It’s hard to imagine a wilder set of realistic circumstances than the one that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receivers group went through last season. It started with their top player forcing his way out of town via trade, and culminated in the team’s franchise quarterback suffering a season-ending injury after six quarters of play. Their backups had never thrown an NFL pass before.
In between and surrounding those events saw the injury and eventual release of the free agent wide receiver who was signed and brought in that offseason with the intention of starting. Most tragic of all was the sudden passing of Darryl Drake, a longtime veteran wide receivers coach who was entering his second season with the team.