The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up their 2023 OTA practices on Thursday and one of the more notable positives to come out of those last three weeks of practices is the fact that second-year wide receiver Calvin Austin III now seems fully recovered from the foot injury that cost him his entire 2022 rookie season. That’s great news indeed because the Steelers’ offense certainly could use the explosive play aspect that Austin is expected to bring to the unit.
While Austin, who was selected by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Memphis, probably won’t be an every-down player in his first healthy season, there’s certainly a possibility that he could deliver an explosive play of 20 yards or longer any every-down he touches the football. After all, Austin recorded an explosive play once nearly every four touches during his college career at Memphis. To be more precise, once every 3.8 touches.
If an offensive explosive play rate of 26.2% seems extremely high, that’s because it is. That high rate is made even more impressive by the fact that Austin had 164 total touches during his four seasons at Memphis. In total, Austin registered 43 explosive plays on offense in college and 13 of those resulted in touchdowns. The average length of those 43 explosive plays registered by Austin at Memphis was 36.4 yards, which again, is quite impressive. In case you’re wondering, 41 of those plays were receptions with the other two being runs.
At this point, it should probably be noted that while in college, Austin wasn’t just one of those catch short, run long kind of playmakers. I mean, he has that in his resume, but he also showed he could catch the football down the field as well. In fact, Austin registered 34 receptions that include 15 air yards or more during his four seasons at Memphis. He totaled 156 receptions at Memphis so once every 4.58 times the ball was caught more than 15 yards past the line of scrimmage by him. His average depth of competition at Memphis was a stellar 10.2 yards. Not bad for an FBS player that measured in at the 2022 NFL scouting combine at 5076, 170 pounds.
In 2021, the Steelers’ offense only managed to register just 50 explosive plays of 20 yards or longer. Only four other teams had fewer. Last season wasn’t much better, however, as the Steelers’ offense registered just 52 total explosive plays. To make matters even worse, only two of those 52 explosive plays resulted in touchdowns, which was the worst in the NFL in that stat. The average length of those 52 explosive plays in 2022 was just 27.8 yards, which was also good for last in the NFL.
The Steelers figure to be better on offense in 2023 with quarterback Kenny Pickett now in his second NFL season. Even so, the Steelers offense will need to average at least one more explosive play per game in 2023 if the team wants to make a serious run at the playoffs. Those 17 additional explosive plays will need to come from somewhere and Austin could potentially be a source of roughly half of them. Eight explosive plays from Austin in 2023 would likely require him to touch the football at least 32 times in total, which is certainly doable. If he can remain healthy moving forward, roughly two touches per game on average for Austin in 2023 might just be a great target amount for him.
