The Pittsburgh Steelers (9-6 straight up, 8-7 against the spread) have won three games in a row and have a magic number of one to clinch the NFC North with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
That’s the good news. The bad? They’ll have to wrap up the division – by winning Sunday at Cleveland or with a Baltimore loss Saturday night at Green Bay – without star wide receiver DK Metcalf, who was suspended by the NFL on Monday for two games “for conduct detrimental to the NFL for initiating a physical confrontation with a fan.”
Metcalf, who plans to appeal the suspension, is going to lose a lot of money if his appeal isn’t granted. The game checks will cost the Ole Miss product $555,556.
However, according to reports from both CBS Sports and ESPN, the suspension is also going to void $45 million in future guaranteed money from Metcalf’s contract.
OUCH!!
The suspension comes after Metcalf approached a Detroit Lions fan leaning over the railing during Sunday’s 29-24 win at Detroit. The fan, Ryan Kennedy, was wearing a blue wig. Metcalf pulled the wig down and then threw a right hand at Williams.
In the video footage, it’s unclear if Metcalf’s swing made much contact.
Whether Metcalf made contact with Kennedy or not is probably irrelevant to the NFL and the suspension.
In the NFL’s press release Monday announcing the suspension, it stated that Metcalf violated a league policy that specifies “players may not enter the stands or otherwise confront fans at any time on game day and … if a player makes unnecessary physical contact with a fan in any way that constitutes unsportsmanlike conduct or presents crowd-control issues and/or risk of injury, he will be held accountable.”
On former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson’s “Nightcap” podcast, he said, “I got word — obviously, I’m not condoning putting your hands on a fan or punching a fan — but he did call him a racial slur. He called him the N-word and he did call his mom a c–t. I think, with those words being exchanged and the fan saying that, I think that’s where the action occurred.”
Metcalf has yet to comment on the incident, but Johnson’s remarks don’t appear to have any merit according to this footage obtained by Preme Sports. Kennedy can be heard in this video calling Metcalf by his real name, “Dekaylin.”
According to a report from ESPN, Metcalf reported Kennedy to team security for the Seattle Seahawks in the past. The Seahawks, who traded Metcalf to Pittsburgh prior to this season, played at Detroit in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
In 15 regular-season games for the Steelers, Metcalf has hauled in 59 receptions for 850 yards and six touchdowns. He’s added 12 rushing yards and one TD on a pair of attempts.
In the win over the Lions, Metcalf had four catches for 42 yards on nine targets.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, most books had the Steelers installed as 3.5-point road favorites at Cleveland. As for the Ravens, they were 2.5-point road underdogs at Green Bay.
Pittsburgh will host Baltimore in the Week 18 regular-season finale for both clubs.
FanDuel has the Steelers as -1200 ‘chalk’ to win the NFC North, while the Ravens have +750 odds. FanDuel has Pittsburgh with 40/1 odds to win Super Bowl LX. Those are the 13th-shortest odds on the board.