall) plus a late-round pick swap.
The Seahawks have now unloaded two of their top three wideouts and the starting QB from last year's offense. That leaves Jaxon Smith-Njigba and a bunch of question marks. We'll likely start to fill some of those in with answers when free agency opens this week.
Metcalf lands in a Pittsburgh offense with uncertainty at QB. Justin Fields and Russell Wilson are both set to hit unrestricted free agency, but reports have the Steelers interested in bringing Fields back.
The money says we should expect Metcalf to pass WR George Pickens in target share, though there's room for both players to draw similar work.
Metcalf's fantasy upside will depend on the Steelers' passing rate, and it's not a great landing spot on that front. Pittsburgh ranked among the league's bottom third in pass rate vs. expectation, right in line with OC Arthur Smith's previous stops.
His ceiling likely resides somewhere in WR2 territory. A dip in Pickens' usage would push that higher in WR2 territory.
Metcalf just turned 27 in mid-December and should thus just be hitting his prime. That gives him at least several years of fantasy upside ahead.
There actually might be some buy-low potential with Metcalf for this landing spot.
We all know Pittsburgh has been a run-favoring offense, and that's likely to continue in 2025 with Smith as the OC and Fields or a rookie as the potential starting QB.
Metcalf would still have another four years on his Steelers contract beyond that season, though. And none of us knows who will be the OC or QB in 2026 and beyond (at least as of this writing).
The Metcalf trade and contract can only be bad news for Pickens, who has had some behavior issues to date. We'll see how he responds to having a challenge at least as big as Diontae Johnson on the team in 2025.
TE Pat Freiermuth could see his target share capped by having a pair of talented WRs around. There's room for Freiermuth to climb vs. last year's target shares, though, if Pickens doesn't rebound.
Metcalf sits 24th among WRs in Underdog Fantasy ADP as of this writing. I wouldn't bet on him climbing much beyond that, and landing in Pittsburgh might even lower his ADP. (Pickens sits eight spots lower in positional ADP right now.)
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