Steelers WR coach namedrops team’s WR2

Zach Azzanni said he loves that everyone is downplaying the Pittsburgh group.

During media availability this morning, Steelers wide receiver coach Zach Azzanni was given a chance to speak about the group of passcatchers the team has assembled this year. Entering his second year in Pittsburgh, Azzani noted there’s been much skepticism about the strength of his group in NFL circles.

Some of that is understandable. Following the George Pickens trade, the Steelers once again became a favorite muse of the NFL’s offseason rumor mill, with a new report about which playmakers the Steelers have called about seemingly every week. There isn’t much proven talent behind newly acquired WR1 DK Metcalf besides Robert Woods, and Woods has only been a role player at his most recent stops around the league.

For his part though, Azzanni seems excited with what he’s seen so far. Chris Adamski of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review shared this clip of Azzanni’s time with the media this morning.

Here’s a full transcript of Azzanni’s statement in the video.

— by committee. Which I’m okay with. Cuz there’s a lot of really cool pieces there that are sneaky. So everyone’s downplaying,underplaying, our group right now. I love it that way. I don’t really want anyone looking at us anyway. It’ll be good. So I think that [WR]2 spot is all Calvin’s, right now. And really, you know, him and DK are such different players that, you know, there’s going to be plays where he is the one guy. Because that’s his route, and vice versa. Because they’re so different, you know, in stature. So, good question.

That’s a solid endorsement for Austin at this point in the process and isn’t too surprising. Austin was effectively third on the depth chart last season, but he finished second among the team’s receivers in catches (36), yards (548) and trailed only Pat Freiermuth in receiving touchdowns (4). It makes sense that Austin’s play relative to the rest of this group would get him some praise from the staff.

Ultimately, I wouldn’t make too much of this comment, though. It’s early June, and there is a summer’s worth of training and practice still to be done. Plus if you’ve followed the NFL long, you know that coachspeak can lead you astray this time of year.

While Austin deserves the shout-out and very well could be the team’s second-best wideout, I think there’s some other context in that quote worthy of note.

For starters, the video is clipped near the tail end of a previous answer, and Azzanni clearly mentions a committee. His comment about the sneaky pieces, in my opinion, alludes to the Steelers mixing and matching personnel to keep defenses guessing. That’s not unusual, and honestly, it’s how the staff should be thinking about deploying this group of receivers. Austin, for example, should not be asked to block often because of his size. And you probably won’t often be asking Robert Woods to run isolated go routes, either.

Secondly, when Azzanni says Austin has the WR2 spot, he finishes his thought with the infamous coachspeak phrase, “right now.” How many times have we heard that phrase from coaches and front offices only to find out later that wasn’t the case. Now, when I hear that phrase, I can’t help but think of “Josh Rosen is our guy.” The situations are different, of course, but with the rumors the Steelers would like to add another playmaker, I think we can chalk this up to Azzanni doing the right thing and gassing up the players like Austin who have made the most of the opportunities they’ve been given.

That said, I think the WR2 debate is a little silly given the Steelers’ situation. A rotation tailored to the specific situations a game calls for makes the most sense, and we know the Steelers like to experiment with heavy formations where there is only one wideout on the field. Austin can still be the second-best receiver both skill-wise and statistically, but not have the second-most snaps. There’s also a better than zero chance we see Roman Wilson start to play his way onto the field more. And heck, maybe they add another body via trade or when teams have to trim down their roster for the regular season.

Either way, it’s going to be a group to watch with interest this summer.