Aaron Rodgers and first-place Steelers confident in their passing game options after quiet deadline

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin admitted ahead of the NFL trade deadline that he likes shopping.

Maybe, but the Pittsburgh Steelers and their longtime coach kept the franchise's wallet effectively closed as Tuesday's deadline came and went without the AFC North leaders making any bold moves.

No swap for a defensive back to help an injury-riddled secondary. No acquisition of a veteran offensive lineman to give a young and improving group another experienced backup.

And perhaps most tellingly, no splashy move for a wide receiver with a proven resume who could take some of the attention off almost pathologically double-covered DK Metcalf.

While the Steelers did sign two-time Super Bowl winner Marquez Valdes-Scantling to the practice squad, reuniting him with former Green Bay teammate Aaron Rodgers, they otherwise stood pat.

Rodgers isn't sure that's a bad thing.

“(We) feel pretty good about our guys," he said Wednesday.

Perhaps that's because there are so many of them who have found a way to make an impact. Metcalf, a two-time Pro Bowler who signed a lavish new deal after being acquired last spring, is third in the NFL in yards per reception. Calvin Austin III, finally healthy, caught a season-high five passes in last week's win over Indianapolis. Roman Wilson (ill-advised hurdles in late-game situations aside) is making strides in his second season.

Throw in the tight end group of Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, Connor Heyward, and 6-foot-7 and 300-ish pound Darnell Washington — who is among the most compelling skill position players in the NFL because of his size — and Rodgers doesn't lack for options. (That doesn't even include reserve offensive lineman Spencer Anderson, who pulled in the first pass of his career against Green Bay after reporting as an eligible receiver).

Rodgers has spread his 17 touchdown passes to nine different players, eight of whom have at least 100 yards receiving halfway through the season. No other team in the league checks both of those boxes.

The four-time MVP isn't kidding when he says he's going to throw it to the open guy, regardless of who that might be on a given snap.

“Whoever gets open usually gets the opportunity,” Rodgers said.

And considering the outsized attention Metcalf receives weekly, that means plenty of opportunities for everyone else. While Metcalf has been highly productive when the ball comes his way, he's also on pace for the fewest receptions he's had in a season since the league went to 17 games in 2021.

Yet Metcalf's next outburst will be his first. While Metcalf did clap his hands last Sunday when he found himself running free in the middle of the field, only to have Rodgers look elsewhere, there was no outburst. No pouting. He jogged back to the huddle and went about his business on a day he finished with season lows of two catches for 6 yards.

“I’ve been playing with great receivers my whole career,” Metcalf said. “So it's nothing new to me that, you know, the quarterback is going to throw it to the open guy or throw it another guy. I've just got to do a better job of getting open and staying open.”

A year after signing a lucrative contract extension and leading the Steelers with a career-high 65 receptions, Freiermuth has taken on a more secondary role. The arrival of Smith and the emergence of Washington have cut into his playing time, yet Freiermuth has taken it in stride.

Rather than go to Rodgers and ask for more targets, he's instead focused on honing his craft. Against the Colts, that meant turning a bit of guidance from Rodgers into his third touchdown of the season.

Pittsburgh had the ball deep in Indianapolis territory late in the second quarter after Payton Wilson intercepted Colts quarterback Daniel Jones. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith called a play they'd been working on since training camp, though Rodgers felt it “didn't quite look right” in practice recently.

So Rodgers pulled Freiermuth off to the side and the two worked on Freiermuth being patient in his route and waiting to “sell” a move to the outside before stopping in the middle of the zone. That homework paid off when Freiermuth stopped at the Indianapolis goal line as Rodgers fit the ball into a tight window for a go-ahead score.

“When you see stuff like that in practice, it allows you to have the confidence to go to that guy on those plays in the game,” Rodgers said.

It was the type of impactful moment Freiermuth knew would happen eventually. It's one of the reasons he didn't spend much time lobbying Rodgers for more targets earlier in the season. Freiermuth knows Rodgers is heading to the Hall of Fame for many reasons, and his decision-making is one of them.

Freiermuth knew his time would come. Just as Rodgers did. On Sunday night against the Los Angeles Chargers, it might be someone else.

“When a guy’s not getting the ball and they still show up to work the same way every single day, every week, there’s a lot to be said for that," Rodgers said.

That hasn't always been the way in Pittsburgh. George Pickens endured three productive but volatile years, eventually wearing out his welcome before being traded to Dallas in March.

If Pickens had stayed, maybe there wouldn't be the perception that the Steelers need a bona fide No. 2. Then again, maybe the chemistry in the room wouldn't be quite as good either.

"From the moment I got here, everybody’s worked their butts off," Metcalf said. “So everybody deserves a shot at the ball.”

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Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Roman Wilson (10) fumbles as he's hit by Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II (23) during the second half of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Indianapolis Colts cornerback Mekhi Blackmon (29) tries to bring down Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Calvin Austin III (19) during the first half of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers' DK Metcalf catches a touchdpwn pass with Green Bay Packers' Keisean Nixon defending during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) throws against the Indianapolis Colts during the first half of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up one of the term's most consequential cases, President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. Trump plans to be in attendance.

In arguments Wednesday, the justices will hear Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions, one of several courts that have blocked them. They have not taken effect anywhere in the country.

A definitive ruling is expected by early summer.

Trump will be the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the nation’s highest court.

The case frames another test of his assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court that has largely ruled in the president's favor, but with some notable exceptions that Trump has responded to with starkly personal criticisms of the justices.

The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed the first day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration’s broad immigration crackdown.

Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.

Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs' decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.

He issued a preemptive broadside against the court on Sunday on his Truth Social. “Birthright Citizenship is not about rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America. It is about the BABIES OF SLAVES!,” the president wrote. “Dumb Judges and Justices will not a great Country make!”

Trump's order would upend the longstanding view that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, and federal law since 1940 confer citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.

The 14th Amendment was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship, though the Citizenship Clause is written more broadly. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” it reads.

In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down the executive order as illegal, or likely so, under the Constitution and federal law. The decisions have invoked the high court's 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.

The administration argues that the common view of citizenship is wrong, asserting that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.

The court should use the case to set straight “long-enduring misconceptions about the Constitution’s meaning,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.

No court has accepted that argument, and lawyers for pregnant women whose children would be affected by the order said the Supreme Court should not be the first to do so.

“We have the president of the United States trying to radically reinterpret the definition of American citizenship,” said Cecillia Wang, the American Civil Liberties Union legal director who is facing off against Sauer at the Supreme Court.

More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would be affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute.

While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright restrictions also would apply to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen as the moon rises Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)