Jets' Allen Lazard trade destination just became painfully obvious
To say Allen Lazard’s New York Jets tenure has been an adventure would be an understatement. It’s been defined by misfortune, drops, injuries, and multiple instances of being a healthy scratch.
The Iowa State product arrived in 2023 as a trusted target for Aaron Rodgers, only for Rodgers to famously tear his Achilles just four plays into the season. Lazard finished the year with just 23 receptions for 311 yards.
He rebounded in 2024 with a healthy Rodgers under center, posting 37 catches for 530 yards, but that production was overshadowed by six drops.
Then came another twist: the Jets let Rodgers walk, and he’s unsurprisingly thriving with the Pittsburgh Steelers, leading them to a 4–1 record while New York remains winless.
Lazard, meanwhile, has seen just six targets through four games and has become an afterthought buried deep on the depth chart, hardly a sign that he’s valued by the current regime.
And now, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter on The Pat McAfee Show, the Steelers are actively searching for a wide receiver to pair with Rodgers. If the Jets are looking for a trade partner for Lazard, this potential landing spot couldn’t be waving its arms any higher.
Pittsburgh makes too much sense to land Lazard
Before returning to the obvious part of this, the Steelers do, in fact, need another wide receiver beyond DK Metcalf.
Wideout depth in the Steel City is thin. Calvin Austin III is the only other natural receiver consistently making plays, while most of the passing work has gone to running backs Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, who have combined for 32 receptions. Three tight ends have also been among the primary targets. That setup doesn’t exactly give Pittsburgh multiple downfield threats.
The Steelers could certainly use a higher-level receiver to stretch the field, but finding one more than a quarter of the way into the season and giving that player time to learn a new offense will not be easy.
So, what better solution than acquiring someone the quarterback already knows and trusts? Enter Allen Lazard.
Lazard has spent seven of his eight NFL seasons catching passes from Aaron Rodgers, with this year being the only one they have been apart, for now. They have been side by side for years, and Lazard remains one of Rodgers’ few longtime favorite targets still active in the league.
It is also hard to imagine the price tag being high if Pittsburgh and New York strike a deal. Lazard, as mentioned, is an afterthought in the Jets’ receiver rotation. Maybe the cost is a 2026 seventh-round pick, or even a 2027 seventh, at most. The Jets will not get much and would be lucky to get anything at all.
This feels like too easy of a match. Lazard does not have a future in New York, and Rodgers needs another weapon. Let’s see if the two sides tango before the trade deadline.
‘No Setbacks’ in Recovery for Record Setting Buccaneers WR
There weren’t many players in the NFL — not just on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — who were playing better than wide receiver Jalen McMillan at the end of the 2024 regular season.
That’s why it was such a blow when McMillan was injured in an August 16 preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and an even bigger shock when the Buccaneers revealed he would miss at least the first 8 games of the regular season with a severe neck sprain.
Almost 2 months after his injury, McMillan is reportedly still on track to return this season, but not until a Week 14 home game against the New Orleans Saints.
“Bucs receiver Jalen McMillan remains in a neck brace two months after his severe sprain in August, but hasn’t had any setbacks,” Fox Sports NFL Reporter Greg Auman wrote on his official X account on October 13. “On course for a December return right now. Some of the original reporting on McMillan’s timetable had mentioned a Week 10 return after the Bucs’ bye, but the expectation was a December return and still is.”
Concern for Bucs WR Jalen McMillan after taking this hit from Steelers backup DB Darryl Porter. Ugh.
McMillan Dominant at End of Rookie Year
McMillan, a 2024 third round pick (No. 92 overall), had 37 receptions for 461 yards and 8 touchdowns as a rookie. He put up the bulk of those stats down the stretch with 24 receptions for 316 yards over the final 5 games of the regular season — a stretch in which he led the NFL with 7 touchdowns.
From the Buccaneers’ official X account in December 2024: “J Mac’s 4 straight games with a TD grab is tied for the fourth-longest streak by a rookie in NFL history.”
For the third consecutive season dating back to his final year at the University of Washington, McMillan will miss games due to an injury. He missed 4 games in 2023 with a MCL sprained and 4 games due to hamstring injuries in 2024.
In the 6 seasons dating back to his freshman year of college, McMillan has just one year where he didn’t miss games due to injury, when he had 79 receptions for 1,098 yards and 9 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2022.
It seems like if McMillan is on a football field for any extended period of time, it’s almost a certainty he’s going to get hurt.
Buccaneers Having Terrible Time With Injuries
For the second season in a row the projected 3 starting wide receivers for the Buccaneers have all missed games due to injury.
NFL All-Pro Chris Godwin missed 9 games in 2024 due to a dislocated left ankle and will miss his fifth game this season in Week 7 against the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football. NFL All-Pro Mike Evans missed 3 games in 2024 due to a hamstring injury and has missed 2 games in 2025 with the same issue.
Egbuka, who leads the Buccaneers with 27 receptions for 469 yards and 5 touchdowns, is now on track to miss time after suffering a hamstring injury of his own in a Week 6 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
With Evans, Egbuka and Godwin all out against the 49ers, quarterback Baker Mayfield threw the first career touchdown passes to 2 different wide receivers — rookie Tez Johnson and second year player Kam Johnson.
