Tim Benz: Additions to Steelers shouldn't stop with Marquez Valdes-Scantling

If reports from ESPN are accurate, the Pittsburgh Steelers will soon sign wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

Good. Any form of depth will help that position. They are seven games into the 2025 NFL season, and Steelers wide receivers not named DK Metcalf have combined for 25 catches.

Valdes-Scantling has a history with Aaron Rodgers, playing his first four seasons in Green Bay while Rodgers was the quarterback. The 31-year-old caught 123 passes for 2,153 yards and 13 touchdowns. He led the NFL in yards per catch (20.9) in 2020 to go along with six touchdowns and 33 receptions.

Since leaving Green Bay after the 2021 campaign, Valdes-Scantling has been a part of teams in Kansas City, Buffalo, New Orleans, Seattle and San Francisco.

True No. 2 wide receivers aren’t just sitting on the street available in free agency in late October. But I suppose that doesn’t preclude “MVS” from being the No. 2 or No. 3 here. He’s not a total answer to the Steelers’ depth concerns at the position. But he’s at least another body to throw into the mix.

What Valdes-Scantling can at least provide is an acquisition to help one area of concern without shipping out any assets. The Steelers have other glaring needs that may require draft capital or their own players going to other teams in exchange for help.

• DeShon Elliott’s Sunday night knee injury creates a major problem at safety. Not to mention the loss of special teams captain Miles Killebrew at that position.

That was a shaky line on the depth chart even before Elliott got hurt. He’s the glue at that position. If he is on the shelf for an extended period, elevating the snap counts of Chuck Clark and Juan Thornhill shouldn’t be the answer exclusively.

And whatever they haven’t seen from Jabrill Peppers so far to allow him more playing time since he joined the club Sept. 10 is unlikely to appear any time soon.

The Steelers could definitely use another safety before the trade deadline Nov. 4.

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• We’ll see how long guard Isaac Seumalo is sidelined. If he is out for a while, that’s not good. Because now Spencer Anderson has to bounce inside to play guard instead of being the extra offensive tackle in the team’s jumbo blocking package that coordinator Arthur Smith loves so much.

Omar Khan may want to snoop around for an available guard, or someone who can handle the third tackle/swing duties Anderson carries if the coaches don’t feel that any of the current backups on the roster (Calvin Anderson, Andrus Peat) can handle the load.

• Despite drafting Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black, the defensive line is still getting gashed in the run game. Maybe a run-stuffing defensive lineman could be had, especially with Daniel Ekuale going down with a knee injury against Green Bay.

• Even though the Steelers have already thrown a lot of assets at the cornerback position, opposing quarterbacks are still throwing at them with great success.

Jalen Ramsey looks like a safety or a slot corner in this defense, not an outside-the-numbers coverage player. Darius Slay only played 32 snaps during the Packers game, and it appears he may not have as much left in the tank as the franchise hoped when it signed him away from Philadelphia. Brandin Echols was a nice acquisition, but I don’t think the coaching staff wants to expose him to significantly higher-leverage duty on a full-time basis.

Perhaps a decent corner good enough to keep Ramsey inside exclusively can come here at the right price if a true safety is unavailable.

If the Steelers are honestly interested in contending in the AFC, one or more of these weaknesses need to be bolstered before the trade deadline. The Steelers have the trade assets to do it. They currently own 12 picks in the 2026 draft.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. They need pieces to move up for a quarterback at the draft here in April. But how far up the ladder are we talking about? And what specific quarterback are we talking about? That crop looks thinner and thinner every time it’s discussed.

For now, the team is struggling, but it is still in first place of a division that may not have a second-place team capable of tracking down the Steelers. Lean into that reality and add some help now.

If such needs are not obvious to Steelers brass at the moment, I bet they will be after they get done playing the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday.