MARCH 18: The official numbers on the Pittman extension emerged Wednesday, and the Steelers will have the former 1,000-yard pass catcher on a considerable discount compared to where he was with the Colts. Pittman is tied to a two-year, $35MM Pittsburgh deal, according to OverTheCap. It comes with $24MM guaranteed at signing. No guarantees are in place beyond 2026.
Previously tied to a three-year, $72MM pact, Pittman will receive his guarantee in the form of a signing bonus and a guaranteed $1.3MM 2026 base salary. At $17.5MM per year, the 6-foot-4 receiver matches Jerry Jeudy and Wan’Dale Robinson per year; the trio are tied for 23rd among wideout AAV.
MARCH 9, 7:24pm: Pittsburgh is sending a sixth-round pick for Pittman and a seventh, per the Pat McAfee Show‘s Mark Kaboly. This amounts to a salary dump by a Colts team that needed money for the Pierce payday and Jones’ tag.
Our Colts Offseason Outlook broached the Pierce-for-Pittman swap on the team’s payroll, and the club found a taker. The Steelers have their Metcalf complementary piece. Pittman, the first Colt to be franchise-tagged since McAfee (2013), is heading into an age-29 season.
11:52am: The Colts retained wide receiver Alec Pierce with a mega-deal on Monday, but they will say goodbye to another key pass catcher. The team has agreed to trade Michael Pittman Jr. to the Steelers, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports. The deal will be a late-round pick swap, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
The Steelers are awarding Pittman a three-year, $59MM extension, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. The 28-year-old otherwise would have played out the last season of his contract in 2026.
Days after the Colts placed the $37.83MM transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones, Pierce stayed in place on a four-year, $116MM agreement. That left the Colts in need of cap space. By saying goodbye to Pittman, they will save $24MM at the cost of $5MM in dead money.
A consistently strong contributor since the Colts grabbed him in Round 2 of the 2020 draft, Pittman has reached 80 catches in four of his six seasons. He has also exceeded 1,000 yards twice. While 2025 was a down year in terms of yards per catch (9.8), Pittman still hauled in 80 passes for 784 yards and a personal-best seven touchdowns. He played in all 17 games for the second time in his career. Other than a 13-game rookie year, Pittman has never missed more than one contest in a season.
Although the Steelers do not have an established starting quarterback in place, expectations are that Aaron Rodgers will eventually re-sign. Rodgers quarterbacked the Steelers to 10 wins and an AFC North title last season, but the team lacked weapons at receiver after D.K. Metcalf. While Metcalf finished with 850 yards in 15 games, no other Steeler hit 500. Second receiver Calvin Austin, now a free agent, totaled 31 catches for 372 yards in 14 games. Meanwhile, no one from the Roman Wilson/Adam Thielen/Marquez Valdes-Scantling group posed much of a threat.
Regardless of who is under center for Pittsburgh in 2026, he should benefit from Pittman’s presence. The 6-foot-4, 223-pounder will give the Steelers a second proven wideout to complement Metcalf.
I like this deal for the Steelers. Nice move, especially if it’s a later round pick.
Great move for the Steelers. Feels like a great complementary skill set to Metcalf. Very sound top two receiver tandem.
why so little for pittman?
Wondering the same..
Probably because it’s more of a salary dump to accommodate Pierce and maybe Daniel Jones. It’ll be interesting to see how Pierce does as the true #1 option facing more coverage.
Everybody is wondering that.
Yeah his salary wasn’t cheap but it’s not like he’s overpaid. He’s still fairly young and has been a standout for Indy prior to this year.
Pittman was due $29 mil for 2026, so new deal he was “awarded” by Pittsburgh is more in line with his worth @ around $20 mil per season. Indy couldn’t afford both Pierce & Pittman, Pittman can be replaced with a 4rd or 4th rounder. Pierce more than likely a 1st
Pittman can most definitely not be replaced by a 4th rounder.
I think, as others have said, salary dump due to money given to Pierce.
Also, Pittman only has 2026 remaining on his contract. Needs a new deal after 2026…so could be a one-season loner.
Na the Steelers immediately extended him.
Well done — just saw it. Thank you for the correction!
Love this for 3/$59m!
If it was a salary dump, I think it’s still surprising that this was the best deal out there,
DK and Pittman is a nice 1-2 punch. If only they had someone to throw them the ball.
They will
Some people (like baseball trade conspiracies) really need to learn what the term snowflake actually means.
I’ve never seen any proof of Rodgers being soft or unable to take criticism or expecting to be catered to everywhere he goes.
Stop throwing around words you don’t understand, BTC.
Way tostupid..a snowflake isn’t just a liberal or a conservative. A snowflake is a moron. Look on the mirror, you will see a snowflake
Snowflake was never a political term. It was coined by people mocking the influx of entitled transplants into their neighborhoods years before it was used politically.
The whole point of the term is to mock the fact that snowflakes were told they were special and unique their whole lives.
Your tryhard nonsense is pathetic, and you’re lucky you’re online talking this ish, powderpuff. It’s very obvious you’re overcompensating, snowflake.
And only a butthurt orange thin skinned clown would cream himself over my using the term snowflake. Thin skinned, like you’re orange ifol.
In political discourse, the term “snowflake” is increasingly being used to describe MAGA supporters, a reversal of its original use by the right to mock liberals.
Critics and political figures now frequently apply the label to Donald Trump’s base in response to several recent trends:
Thin skinned
I’m not the one, tryhard.
It wasn’t originally used to describe liberals, and you’re still using it wrong.
You’re a punk point blank period. Tough talk and nothing else. Overcompensating on the internet while pushing your pathetic, narcissistic politics that aren’t even original to you because you clearly don’t have an original thought in your head.
As long as its not snowflake Rodgers
I know you hate the guy, but I am willing to bet that Rodgers can throw these two the ball.
Really, though, I’d feel better for Pittsburgh if they use this draft to add a quality lineman (or two) and another back. Unfortunately, their defense also needs work. As for now, though, this is still a good move to at least give them a second target, which was probably their biggest individual need this past year.
Pittman Jr. baby. Comes to the Steel Nation. That’s exactly what we needed. Now all we need is a bona fide quarterback. And we are set.
Holy smokes the Steelers have a legit #2 wr
Surprised other teams like the Patriots or Chiefs were not on this at that price. Great deal for Pittsburgh makes me wonder what the Colts are thinking?
Seriously! This is a crazy move football wise for Indy.
Guess they’re drafting a WR in the second. Do they even have a second round pick?
This trade makes sense financially for Indy but not in any other way.
A late round pick swap for your #2 WR who’s a former 1,000 yard guy and isn’t even 29? Crazy.
Great move I thought colts would keep him tbh but this makes tons of sense.
Love the move. Definitely did not see a trade for Pittman coming. Now, we have to figure out the QB situation sooner rather than later.
Steelers making a great move here. Bring in a QB on the cheap and they could still do something this year with how volatile that division is.
Solid. Now let’s see if the Steelers acquire a true RB.
Well they let gainwell get away
Gainwell is a good number two, but he’s certainly not a lead back. Pittsburgh’s problem is that Warren is similar. Both of those guys are better when not overexposed.
That said, Gainwell was really, really effective as a receiver. Pittsburgh could have definitely benefitted from retaining him, but they really lacked consistent ability to run inside (which is, of course, what Smith wanted to do more than anything else). Part of that is on the offensive line, but part is also the fact that Pittsburgh was using two running backs who, while being decent players (Warren was making guys miss for any positive yardage he gained, particularly in the first half of the year), were not truly inside runners. McCarthy will not have the same run scheme, but it would behoove the Steelers to have a consistent inside runner nonetheless to complement Warren better.
Rico to the rescue
Really bad move by the colts. Pierce is only open down field bc pittman gets more attention and Taylor’s presence can hold the safeties for a second.
In no world would pittman be traded for pierce and jones, yet the colts decided to do make this deal with themselves.
Pittman is a reliable pass catcher but doesn’t have much burst and offers very little YAC. Any team in the league would trade him for Jones and Pierce if salaries are taken out of the equation.
This is a good addition for the Steelers but a WR probably won’t help improve their 29th rank in time of possession.
Wow, fantastic bargain for a no.2 like Pittman, no drama at all and consistently puts up 800-1100 yds every year. Cost was only a late day 3 pick swap, extremely shocked the Pats didn’t go for this
remember when the steelers used to draft and develop good receivers ?
Well, that was when they had strong coordinators like Bruce Arians and Todd Haley. It was quite impressive. Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, Martavis Bryant, Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster…
We’ll see how this new regime does.