With the start of the new league year now right around the corner, the Pittsburgh Steelers are attempting to re-sign a few of their own players who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents. According to Rand Getlin, the Steelers have agreed to a multi-year deal with wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey.
Heyward-Bey, who originally signed with the Steelers in 2014, caught 21 passes for 314 yards and 2 touchdowns last season. Additionally, he played quite extensively on special teams over the course of the last two seasons.
Re-signing Heyward-Bey would ensure that the Steelers have all five wide receivers that ended the 2015 season on the roster under contract back for the 2016 season.
The re-signing of Heyward shouldn’t really have any impact on fellow Steelers wide receiver Sammie Coats, who was drafted last year in the third round out of Auburn. While Coates received very limited playing time during his rookie season, he did see action in the Steelers playoff loss to the Denver Broncos being as starter Antonio Brown was forced to miss the game due to a concussion.
Coates should see his role in the Steelers offense increase in 2016 and especially being as fellow wide receiver Markus Wheaton is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
According to Ian Rapoport, Heyward-Bey’s new contract is for three-years and totals out at $3.8 million.
