The Steelers have agreed to a 2-year, $36.71 million extension with WR Diontae Johnson. The deal locks in the team targets leader through 2024, allowing him to hit the open market ahead of his age-29 season. It's noteworthy that Pittsburgh invested in Johnson after allowing JuJu Smith-Schuster to hit the open market each of the past 2 years, including this year's departure to Kansas City.

The Steelers placed RB Jeremy McNichols on IR with a shoulder injury, ending his 2022 season. McNichols signed with Pittsburgh just last week. Undrafted rookie RB Master Teague was signed in a corresponding roster move. Benny Snell remains the favorite for the Steelers' #2 RB job.

The Steelers have opened contract talks with WR Diontae Johnson, per team insider Gerry Dulac. That lines up with the words from GM Omar Kahn, who said today that he’s been in touch with Johnson’s reps. “We want Diontae,” Kahn said. “We’re excited for him this season. We hope he’ll be a Steeler for a long time.” Johnson’s been a limited practice participant to date. We’ll see if both sides can agree on the financials ahead of Week 1.

Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett worked with the 2nd team Monday, ahead of Mason Rudolph. Should we read anything into that? "You should not," HC Mike Tomlin told reporters afterward, according to BehindtheSteelCurtain.com. "But I'm sure you will." Tomlin said he'll keep rotating QBs. Expect the alignments to start mattering more the further we get into August.

Steelers RB Najee Harris left Monday's practice early with a left foot injury, but it doesn't sound serious. "Somebody stepped on his foot, but it shouldn't be a major deal," HC Mike Tomlin said, according to Steelers Depot. We'll keep an eye on the situation, but it doesn't seem like we should worry.

"If the first three practices are any indication, George Pickens is going to be a huge factor in this [Steelers] offense," ESPN's Brooke Pryor tweeted on Friday. It reads a little hyperbolic, but Pickens has been creating consistent buzz from multiple Steelers beat writers early in camp. And we loved him as a prospect, so we wouldn't be surprised to see him make a significant rookie-year impact. Highlight Pickens as an intriguing late-round flier in fantasy drafts.

Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett has been “erratic and inconsistent” early in training camp, per The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly. Meanwhile, Mitch Trubisky has been “progressing” and Mason Rudolph — get this — “continues to shine.” Through 3 practices, all 1st-team reps have gone to Trubisky; all 2nd-team reps to Rudolph. Translation: Pickett, despite his Round 1 status, is an extreme long-shot to start the opener at Cincinnati.

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth is dealing with a hamstring injury, according to HC Mike Tomlin. We don't have any other details at this point but will keep you updated as we learn more.

Steelers WR Diontae Johnson is sitting out team drills at training camp. Johnson, of course, is entering the final year of his rookie deal. "I acknowledge that he was less than 100% participation," HC Mike Tomlin said Wednesday. "We'll continue to manage the circumstance. But right now, my energy and focus is on those that are participating, and I think that's the appropriate mindset to have from time to time.” Johnson, 26, said he wants to stay in Pittsburgh long-term but acknowledges the business side of the league. "I learned you can't take stuff personally because it's business at the end of the day," he said. "That's what I'm learning, slowly. It's just like anything, stuff gets frustrating, but it's how you respond to it. I'm not letting that get to me at all; I am just going to keep going at it and worrying about the right things.” We’ll see if any progress is made in the coming days.

Steelers beat writer Chris Adamski described WR George Pickens as the “clear WR3” early in training camp. As expected. Pickens’ raw talent has flashed early on, but it’ll likely take something close to a flawless performance over the coming weeks to overtake Chase Claypool. Pickens remains an intriguing redraft stash and best ball flier.

Robert Mays of The Athletic recently spent a couple of days at Rams training camp, and here was his "main takeaway" from the time: "The staff here is in love with Allen Robinson. From his approach in meetings to what he can give them in this offense. His route tree and where he can line up are more varied than they'd even hoped. Potential monster year incoming." We're not quite sure a "monster year" will be in order, given that incumbent #1 WR Cooper Kupp is coming off his own monster year (plus other talent on hand). But Robinson has undoubtedly landed in a good situation. And we're at least on board with liking him in fantasy football drafts.

The Steelers added RB Jeremy McNichols on a 1-year contract. In a corresponding move, RB Trey Edmunds was released. McNichols, 26, spent 2020-2021 as a backup but flashed last season with 28 catches for 240 yards. Pittsburgh’s backfield is unsettled behind Najee Harris, so McNichols has a real chance at earning a roster spot. Still, he’s nowhere near the redraft radar.

Steelers beat writer Brian Batko writes that “there’s no indication” the team is interested in trading WR Diontae Johnson. Recently, rumors popped up that Pittsburgh was interested in trading the contract-year WR, but there’s no substance here. While the Steelers are considered unlikely to re-sign the 26-year-old — he’ll command a pretty penny next offseason — the team will stick with a win-now approach. HC Mike Tomlin’s never gone worse than 8-8 in a given season.

Rams insider Cam DaSilva told us to expect a big bounce-back season from WR Allen Robinson. "I love the fit of Allen Robinson as the #2 receiver opposite [Cooper] Kupp," DaSilva said. "He's a different type of receiver than the Rams have had over the years ... bigger, physical receiver. He can stretch the field a little bit ... He can do pretty much everything in the offense. He's not gonna be strictly an 'X' receiver ... He can run the routes that Cooper Kupp can run. He's gonna run probably screen routes, too, and these little hitches ... I think he's gonna have probably one of his best seasons in the NFL this year with Matthew Stafford." DaSilva also noted that Stafford has gotten big seasons out of other big-bodied receivers like Calvin Johnson and Kenny Golladay. We're buying the bounce-back for Robinson, who cracks the top 20 WRs in our current PPR rankings. Check out the full interview with DaSilva -- also talking Stafford, Cam Akers and the Rams offensive line -- right here.

Steelers beat writer Chris Adamski believes WR George Pickens is in position to play a “significant role” by the end of the 2022 season. Patience might be key here, as he's coming off a March 2021 ACL tear. (Pickens, however, managed to appear in 4 games with Georgia last year.) While his size (6’3, 200), speed (4.47 forty) and early breakout age (18.5) signal a potential difference-maker, targets will be tough to earn early on. Current 2022 WR projections have him down for 63 targets.

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth shared his expectations for the 2022 season. “I should be more in the range of 800, 900 (season) yards, so I think I definitely need to get (yards/reception) higher and want to push the ball down the field,” Freiermuth said. As a rookie, the Penn State product posted 497 yards at just 8.3 yards per catch. Eric Ebron departed this offseason, while Pittsburgh only added rookie Connor Heyward in Round 6. Increased production is likely for Freiermuth, but current projections have the TE falling shy of the 800-900-yard range.

ESPN's Brooke Pryor gives Steelers QB Kenny Pickett a 2% chance of winning the Week 1 starting job. "Throughout OTAs and minicamp, Pickett consistently took third-string reps behind [Mitchell] Trubisky and [Mason] Rudolph," Pryor writes. "To supplant Trubisky as the starter by Week 1, Pickett would have to be the second coming of Johnny Unitas as soon as he hits training camp." We'd give Pickett a better shot at starting opening day just because the competition is so underwhelming. But we've also heard other Steelers beat writers call Trubisky the heavy favorite for the Week 1 nod. We're still projecting Pickett to start more games than Trubisky this year, but it's tough to like the rookie in best-ball drafts if he won't start the whole season.

NFL insider Jordan Schultz believes Rams WR Allen Robinson will have his best season to date in 2022. A-Rob once posted 80-1400-14, but that was back in 2015. So we’ll forgive Schultz for that one. Still, there’s a ton of hype behind Robinson’s bounce-back candidacy. And he’s certainly off to a strong start alongside Cooper Kupp. “We’ve been able to feed off each other off the get go,” Robinson said. “Being able to just sit down, talk football as we’re watching and going over different routes, seeing different angles. I think that’s the biggest thing is the two of us are guys that are very versatile across the board. We both can do a lot of different things and I think that gives us a tremendous advantage because it’s not predictable at all to what either of us will be doing when it comes to a particular concept.” The almost 29-year-old remains an upside WR2.

New Rams OC Liam Coen gave his early impressions of WR Allen Robinson. "I think his route tree is extremely expanded from probably years ago, or maybe what we've had our other receivers do," Coen said at minicamp. "I mean, he can run a lot of routes that Cooper [Kupp] can, you know – some of those option routes and choice routes and things that we asked Cooper to do – because he just has an unbelievable ability to play underneath, himself.” Robinson, 29 in August, looks primed for a rebound alongside Matt Stafford and Sean McVay. He profiles as a top-20 WR for the upcoming season.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett practiced with the third-team offense this offseason, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. While a contender for the starting job, Pickett has an “uphill battle” to start the opener at Cincinnati, per Pryor. Outside of superflex leagues, it's easy to avoid Pittsburgh QBs in 2022 fantasy drafts.