The Colts have made their second big wide receiver move of the day: Michael Pittman has been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Colts received a late-round pick swap in return, while Pittman got a three-year, $59 million deal to rock black and yellow for the foreseeable future.

Michael Pittman To Pittsburgh Steelers — Fantasy Football Outlook

While Pittman's name won't be in the conversation for the position's top-10 talents, he deserves credit for being a consistent accumulator during his time in Indy. Hell, the man has basically been a WR2 in fantasy land whenever not playing through a broken back or being forced to catch passes from a 45-year-old Grandpa.

Now, Pittman hasn't exactly been the world's most efficient receiver while accomplishing all this. More of a jack of all trades, master of none, Pittman generally wins in the underneath and intermediate areas of the field and isn't exactly someone to expect constant explosive plays out of. Overall, he's posted good, not great, marks in yards per route run (1.71, 47th) and targets per route run (23.3%, 29th) among 159 WRs with at least 100 targets over the past five seasons.

Good news for Pittman's fantasy truthers and future managers: He now finds himself in a Steelers offense that should be more than willing to feed him the rock. After all, DK Metcalf is basically the only other WR with a pulse on the roster at the moment, and de facto No. 2 pass-game option/reigning team MVP (lol, but seriously) Kenneth Gainwell took his talents to Tampa Bay in free agency.

Of course, the thing about volume in fantasy football land is that it's a lot cooler when it's coming from a good QB—something 42-year-old future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers hasn't been for quite some time. It's possible Pittman is deployed closer to the line of scrimmage than Metcalf and accordingly winds up vying for the team lead in targets, but expecting oodles of fantasy-friendly red-zone opportunities could be wishful thinking inside an offense that didn't exactly light up scoreboards last season.

2025 Steelers offense:

• Points per game: 22 (15th)
• Pass success rate: 44.4% (20th)
• Explosive pass play rate: 11.4% (26th)
• Passing yards per game: 202.4 (22nd)

Fantasy Football Rankings For Michael Pittman, DK Metcalf, Josh Downs and Alec Pierce

Ultimately, Pittman's way-too-early WR39 ADP feels about right for his new digs as well. This puts him in the same range as the Jaguars and Cardinals WRs, who also have at least somewhat uncertain target share possibilities in passing games not exactly expected to resemble the 2007 Patriots. I'm comfortable with Pittman in this range, and he could surprise if we do, in fact, see Mr. Rodgers prefer him over Metcalf, who slides down into borderline WR3 territory himself thanks to the newfound target competition at hand.

From the Colts' standpoint: Clearly, the associated salary with Pittman was the primary driver here, as Indy's decision to make Alec Pierce a VERY rich man early on Monday made it tough to stomach also paying Pittman. They are now in need of a third receiver to complement Pierce and Josh Downs, although the presence of target hog TE Tyler Warren makes it not overly necessary to spend too heavily on quite possibly the offense's No. 4 pass-game option.

For now, all parties involved deserve a boost up the fantasy ranks thanks to the departure of someone well accustomed to earning triple-digit targets—I'm particularly intrigued with Downs' upside, considering he was regularly deployed in the same areas of the field as Pittman. Similar excitement should be shared for Warren, who himself was on his way to a MASSIVE rookie season before cooling off a bit down the stretch, undoubtedly at least somewhat due to the team's aforementioned late-season issues at quarterback.

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