Desmond King added to Steelers starting lineup
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin hinted at changes after a 30-6, touchdown-less loss to the Houston Texans. Fans wished it would mean offensive coordinator Matt Canada would be fired. Instead? Some shuffling around of the roster. A change, yes, but probably not one that turns the Steelers into a vastly more competitive roster.
Desmond King II jumps up from third string in the cornerback depth chart to the starter role, with an "or" designation alongside Chandon Sullivan.
Along with that shared starting responsibility, King is also going to be the new kick returner.
There's not much to lose from switching things up, as neither Patrick Peterson nor Levi Wallace have been spectacular either. Against the Texans, both made C.J. Stroud and his receivers look like a Pro Bowl outing. Peterson graded a 40 in Week 4, Wallace 58.8 (with two sub-50 grade games to start the year).
King, a seven-year veteran, has accrued nine career interceptions and was an offseason pickup. He's played all of his snaps on special teams this season with three kick returns in Week 4 for 69 yards in total. The Steelers have yet to unleash him
On the surface, it looks like a small change, but King has dynamic abilities and could bring an electric charge to a team clearly in need of some juice. Tomlin suggested in previous weeks that he wouldn't be brought into the fold until he had time to digest and acclimate to the Steelers' playbook. He was a later add since he was cut by the Houston Texans in advance of his signing.
Pittsburgh signed Denzel Mims to practice squad
Another small wrinkle is Denzel Mims, a new receiving threat that was signed to the practice squad. Whether or not he gets elevated to the 53-man roster remains to be seen, but even if he doesn't, it should surely light a fire under Kenny Pickett's receivers to either perform or risk losing their role.
It's easy to pick on Pickett for his 30th-best completion percentage through four weeks, but the passing game requires two to tango. Mims add could light a fire under the existing receivers to step up or step out...
Ultimately, though, Pickett is the big issue, and the buck stops with him. He's only thrown 35 catchable passes (yes, fewer than 10 per game), of which only one hasn't been snatched. His completion percentage is almost exactly the same as his expected completion.
Simply put, don't expect a possible practice squad call-up to fix the issues in Pittsburgh's offense.
Matt Canada experience continues to be a ticket to torture
Boy oh boy. Matt Canada is the main character of the Steelers season so far, and in the worst way possible.
On Tuesday, fans speculated that he was the owner of an account on X (formerly Twitter.com) Tweeting non-stop defense and praise of his efforts. Who knows how true that really is.
It's never a good sign, too, that quotes from two days later are being weaponized as an indicator of how mismanged the offense is. If your team's fans, analysts, and team as a whole are still focusing on the missteps of last week by Tuesday instead of ahead to the next matchup, you've got an issue.
Look no further than Tomlin's defense of the 4th-and-1 non-run being that blockers Dan Moore Jr. and Pat Freiermuth weren't available.
As Josh Carney points out, the Steelers have fresh legs to backfill both of those spots. Either there's a severe lack of trust in those two young players, or the person leading the offense is entirely misusing the tools at his disposal.
If you're waiting on the Steelers to cast blame on Matt Canada, you might be waiting a while. Mark Powell pointed out earlier today that Tomlin is more likely to demote Canada and let him coach out his contract rather than fire him based on his past decisions with underperforming managers.
Good, I guess, but how long can Pittsburgh realistically tolerate this putrid offense?
