Steelers minicamp notebook: No. 2 WR spot ‘is all Calvin Austin’s'

For the second year in a row, Zach Azzanni’s job description involves presiding over a Pittsburgh Steelers position group that is widely recognized as in need of an upgrade.

“Everyone’s downplaying (and) underplaying our group right now,” Azzanni, the Steelers’ wide receivers coach, said Wednesday.

“I love it that way.”

The consensus from the outside is that the Steelers have a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver in veteran DK Metcalf but not much beyond him. Azzanni, though, counters that they have a solid WR2 in fourth-year pro Calvin Austin III.

“I think that ‘2’ spot is all Calvin’s right now,” Azzanni said before Wednesday’s Steelers minicamp session at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

Steelers WR coach Zach Azzanni emphatically declares Calvin Austin III as the Steelers WR2 pic.twitter.com/O0u7BanlgK

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) June 11, 2025

As measured by production, Austin was the Steelers’ WR2 behind George Pickens last season. Austin’s 36 catches and 548 receiving yards ranked second among the team’s wide receivers, and his four receiving touchdowns were one more than Pickens.

With Pickens traded to the Dallas Cowboys last month, Metcalf – himself a trade acquisition in March – effectively swapped with Pickens into that alpha WR role on the Steelers.

Barring the real possibility of a trade or late free-agent signing, previous veteran free-agent signee Robert Woods and 2024 third-round pick Roman Wilson are the other serious candidates to slot in as WR2.

Austin is generously listed at 5 feet 9. Metcalf is 6-4, 229 pounds.

“(Austin) and DK are such different players,” Azzanni said. “There are going to be plays where he is the ‘1’ guy (when) that’s his route and vice versa, because they are so different in stature and things of that nature.”

Consistency needed

It’s no secret the ability for Broderick Jones to adjust to left tackle is among the most significant X-factors in the Steelers’ 2025 season. Jones’ position coach believes the key to Jones’ success is simple.

“There’s no magic behind it,” Steelers offensive line coach Pat Meyer said.

The No. 14 overall pick of the 2023 draft, Jones played right tackle his first two seasons with mediocre results. To thrive on the opposite side, Meyer contends all Jones needs to display is consistency.

“Any technique or block that we’ve taught him here, he’s done it,” Meyer said. “He’s done it well in the past. It’s just doing it over and over. It’s continually hitting the same blocks on a consistent basis. That’s it.”

Still no Watt

If there was any question after he missed the first day of minicamp Tuesday, star edge defender T.J. Watt was again absent from Wednesday’s practice as he and the Steelers maneuver in regards to a contract extension.

The player with whom Watt in recent years has shared the defensive co-captaincy with insists Watt missing is not a distraction.

“I think it’s more of a distraction for y’all (in the media),” defensive lineman Cam Heyward said. “If you check these practices out, guys are fully locked in, trying to get better. Of course, we would love to have T.J. out there, but it doesn’t change the mission of everybody just trying to get better.”

Last summer, it was Heyward who was publicly irked by his contract status. Watt in 2021 did a “hold in” where he attended all the Steelers’ practices but sat out team drills. During Heyward’s 15 years with the Steelers, to varying degrees, Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alex Highsmith, Diontae Johnson and others have had summers of some level of discontent while entering the final seasons of their respective then-existing contracts.

“We’ve all been through this,” Heyward said. “T.J.’s been through it before.

“Obviously, he would love for it to be done. Hopefully we’re moving towards that way, but I’m not going to speculate. I just want both sides to win – our team to be complete and us to have a (perennial) defensive player candidate out there with us, giving us a chance to win.”