The Pittsburgh Steelers may not end up with a high-profile wide receiver before the NFL trade deadline, but you can't claim that it was because of a lack of effort.
During the 2024 NFL Draft, we learned that Omar Khan reached out to the 49ers about a trade for a star receiver. When Davante Adams became available, Pittsburgh was one of the first teams to come knocking. These efforts weren't the only wide receiver trade attempts that fell through.
On Sunday, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported that the Steelers called the Los Angeles Rams about a trade for Cooper Kupp 'a month ago'.
“They’ve been calling around. They even called around like a month ago for the Rams trying to get a guy like Cooper Kupp,” Glazer said on FOX NFL Kickoff. “There’s just not a bunch of huge names. The huge names have kind of already moved out. Amari Cooper, Davante Adams. But there are teams like the Steelers looking for a wide receiver.”
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the recent surge by the Rams has vaulted them to second place in the NFC West despite their 4-4 record. Had they dropped their past two games against the Vikings and Seahawks, respectively, we could have been looking at a team willing to part with a starting wide receiver.
Whether or not the Rams stand a great shot at earning a playoff spot or competing with the cream of the crop in the postseason is irrelevant. Nobody is going to convince head coach Sean McVay to wave the white flag on the 2024 season.
If their previous two games had gone the other way, we would be looking at a team with a 2-6 record on the season. This record would have helped the organization come to grips with reality and prioritize 2025 draft capital over a naive hope of making a run in 2024.
Instead, we can officially wipe Cooper Kupp off the Steelers' last-ditch effort trade board. Pittsburgh will frantically search for options before the 4:00 p.m. ET deadline on November 5, but the Rams won't be sellers this year.
