The Pittsburgh Steelers are four games into the regular season, and that means it’s time to track who has done well, stock up, and who hasn’t, stock down, as the team turns the page to the Dallas Cowboys coming to town in Week 5 of the regular season.

As always, these are just my lists, so feel free to voice your opinion in the comment section below.

Stock Up

Justin Fields

Some might vehemently disagree with Fields and his trending stock, but I feel as if he continues to improve by the week. He is far from a perfect quarterback, but do you know of any perfect quarterbacks out there? How about in history? The fact of the matter is all quarterbacks have games where they have a “stinker” or two. Ben Roethlisberger had plenty throughout his career, and the expectations can’t be so crazy a bad throw/game clouds the judgment on his overall development. I love the way Fields is trending, and the hope is this trajectory keeps rising upwards.

Cordarrelle Patterson

He left the game in Week 4 vs. the Colts with an ankle injury, but Patterson’s value to this team has his stock trending up. With Najee Harris trending in the wrong direction, it’s Patterson who picked up the slack in just a limited number of snaps in Indianapolis Sunday. If Patterson is healthy, he absolutely could help the Steelers be a dual threat weapon until Jaylen Warren returns. The question becomes if/when Warren returns, what will the division of labor look like? In my opinion, it isn’t so much who is used, but how they’re used. I think all three backs provide value, but the way they are utilized is absolutely mind-numbing at times.

Tight Ends

Don’t look now, but the Steelers are starting to target the tight end more…finally. Last week the tight ends saw 9 targets (7 to Pat Freiermuth and 2 to Darnell Washington), and in the Week 3 win they saw 6 targets. That looks like a positive trend for something the fan base has been clamoring for the past several seasons. The tight end utilization shouldn’t just be focused on targets, but overall production; however, let’s take some baby steps here. The targets are coming, let’s hope the production keeps following an upward trajectory.

DeShon Elliott

I once wrote off the Elliott signing in free agency as just a guy who can do what Terrell Edmunds did to help Minkah Fitzpatrick. I was wrong. Elliott has been a difference maker so far in both run support and in the pass game. He certainly has his limitations in coverage, but he is playing at an extremely high level at this stage of the season. Elliott isn’t just another guy, but reminds me of another No. 25 who when signed was just a blip on the radar. He turned out to be a really good player and a fixture in the defense. And that was Ryan Clark. Let’s hope Elliott continues to play in a way which reminds fans of Clark’s time in the black-and-gold.

Stock Down

Offensive Line

The injuries are taking its toll on the offensive line, and the reason this unit is in the Stock Down category is purely due to injury. For those who have been regulars along the line, they’ve done their job and then some. But the continual rotation due to injury has this unit always trying to find a way to gel and become a cohesive unit. Hopefully Isaac Seumalo returns and they can find a 5-man unit which will be able to remain together for longer than one week.

Minkah Fitzpatrick

Let me make something clear, I’m not down on Fitzpatrick’s game. Plenty of fans are, but I’m not. Putting the All-Pro safety in this category doesn’t mean he is playing poorly, it just means his current trend is not in the best position. We all love Minkah for what he brings to the defense, but what he hasn’t provided in well over a year now are splash plays. He’s been physical, almost to a fault at times, but hasn’t been able to get that big play in a long time. Maybe Teryl Austin’s usage of Fitzpatrick should be the one trending in the wrong direction, but we all want to see No. 39 making a big play, or two, in the near future.

Najee Harris

I mentioned this earlier, and I stand by it, I feel as if the way these running backs are being utilized isn’t great. Every time Harris comes into the game he is used as a downhill runner. Never even a thought as a receiver or anything other than a runner. When Warren and/or Patterson enter the game, the defense can’t play them the same way. Here is a novel idea, what if when Harris comes into the game you throw to the tight ends behind the blitzing run defenders? What if when Harris enters the game you use him in the passing game like he was his rookie season? Just a thought as the offense needs to avoid those 1st down runs of 1 yard out of their repertoire.

Patrick Queen

At this stage of the game Queen is the anti-DeShon Elliott. When Elliott was signed there was little fanfare, with low expectations. Queen brought with him a lot of excitement and lofty expectations. Maybe it’s the expectations which have doomed Queen early this season, but he certainly hasn’t lived up to the hype. Queen isn’t used to wearing the green dot as the defensive quarterback, but with the responsibility comes increased expectations. I’m hopeful Queen’s game will start to level out before he starts to shine in the Steelers defense, which I think will still happen.

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