4 Steelers and NFL questions: Did Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin III show enough before trade deadline?

Adam Bittner / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Steelers picked up a 26-18 win on Monday night against the New York Giants. Here are four questions for them and the rest of the NFL to ponder as they enter their idle week in NFL Week 9.

Did Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III do enough as trade rumors swirl? The Steelers’ receiver group has been an urgent focus of conversation since the moment they traded Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers for Donte Jackson. Would they find a bonafide No. 2 receiver in the NFL draft? Would they trade for San Francisco’s Brandon Aiyuk? And since Aiyuk signed shortly before the season, they’ve been connected to seemingly decent every receiver on a bad team by someone. None of that speculation has yielded any fruit, all the while Jefferson and Austin have struggled to define themselves in Arthur Smith’s offense. That changed Monday night. Jefferson caught four of his five targets from QB Russell Wilson for 62 yards. Austin — in addition to running back a punt for a score in the third quarter — secured three of his four targets for 54 yards. That effort included a 29-yard touchdown pass from Wilson that essentially put the game on ice. It was quite the statement game for Omar Khan to ponder ahead of the NFL trade deadline next week. A reasonable argument can be made that such production is plenty for Steelers receivers not named George Pickens if Wilson and Smith can cook it up consistently. The sample size is just so hard to trust, especially after a big night from Darius Slayton on the opposite sideline. He caught four passes for 108 yards in a loss for the Giants, and reports last week suggested he could be had for a late-round draft pick, setting up a difficult decision for Khan of parting with a piece of his team’s future or rolling the dice with the guys who’ve gotten him to 6-2.

How much of a spoiler will the Browns be? It was a shocking display of competence from Cleveland offensively against Baltimore on Sunday with Jameis Winston replacing the injured Deshaun Watson at quarterback. The veteran backup stepped in to complete 27 of 41 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions en route to a 29-24 Cleveland victory against a Ravens team that looked poised to shake off an 0-2 start and challenge for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Lamar Jackson didn’t necessarily play poorly for Baltimore at QB, posting a 101.8 passer rating that included two touchdowns and no picks. Derrick Henry was efficient in the running game with 6.6 yards per carry. Cleveland was just, for once, the better team when it had the ball. A scary thought for the Steelers with two games remaining against their northeast Ohio rival that may not be able to climb out of a 1-6 hole to make the playoffs, but could certainly have a say in who wins the AFC North division if it keeps playing this well.

How solidified is the AFC playoff race already becoming? There’s still a long way to go and plenty of potential for chaos remains. But as the conference makes the turn toward November, just seven teams have winning records. Just eight are even at .500 or better. And eight teams have three or fewer wins. For the moment, it feels like there’s a pretty clear dividing line between the haves and the have nots in terms of talent. By contrast, the NFC has 10 teams at .500 or better, making for more compelling early playoff race conversations. The next month should go a long way toward telling us whether talented-but-flawed teams like the Dolphins, Jets, Bengals and Jaguars are going to make runs that muddy the projected seven-team AFC side of the playoff bracket.

How many potential trading partners will the Steelers have going into the deadline? This question probably dovetails with the first and third in many ways. If you’re Khan, you’re likely hoping for a chalky Week 9 that locks as many teams as possible into seller mode to open up your options at the receiver position. You probably want to see the Rams lose at Seattle to bring Cooper Kupp back into play amid reports this week that Los Angeles may hold on to the veteran receiver who played a key role in their Super Bowl run a few years back. The Jets and Mike Williams and the Panthers and Adam Thielen are teams that have fallen in early holes that may just punt until next year entirely if they lose again. Those teams may, in fact, have already decided to sell, but further losses would reduce their leverage with Khan knowing they likely have to dump their bigger names for salary cap relief and draft capital heading into 2025. So as a Steelers fan, root for favorites while your team itself sits idle this Sunday.