Football Footnotes: Sean McVay tamps down Cooper Kupp trade talk; Arthur Smith discusses Steelers' WR depth

This Friday’s “Football Footnotes” updates the Cooper Kupp trade watch from a Pittsburgh Steelers’ perspective. There are some interesting numbers for Najee Harris heading into Monday night’s game against the New York Giants.

We look ahead to what is next for 7-0 Pitt after the Panthers blew out Syracuse Thursday night. Also, we preview Saturday’s action for Penn State, West Virginia, Duquesne and Robert Morris.

Not flying the Coop?

The Los Angeles Rams are tamping down the trade speculation regarding Cooper Kupp. The Steelers are among the teams connected to L.A. as possibly having an interest in acquiring the All-Pro wide receiver.

But after the Rams’ 30-20 Thursday night win over the Minnesota Vikings, head coach Sean McVay made it sound like the rumors were blown out of proportion.

“Teams reached out,” McVay said. “Some of the things I’ve seen out there, they’re just not true. We’ve addressed that with those individuals. Teams have called about him, and we let him know what the dialogue was about. There’s a lot of stuff out there where there’s not a lot of accountability to the reports. That’s unfortunate.”

McVay suggested the extent of those trade conversations may have been a bit much.

“I think a lot of the things that were out there were speculation,” McVay continued. “We’re an inside-out organization. I’m really glad to have Cooper Kupp back with us, and that’s what I expect to stay the way it is.”

Sean McVay on Cooper Kupp trade rumors. "The things I've seen out there, they're not true." #Rams pic.twitter.com/mLKHZJOQdt

— Gilberto Manzano (@GManzano24) October 25, 2024

Kupp had five catches for 51 yards and a touchdown during the win. He hadn’t played since Week 2 because of an ankle injury.

Working with what is there

If the Steelers don’t get Kupp, add him to a list of receivers that already includes Brandon Aiyuk and Davante Adams as potential targets the Steelers didn’t land in an effort to bolster their thin wide receiver ranks.

So I asked offensive coordinator Arthur Smith what his view of the wide receiver room is now that the trade deadline is looming on Nov. 5.

“I just focus on who’s up this week. What is the plan for the guys,” Smith said. “Whoever (coach) Mike (Tomlin) and (general manager) Omar (Khan) send my way, I’ll coach ‘em up. I don’t worry about that other stuff. It’s irrelevant. It’s like wasting energy.

“Overall, the group, we just need to continue to get better and improve. That’s real. That’s every day.”

Smith is right. The need for improvement is real. That improvement hasn’t manifested very much as of yet in 2024.

Right now, the Steelers leading receiver is George Pickens with 31 catches. Every other WR on the team has combined for 24.

For the sake of context, Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin leads the NFL in catches so far with 50 all by himself.

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Another big night for Najee?

The prospect of a third straight 100-yard game for Najee Harris exists this week as the Steelers face the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football.”

The Giants are allowing 5.4 yards per carry. That is tied with New Orleans for the most in the NFL. Saquon Barkley just piled up 176 yards on the ground against the Giants last week. Harris put up 106 yards in Las Vegas and 102 yards against the New York Jets over the past two games.

NAJEE HARRIS ARE YOU SERIOUS!?

????: #PITvsLV on CBS/Paramount+
????: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/6uP3rKdzdD

— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024

Here’s another number that’s encouraging for Harris. It comes from my Steelers Audio Network co-host Matt Williamson. The Giants give up 3.4 yards on average after first contact. Only four defenses are worse.

Harris has 278 yards after first contact, which is the fourth-best in the NFL. So even though Harris gets hit early in plays, he tends to get a fair amount of yards anyway. As for the Giants, they aren’t great at getting rushers to the ground quickly after they first hit them.

That could be a dangerous combination for New York’s defense against Harris, who appears to be finding his form as we approach the halfway mark of the season.

Moving on to the Mustangs

Now that 19th-ranked Pitt dismissed Syracuse, 41-13, they will try to stay unbeaten next week in Texas against Southern Methodist University.

For Pitt fans who want an advanced scouting report, the Mustangs visit Duke Saturday at 8 p.m. on the ACC Network. They are 6-1 and have won four in a row. SMU is led by quarterback Kevin Jennings. He has thrown for 1,336 yards and has run for an additional 280.

As for Penn State and West Virginia, the third-ranked Nittany Lions (6-0) have a 7:30 p.m. start at Wisconsin (5-2) on Saturday. After early season losses to Alabama and USC, the Badgers have won three in a row. The Nittany Lions host No. 4 Ohio State next week. They are 6.5-point favorites in Madison, according to ESPN Bet.

Meanwhile, the Mountaineers (3-4) are at Arizona (3-4). It’s a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Wildcats are favored by 2.5-points.

Now to the NEC

On the FCS level, Duquesne (4-2) takes a four-game win streak to Stonehill. The Dukes have won their first two conference games in the NEC by a combined score of 85-28 over Long Island and St. Francis.

Meanwhile, the SkyHawks are 1-5 but have beaten DU the last two years. Duquesne lost in Easton, Mass., 24-20 in 2022 and then were upset by the Skyhawks in 2023 on the Bluff, 33-28.

The Dukes have won nine of their past 10 conference games.

Robert Morris and Central Connecticut State are the only other two teams without a conference loss in the NEC so far. RMU looks for its fourth conference win Saturday.

The Colonials (4-3/3-0) host St. Francis (2-5/0-3) at 2 p.m. They’ve already won games in NEC competition over Mercyhurst, Wagner and LIU.

As for CCSU (3-4/2-0) they have two NEC wins over Mercyhurst and St. Francis. They visit LIU on Saturday.

LISTEN: New York Giants studio host John Schmeelk joins Tim Benz to preview the Steelers-Giants “Monday Night Football” game.