Pittman Jr Excited For Fresh Start With Steelers After Trade
Michael Pittman Jr. is looking forward to a fresh start with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 28-year-old receiver had spent the past five years as the Indianapolis Colts’ go-to receiver, posting over 1,000 receiving yards in two of those seasons. He’ll have a lot more help in Pittsburgh this time around as he’ll team up with DK Metcalf, a fellow 6-foot-4 receiver who is a two-time Pro Bowler and former All-Pro selection.
With Pittman Jr. and Metcalf at 6-foot-4 and over 220 pounds, they’re the biggest starting wide receiver duo in the NFL. The veteran receiver says a number of Steelers reached out to him shortly after the trade, including Cam Heyward, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, Pat Freiermuth, and Ben Skowronek.
“We have a really great base group of guys,” said Pittman Jr. in a one-on-one interview with R.org. “Obviously, everybody knows DK, and then me coming here, so it made some news. But we have a lot of guys that are also in that room, Roman (Wilson), you got Ben (Skowronek) too who also does some special teams and offense too. But I think it just presents a challenge to defenses that if you’re going to try to cover DK, then it’s going to leave me open. If you’re going to try to cover me, it’s going to leave DK open. You try and cover us, it’s going to leave Rico (Dowdle) and Jaylen (Warren) open to run up the field. There’s so many weapons, and there’s so many great players, even our tight ends and everything.”
Rodgers Decision, NFL Idols
Pittman Jr. said he hopes four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers will return, but that he’s also confident in the Steelers’ other two quarterbacks, Rudolph and Howard.
“We’re just waiting to hear from old man Rodgers and see what his plan is,” Pittman said while smiling. “If he’s going to come back, then that’s going to be great. And if not, then we got two guys that we believe in and we’re going to roll.”
The veteran receiver is the son of former longtime NFL running back Michael Pittman, who spent 11 seasons in the NFL and won a Super Bowl as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
When asked who was his favorite player while growing up, Pittman Jr. said he actually admired Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis and standout defensive back Patrick Peterson. The 6-foot-4 said he initially committed to play at USC with the idea he’d play both sides of the football before the USC Trojans had him settle at wide receiver.
He also named receivers such as Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, and Brandon Marshall as some of his favorites growing up. In other words, he idolized big receivers who played a physical style, similar to how he plays the game.
“My favorite player growing up was actually Ray Lewis and Patrick Peterson when he was at LSU, even when he got into the league. But those are my guys. And then when I started playing receiver, I kind of started looking at Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Julio Jones, Megatron (Johnson), AB (Antonio Brown) was also a guy that I like to watch.
“There’s so many great guys like Keenan Allen, Davante Adams, there’s so many great receivers,” Pittman Jr. continued. “But I was always a defensive guy. I don’t know why, I just really loved watching defensive guys play. I actually thought I was going to be a defensive player, but then USC told me that when I got there, because they had told me that. To get me there, they said that I could play both. And then I got there and they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re gonna play receiver now.’ And then there was nothing that I could do about it. So I was already locked in.”
Goals for 2026
When asked if he has any statistical objectives this season, Pittman shut down that notion. He said he has team-oriented goals, and the rest will take care of itself.
“I don’t really set statistical goals, because I feel like that limits your mindset,” said Pittman Jr.
“And then it’s like, ‘Hey, once I hit that, I can let off the gas a little bit.’ So to kind of combat that, I just show up each and every day, and I have my daily targets that help me reach the broader goal, which is obviously division champion, and then conference champion, and then Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, All-Pro and then if you hit those, the chances are that your stats are going to be be pretty darn good,.
“That’s kind of like, how I do just an example of a daily target,” Pittman Jr. continued to say. “For example, come in and catch 250 jugs and walk on the treadmill for 45 minutes and make sure that I do this much time of studying film, and if I hit those targets, it puts me on a path to attain those goals. That’s how I like to look at it, instead of just putting up a random goal, because then it’s like, ‘Okay, I got this goal, but how do I get there?’ You want to set up that roadmap, so then maybe you can even go past that.”