After months of inactivity, Pittsburgh Steelers’ General Manager Omar Khan got busy today. His first move was to trade for New York Jets’ WR Mike Williams in exchange for a fifth round pick. I had some earlier thoughts on that. Khan wasn’t finished however as he then added veteran DE/EDGE Preston Smith from the Green Bay Packers. The Steelers gave up a seventh for his services.
I’m actually more impressed with the Smith acquisition than I am with Williams. The Steelers and Mike Tomlin loved Smith coming out of Mississippi State back in 2015. He was ultimately drafted by Washington before he moved on to Green Bay after four seasons. Smith is incredibly long and physical and should be able to play down or up as an outside linebacker. What I really like about Smith besides the experience is his durability.
He’s played in all nine games for the Packers and never played less than 16 games since his career started. As the old saying goes, there’s nothing more important than availability. As for how the Steelers will deploy him, that remains to be seen. The DeMarvin Leal role seems like the best fit for him. Whether he can get up to speed quickly enough to play Sunday is uncertain but I’m not betting against him.
His arrival comes after the Steelers were bludgeoned in the ground game against the New York Giants. While I think that was a bit of a wake up call, I also think Smith will be used to spell T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith along with Nick Herbig who will hopefully be back this Sunday. Smith has 68.5 career sacks so he knows how to get to the quarterback. Bottom line? You can never have enough pass rushers.
While both Smith and Williams appear to be rentals for the remainder of the season, their play will go a long ways towards the possibility of a future in Pittsburgh.
