There’s no secret as to what most attracted the Pittsburgh Steelers to Calvin Austin III during last year’s draft.

The track-star background and 4.32 speed in the 40-yard dash made the former University of Memphis receiver stand out from the mid-round WR crowd, even at his listed size of 5-foot-9, 162 pounds that might leave Austin lost in one.

With that kind of elite speed, it’s little wonder Austin already has touchdowns of 67-plus yards twice in six NFL games (counting the preseason), right?

Speed helps, sure. As the saying goes, it can’t be taught.

But history is littered with burners who never develop into viable NFL wide receivers.

Take Anthony Schwartz. Andy Isabella. John Ross.

All are receivers drafted in recent years who ran an even faster 40 time at the combine than Austin. None remains on an NFL active roster.

If those names don’t ring a bell for Steelers fans, this one surely will: Dri Archer. The Steelers’ 2014 third-round pick ran the 40 in a blazing 4.26 seconds. But he never scored an NFL touchdown.

“There’s a lot of guys that just have speed,” Austin said earlier this week, “but I want to be a true receiver. So I know about releases and mid-route techniques to use to create separation.

“If it was just about speed, there would be plenty of 4.3 guys everywhere in the league. But there is an art to it, and that’s something I pride myself on.”

Austin’s first big regular-season play as a pro came during last week’s win at the Las Vegas Raiders. His 72-yard touchdown catch was the Steelers’ longest in more than three years, and it came a month after he had a 67-yard touchdown reception during his first career preseason game.

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“Stuff like that is not surprising (because) we saw plays like that in practice settings that Calvin has made,” veteran Steelers receiver Allen Robinson said. “So we know the capability that Calvin has.

“Calvin comes in each and every day to put in the work. Whenever you see guys like that scoring their first touchdown in the regular season, it’s always exciting. “

And what a play it was. The touchdown came during the first quarter of his third regular-season game and on his eighth catch and 12th target. Austin, per NFL Next Gen Stats, reached a speed of 20.45 mph — the ninth-fastest of any NFL player in Week 3 — and achieved 5.9 yards of separation from former All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters to catch a ball lofted 46 yards downfield by Kenny Pickett. Austin caught what was the second-deepest completion of Pickett’s career in stride for what became the longest touchdown pass of Pickett’s career.

Austin created so much space between himself and Peters and Raiders safety Marcus Epps that he made things easy on Pickett, offering a remarkable 48.4% catch probability (per Next Gen) on a throw that far down the field.

And it wasn’t only speed that allowed Austin to do it.

“There really is something more than just running past people,” veteran Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson said before offering a detailed breakdown of Austin’s route.

“It was a great route. Yes, he was running a ‘go’ ball, but it was the way he set that route up. If you go back and watch film, he made Marcus think that he was running a ‘seven’ route (an outside-breaking route traditionally called a “flag route”). The way he was stemming it (angling the route), and Marcus kept coming (outside), creating the separation. And next thing you know, he kept (running) up the (hashmarks) and ended up making a great catch for a touchdown.

“When you are able to set routes up like he did, that’s when it’s all coming together with the great combination with his speed.”

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It’s still, of course, very early in Austin’s career. He missed all of his rookie season because of a foot injury.

But Austin already has shown a much greater propensity for big plays than Ross, Schwartz, Isabella — and especially Archer.

Austin appears to be seizing his opportunity for a more prominent role over the past 2 ½ games since the Steelers incumbent No. 1 receiver, Diontae Johnson, went down with a hamstring injury.

“It’s a great opportunity for a guy like Calvin Austin to show his capabilities,” coach Mike Tomlin said, “and to show what he looks like as an everydown receiver as opposed to maybe a supplementary one.”

Austin’s speed plays at the NFL level. And while that wasn’t in question, that he had the chops as a route-runner and hands to make it might have been in doubt. But Austin so far is doing what he can to show those aren’t concerns.

“Incredibly talented guy,” Pickett said, “that we’ve got to continue to put in situations like (the deep ball in Las Vegas) to allow him to be successful.”

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