The Pittsburgh Steelers are trading wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys in a move screams “Both Buyer and Seller Beware.” The Steelers send George Pickens and a 2027 6th round pick to Dallas, and in exchange the Cowboys send their 2026 3rd rounder and 2027th 5th rounder to Pittsburgh.
Since even before the 2024 season ended, speculation abounded as to whether the Steelers would move on from George Pickens.
Coming out of the NFL combine Steel City Insider’s Jim Wexell reported Pickens had soured his trade value in the league, and that a trade would be “next to impossible.”
Yet, prior to the draft, George Pickens reportedly deleted references to the Steelers from his social media accounts, and Omar Khan did field calls about a potential trade but could not get more than a 4th round pick.
With the draft over, Jerry Jones has increased his offer for the ultra-talented, mercurial wide receiver and brought him to Texas.
George Pickens fumbles at the 5 yard line. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Steelers Exchange High Short-Term Risk for Long Term Value
George Pickens began tantalizing Steelers fans from the moment he stepped foot on Chuck Noll Field at St. Vincents College.
George Pickens making a catch on the first day @ St. Vincents. Photo Credit: Post-Gazette.com
In terms of pure pass-catching capability, Pickens is in the conversation with Lynn Swann and Antonio Brown.
- Alas, Pickens mimicked Brown’s attitude issues. And then some.
For as unglued as Antonio Brown became in his final year in Pittsburgh, Brown’s self-centered disposition rarely, if ever, reared its head on the field.
- The same cannot be said for George Pickens.
His immaturity was on display on the sidelines in the Steelers 2022 win over the Atlanta Falcons, prompting Cam Heyward to initiate a “heart-to-heart” on the sidelines. (Heyward, to his credit, said the young wide out simply needed a “Pick me up.”)
The antics continued through his second season, with Pickens declining to block for Jaylen Warren near the goal line, citing injury concerns. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
George Pickens with another Lynn Swann like catch. Photo Credit: Yahoo! Sports
Pickens proved, time-and-time again, he could make belief defying catches.
Yet it was almost like he was bent on establishing a 1-1 relationship between those feats and team-destructive incidents, whether it was cutting off routes, showing up late, taking plays off, using his face paint to complain about lack of targets, getting into shoving matches with defensive backs in Hail Mary situations, or needing to be restrained from fighting with fans by Pat Freiermuth.
As he did with Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, Omar Khan began the off season singing Pickett’s praises and talking about his plans to keep in in Pittsburgh.
- Now Pickens is headed to Dallas.
In football realpolitik the Steelers got a steal. They weren’t going to resign him, they may not have gotten a good compensatory pick for him, and unhappiness over lack of a new contract could have been a season-long disruption.
If the Steelers get four compensatory picks for the 2026 NFL Draft, they’ll have 12 picks at their disposal.
But by playing the long game, Omar Khan has once again exposed the team to short-term risk.
Another Year of Longing for Lockett and Hill?
Last season the Steelers dealt problem child wide receiver Diontae Johnson. It was a wise move. Donte Jackson delivered solid play at cornerback while Johnson got himself cut three times. However, Omar Khan never filled the gaping hole that Johnson’s departure left on the roster.
Dwight Stone’s Steelers career ran from 1987 to 1994. Photo Credit: Amazon
Early in the season, this scribe opined that the lack of a number two wide out opposite Pickens was enough to make Gen X Steelers fans long for the days of Charles Lockett, Derek Hill and Dwight Stone.
The Steelers of course added D.K. Metcalf in the off season, and Calvin Austin improved noticeably last year, but outside of that they’ve got a wide receiver room filled with roster bubble players or unproven youth, such as Roman Wilson, with Robert Woods taking Van Jefferson’s place.
When the Steelers drafted Kaleb Johnson word was he excelled in running against stacked boxes at Iowa.
Good thing he’s already used to playing in Black and Gold, because he’s going to see plenty of other familiar sights in Pittsburgh. Seller be wear.
Now Jones and Schottenhimer to Try Their Hand
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stood behind George Pickens for as long as he could. He opted not to air his dirty laundry and instead focus trying to break through to Pickens.
- At times it appeared to work.
After an awful game against the Colts in December 2023, no one would have criticized Tomlin if he just decided to bench Pickens for the rest of the year. Instead, Tomlin talked to him and Pickens exploded for two break out games on Christmas and New Years. He even showed up as a blocker in the season finale against the Ravens.
Yet, after two senseless personal foul penalties in the road win over the Bengals last year, Tomlin said it was time for Pickens to grow up.
- Clearly, he feels he’s mentored Pickens as far as he can.
Now Brian Schottenheimer and Jerry Jones will launch a wide receiver reclamation project. Other head coaches have tried and failed with similar endavors with Steelerss cast offs such as Brown, Johnson, Martavis Bryant and Chase Claypool.
Buyer beware.
