In spite of the developments of the prior 18 months, there was still a lot of optimism heading into the 2019 season for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense without Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. That is because, with the latter but without the former, the team still sent players at both positions to the Pro Bowl in 2018.
That would be then-second-year skill position players from day two of the 2017 NFL Draft. Second-round pick JuJu Smith-Schuster came up big with 111 receptions for 1426 yards and seven touchdowns. He made it into the Pro Bowl as an alternate.