In the most recent episode of the Steelers Stat Geek podcast, I was tasked with trying to verify the idea that wide receivers have their best season in year four with the Pittsburgh Steelers. With Deonte Johnson entering his fourth season in 2022, the idea behind the question was if it would be more cost effective to sign Johnson to a deal prior to year four, if the Steelers are interested in signing Johnson to a deal at all, as the price could go up after another season.
To look at the history, I decided to break down the first four seasons of each of the wide receivers on top of the Steelers all-time receiving yards list.