The Steelers waited until the sun had nearly set on the 2024 NFL trade deadline before surprising fans with a pair of moves. After months of seeking wide receiver help, Pittsburgh's front office made an underwhelming trade for Jets WR Mike Williams.
In the first half of the season, Williams struggled to find chemistry and wound up buried on New York's depth chart. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had just s 43.1 passer rating when targeting Williams in the first nine games of the season, and the 30-year-old wide-out recorded only two receptions for 21 yards over his previous five games before getting traded.
This wasn't the needle-moving wide receiver trade that Steelers fans wanted to see, and it stings a bit that Pittsburgh was forced to part with a fifth-round pick for a half-year rental of an aging receiver -- a move that feels like a steep overpay.
Fortunately, Pittsburgh's next trade made up for this.
Roughly an hour after trading for Williams, NFL Insider Ian Rapoport reported the Steelers have traded with the Packers for pass-rusher Preston Smith. In exchange for Smith, Pittsburgh sent a seventh-round pick to Green Bay.
Steelers pull off impressive Preston Smith trade
As unimpressive as the Mike Williams trade felt, the Preston Smith was just the opposite. The long-time defensive lineman has had an impressive decade-long NFL career that began back in 2015, and he's still going strong in 2024.
Smith is a tone-setting run defender on the edge who is capable of sliding inside and offering pass rush as an interior defender on obvious passing downs. At 6'5'' and 265 pounds with 34'' arms, Smith uses his powerful frame to anchor at the point of attack while stacking and shedding blockers with ease.
For a team that has been decimated with injuries to edge defenders this season, this is an outstanding move. Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig each missed multiple games with soft tissue injuries, and having an insurance plan like Preston Smith is everything this team needed.
Smith's physical presence will be used on early downs as a run defender for the Steelers -- allowing the other edge defenders on the team to stay fresh. The big edge defender should also allow T.J. Watt some much-needed breaks -- something he wasn't afforded in the first half of the season.
At the low price of a seventh-round draft pick, the decision to trade for Smith was easy. The only downfall in this is that Smith has lofty base salaries of at least $12 million in each of the next two seasons. However, Pittsburgh can cut him during the 2025 offseason and not lose a penny.
Pittsburgh's edge rusher group of Watt, Highsmith, Herbig, and Smith is as strong at the top and as deep as any group in the league. For a team that lives and dies with the success of their pass rush. This was a brilliant move.