Whats Wheaton's Deal?

I've seen solid play from him, he doesn't make a ton of mistakes, but he really hasn't made much improvement over the past couple years. From what I understand we have him locked up until the end of next season, but if anyones gotta go I think it should be him. He doesn't get open a lot. He has 3 touchdowns in his entire career.

He's not a bad player but WR happens to be a position we have plenty of depth at. This man doesn't deserve a big contract, not here in Pittsburgh where I feel like we are going to want to lock Brown and Bryant up for a while.

Wheaton can be replaced, Coats maybe?

He will only be worth keeping if when at the time comes he's shown he can do a little more on the field. If hes not going to produce much at WR, maybe they should start making him the all time kick/ punt returner. He would be better than Jacoby and also he would be helping keep Brown safe. Otherwise I think this is a guy we can afford to lose.

Combination of bad luck and unfulfilled expectations.
Not a good position to be in when AB and Martavis are your competition for getting balls thrown in your direction. Unsettled QB situation this year hasn't helped him.
If Coates progresses he could be expendable.
I'm surprised he hasn't been given the opportunity to take over the punt return job.
I thought he did a pretty good job when he handled KO returns.

He doesnt make any stand out plays, but he doesn't make many mistakes either. I'm sure there would be plenty of teams that would be happy with him but with our depth at the WR position. I really cant remember one point where he made a "highlight reel" like play.

He could have a successful career and put up better numbers somewhere else. I just don't see where he has really made a clutch catch or anything noteworthy.

I think when his contract is up it would be better for both parties if Wheaton and the Steelers part ways

I really don't understand not giving wheaton the ball on returns, he doesnt get much action as a wide out so I don't get why they don't just give him a chance to return punts and kicks, that is the only way he's worth anything to use after next season when we are going to most likely be looking to re-sign Bell and we all know thats not going to be cheap.

Wheaton's issue?

Bell, Brown, Bryant and Heath are above him in the read-order. You're not catching many passes when your running back has 80+ receptions annually*.

*With a healthy starting quarterback.

SteelersCanada wrote:

Wheaton's issue?

Bell, Brown, Bryant and Heath are above him in the read-order. You're not catching many passes when your running back has 80+ receptions annually*.

*With a healthy starting quarterback.

Thats pretty much what I was saying, he seems like hes good enough to put up better numbers than he does for us. Maybe we could trade him to a WR needy team and get something good, like a draft pick. I dont know. It just seems like he's getting pushed aside with Brown and Bryant really lighting it up. He's not a bad player by any means.

Wheaton is a solid number 3 WR. Considering who is usually in front of him in the order. What more do you want from a guy that has Brown, Bell, Bryant, and Miller as Bens options? He has done a solid job up to now why would we want to lose someone that is a contributing member to the offense and knows multiple positions to play as a WR?

Coates may be good but his hands are questionable coming out of college not saying he can't take the spot but he should have to show that he is a significant upgrade over Wheaton before that happens.

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

Wheaton is a solid number 3 WR. Considering who is usually in front of him in the order. What more do you want from a guy that has Brown, Bell, Bryant, and Miller as Bens options? He has done a solid job up to now why would we want to lose someone that is a contributing member to the offense and knows multiple positions to play as a WR?

Coates may be good but his hands are questionable coming out of college not saying he can't take the spot but he should have to show that he is a significant upgrade over Wheaton before that happens.

Yeah. You are right about that. Why fix what's not broken? It would be different if Wheaton were dropping passes or fumbling all the time or something.

I'd say the Steelers have arguably 2 #1 caliber receivers in Brown and Bryant, Bryant is still developing but I think on some teams he would be their #1.

What I'm saying now is that Wheaton could have significant value, we could probably get a high draft pick or perhaps   patch up another position. I'm saying Wheaton would be worth more to another team than he is to us. Although he is a solid #3 receiver for us he could be a solid #2 or who knows maybe even #1 for teams who are WR challenged.

Do you really think we are going to re -sign him after next season? He knows he's good and could get paid more than what we pay him. So what happens with him? do we just let him go in free agency or is there a way we could  benefit from him otherwise. We still need a safety, and a CB. Depth at other positions wouldn't hurt.

This was never meant to be a knock on him. It just seems like he could have a high market value. He has 14 receptions and 255 yards this season. Brown did more than that in 60 minutes Sunday. Next year is the last year of his contract and he will be paid $695,000 dollars for being our #3. Are we really going to out-bid another team to keep him around when we barely ever use him? Is he going to want to stay in the shadows of Brown and Bryant for his entire career? I expect him to ask for too much money and we lose him after next year anyways.

I would suggest we trade him next season and if we don't I don't think he should be paid a  penny more than he is with his current contract although I think some teams would offer him double that to come and play for them.
So instead of losing him in free agency, why not trade him? we could have a number of players take over the #3 role. Sammy Coates as of now is locked up until 2018 under a 4 year contract worth just under 3 million dollars.

If it were up to me which its not, I'd take a good look at Coates and considering sending Wheaton somewhere he can make the money he deserves and put up the numbers he is capable of. We can keep Coates around on his current contract and get Bell signed after next season. Brown is locked up through 2017 Bryant is also under contract through 2017. I think if we want any chance in keeping Bryant and Brown around after 2017 we will have to let Wheaton go one way or another because we know both Brown and Bryant are going to want to get paid.

We literally just have so many playmakers it can change week to week who's seeing the ball, but the majority of the time the ball will be going to Bell, Bryant, and Miller ahead of a guy like Wheaton.

What's the status of Bryant's contract, are we going to be able to keep him? Or will he attract big money elsewhere?

I think Wheaton has improved, I was impressed with a few of his catches early in the season when Bryant was still suspended. He just doesn't get much of a chance to shine.

Wheaton is a good WR. If the Steelers choose to trade him... it should be for a decent OT. OT depth is kind of scary right now. Steelers lose Villanueva or Gilbert... they are toast for '15. I think the '16 draft will add depth the secondary at CB, FS and SS.

what's the deal with this Wheaton? what's he wheaton for, time to step up, eat your wheaties and produce.

Wheaton is fine. He is a smart, high character receiver with little flash. He's a third guy and will always be a third guy. He'll will stay if he accepts a third guy's contract.

As usual, it all comes down to money, dear boy. If he garners too much attention in FA, we're going to have to let him go. He isn't worth big bucks, especially with Coats in the wings. If we can retain him on the cheap though, why not?

The_Joker wrote:

As usual, it all comes down to money, dear boy. If he garners too much attention in FA, we're going to have to let him go. He isn't worth big bucks, especially with Coats in the wings. If we can retain him on the cheap though, why not?

That pretty much sums up what I think about it. I wouldn't blame him for taking a bigger contract for a different team, I think hes worth more than 600,000 a year talent wise.

No idea, qb's don't trust him? For someone with 4.4 speed, and supposedly a good route runner, he doesn't seem to get open much.

He's proven he has the ability, but not the consistency.

Clearly Bryant developed way faster than Wheaton. It seems like every time Bryant gets on the field he gets better, you can almost see a game by game improvement. Last season I dont think he would have made that fancy TD he made last week. Wheaton has improved a little bit too. I wanna see what sammy coats is all about, maybe he would be an upgrade at the wr 3 position.

Forget Sammy coats.  Now is not the time to worry about 4th-5th string rookie wide receivers.

The Steelers are trying to make the playoffs. This is professional NFL, not college football.

Let's just hope Bryant can stay off the wacky tobaccy. That is enough for me

tony hipchest wrote:

Forget Sammy coats.  Now is not the time to worry about 4th-5th string rookie wide receivers.

The Steelers are trying to make the playoffs. This is professional NFL, not college football.

Let's just hope Bryant can stay off the wacky tobaccy. That is enough for me

I'm just talking about going forward, after this season. I don't think draft order matters much, if it did maybe we should have let Brown go.

I wouldn't spend big bucks on Wheaton to keep him. With AB and Bryant in the line-up any solid cheap WR can play the #3 position. And like you said I miss improvement on his part. I have a feeling he has more dropped balls (in %) than last year and catching those few balls that are thrown to him is massively important if he wants to be a bigger part of this offense.

Yeah, this guy sucks.

He looked good today. He was the best option today Brown was well covered and Bryan't could catch a cold. Thats what I've been waiting to see for almost 3 years now.

It amazes me how a team can take out the Steelers 2 best WR, and it's business as usual to Wheaton for 200+ yards. The weapons, and depth, on offense are just incredible. I'd never trade Williams for Bell, but filling he's putting up very similar numbers at this point. Going forward, hopefully the defense can catch up while the offense still has the offensive players in place.

I wonder if any team has ever has 3 receivers with 200 yd games in the same season. Brown and Wheaton both have 200 yd games now, Bryant fell just short against Cleveland and is a threat every week.

If Ben wasn't so far off target Bryant didn't have butter fingers he should of been close to 200 in this game.

Wheat-thins looked great. This team has so many weapons.

Wheaton was absolutely amazing. Player of the game for the Steelers, obviously.