There was a point when everyone knew it was inevitable the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to lose wide receiver Antonio Brown. But the front office didn’t just sit by and hope the talent on the roster can pick up the slack. The Steelers made two big additions this offseason at wide receiver and they will be battling it out in training camp for reps.
First up we have the veteran Donte Moncrief. Moncrief has been an athletic, albeit underperforming receiver during his five seasons in the league. Despite having ideal size and elite speed, the best Moncrief has done as a receiver is 64 receptions for 733 yards.
However a case can be made Moncrief has never had a quarterback throwing him the football the caliber of Ben Roethlisberger. Moncrief is built for this offense and if he and Big Ben get on the same page, he could easily have career bests in receptions and receiving yards.
But signing Moncrief wasn’t enough for Pittsburgh. They also used a third-round pick — the one they got for Brown — to draft speedy wideout Diontae Johnson. Johnson’s physical stature and game mirror Brown’s in many ways.
So how will this all shake out? The Steelers might prefer Moncrief’s size opposite JuJu Smith-Schuster and leave Johnson as more of a slot receiver and the competition will be between him and guys like Eli Rogers and Ryan Switzer.
But the more realistic scenario is neither guys really wins in the sense they take the role Smith-Schuster had last season. This spot still belongs to James Washington unless he can’t do enough to earn those reps. All four of the top receivers are somewhat interchangeable parts. There will be plenty of scenarios when some combo of Moncrief, Washington and Johnson are on the outside to let Smith-Schuster work in the slot.
What is your ideal wide receiver scenario on the field? Let us know in the comments below.
