It's not hard to think back to the incident involving DK Metcalf's altercation with a fan during the 2025 season. In Week 16, the Pittsburgh Steelers were in Detroit to face the Lions. Aaron Rodgers had his best game of the season, as the offense pulled off an impressive 29-24 win on the road against a team that finished with a 14-3 record the season prior.
But that wasn't the biggest storyline from the game.
On the sidelines, during the broadcast, the camera panned to Metcalf, who was in a verbal altercation with a fan that turned physical. The Steelers wide receiver ended up putting his hands on the Lions fan, shoving him away in an action some labeled as a 'punch'. This quickly resulted in Metcalf being suspended for the final two games of the season without pay.
We hoped the Metcalf drama was behind us, but it's only starting to heat up.
On February 3, reports surfaced that the Lions fan involved in the Week 16 altercation, Ryan Kennedy, filed a $100 million lawsuit against DK Metcalf for defamation, as he denied racial slur claims. This, according to the Fox News report from Chantz Martin.
"Kennedy and his legal team held a news conference in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on Dec. 26. On Tuesday, attorneys representing Kennedy announced that a lawsuit had been filed in Wayne County Court.
The lawsuit seeks $100 million in damages stemming from the Dec. 21 incident and names DK Metcalf, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ford Field, the Lions’ longtime home stadium."
The Pittsburgh Steelers want to put the DK Metcalf lawsuit drama behind them
As football fans, we want to focus on the game. The irony is that, after trading troubled wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys last May, the Pittsburgh Steelers' 2025 trade acquisition is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Following the incident, Omar Khan and the Steelers front office had the opportunity to void all of Metcalf's guaranteed money. Interestingly, this is something they opted not to do, out of respect for the player. In the process, Pittsburgh torched its escape clause of Metcalf's pricey contract.
Now the Steelers are dealing with drama they shouldn't have to with a player who didn't live up to his billing in 2025.
In his first season in Pittsburgh, Metcalf managed to record just 59 receptions for 850 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games. Metcalf's yard per game, yards per target, and success rate all took a step back from his 2024 season in Seattle.
The worst part is that the Steelers made Metcalf a top-five paid wide receiver in the NFL last offseason, handing him a roughly $132 million contract extension worth almost $33 million per year in new money average. This was on top of trading a valuable second-round pick to Seattle for the veteran receiver.
The Pittsburgh Steelers haven't seen a fraction of their value from this deal, and with the pending $100 million lawsuit from Lions fan Ryan Kennedy, the drama isn't about to go away anytime soon.