After the Pittsburgh Steelers traded for DK Metcalf and sent George Pickens to Dallas before the season started, everyone speculated who might replace George Pickens as the number two receiver. The Steelers might have found a promising answer to that question after Aaron Rodgers' stellar performance.
Calvin Austin III is not just stepping up but showing immense potential to solidify that role for the Steelers, as evidenced by his crucial contributions to the victory over the Jets.
It's too early to determine if the former fourth-round pick has turned a corner, but this is the most promising start to a season he has had in his young career.
Calvin Austin III may have taken a step as a viable target for the Pittsburgh Steelers
How his performance in Sundays win compares to his previous seasons
The Steelers had high hopes for Austin III when they selected him in the 2022 NFL Draft; however, his career did not get off to the best of starts. He injured his foot and missed the entire 2022 season. In 2023, the Steelers finally began working him into the passing game, but he remained relatively quiet, as quarterbacks targeted him only 30 times, resulting in 17 receptions and 180 yards.
He did show brief glimpses of tremendous talent that season when he caught a pass for a season-long 72 yards and a touchdown. However, his low usage rate was mainly due to Matt Canada's play-calling, which eventually led to his mid-season firing.
In 2024, Arthur Smith started utilizing him a bit more as Austin III improved to 36 receptions, 548 yards, and four touchdowns, with his longest being 55 yards. While playing a more important role in the Steelers' offense as a target for Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, he was still underutilized.
In the season opener against the Jets, he certainly rose to the occasion and appeared to be taking his game to the next level, and arguably had the best game of his young career. Rodgers targeted Austin six times for 70 yards, with 30 yards on one play. He also caught one touchdown and drew a clutch pass interference call, although the refs failed to throw a flag on what should have been a second pass interference.
Plus, he made one acrobatic reception similar to the ones Lynn Swann used to make.
Why his week one performance is important for the Steelers
However, the most important takeaway from his performance is that he has developed chemistry with Rodgers, which he lacked with Fields and Wilson last year. Plus, his performance on Sunday nearly equaled that of Metcalf, who did not haul in a touchdown.
If Austin III continues to perform at a high level for the Steelers, as he did against the Jets, it could significantly influence the team's trade decisions. His strong performance could potentially eliminate the need for the Steelers to engage in unnecessary trade talks for suspect receivers to fill that number two role. As indicated by the latest trade rumors, the Steelers might be interested in Tyreek Hill, but Austin's performance could change that.
Austin is every bit as fast as Tyreek Hill, given that he had one of the fastest 40-yard dash times when he performed at the combine in 2022. His acrobatic catch against the Jets also shows tremendous athletic ability, and that for the first two seasons he played, most have underrated him.
In one performance this season, he has increased his yards per reception to 17.5, which is higher than his 15.2 yards per reception for the entire 2024 season. In 2024, he gained a first down for the Steelers on only 50% of his receptions. Against the Jets, he had a 75% first-down rate. Plus, his catch percentage has increased to 66.7%.
The point is that in one game, he is on pace to obliterate his statistics from his past two seasons. Maintaining his trend of 70 yards per game, he is on pace to rack up 1190 yards in 2025, more than double his 548 from a season ago. However, we must be patient. Just because he had a great first game, time will tell whether this success lasts over a full season.
Yet, supposing his Week one performance is any indication of things to come with Rodgers as quarterback, he should thrive in the Steelers' offense this season and solidify his position as the number two receiver behind Metcalf.