The Steelers have an established history of centering their wide receiver groups around one notable payment, while making other pass catchers one-contract players. Hines Ward and Antonio Brown served as cornerstones, and the team surrounded Diontae Johnson‘s extension with rookie-contract cogs.
D.K. Metcalf now serves as the Steelers’ receiving anchor, having secured a big-ticket extension upon arrival via trade. This leaves George Pickens with an uncertain Pittsburgh future. It would appear the talented wideout will be auditioning for his next contract in 2025, but the Steelers might be OK moving on before that point. They are making calls and taking them on Pickens, Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz reports.
Our Adam La Rose profiled Pickens as a trade candidate before the Metcalf acquisition, Pickens has produced in stretches. Not unlike Johnson, maturity issues have impacted his three-year run in Pennsylvania. Teams still stand to be interested in the team’s former No. 1 receiver, and Schultz adds the Packers are one of them. Calling the Steelers “more serious” than people know about moving Pickens now, an AFC GM informed Schultz Green Bay is among the teams involved in this developing trade sweepstakes.
Green Bay has four notable rookie-contract receivers on its payroll, but Romeo Doubs is now in a contract year. So is Christian Watson, whose walk year will not begin until maybe midseason due to the ACL tear he sustained in Week 18. Two years remain on Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks‘ rookie deals, but calls for the team to acquire a higher-ceiling receiver have come out; Josh Jacobs has been one of those who mentioned this. Famously not choosing a first-round receiver since Javon Walker in 2002, the Packers have resisted such moves. They have found tremendous second-round value, via Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and Davante Adams. Reed is carrying that baton now.
Also a former second-round pick, Pickens came into the NFL with maturity concerns. But he has also displayed a penchant for acrobatic catches. Despite working with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph in 2023, Pickens led the NFL with 18.1 yards per reception. He followed that 1,140-yard season 900 last year, though he missed three games due to injury. The Georgia product has otherwise shown perfect attendance during his NFL career.
The Steelers have gotten ahead of contract-year WR matters by trading the likes of Johnson, Chase Claypool, Santonio Holmes, Martavis Bryant. Conversely, they let Mike Wallace and Emmanuel Sanders walk in free agency. Pickens, 24, could be valuable on a fourth rookie-deal season for Pittsburgh — especially if Aaron Rodgers or a first-round QB enters the picture — but he also could fetch a premium draft pick, being 3-for-3 in 800-yard seasons.
The Steelers have regularly addressed their receiving corps on Day 2 of a draft, doing so most recently with Roman Wilson last year. The team did not see much from Wilson during an injury-plagued rookie year, and it surrendered a second-round pick in the Metcalf deal. These factors offer potential complications in a Pickens swap, but it is fairly clear the team is gauging the market — likely as a way to see if a Day 2 pick can be recouped — ahead of the draft.
Makes sense. Man if I’m the cardinals or cowboys and you want to compete in a steadily increasingly competitive NFC, I’m making offers for Pickens. He’d be a solid number 2 behind Lamb
I totally agree being a Cowboys fan…
Go back and get Pitts 21st and Pickens for ur 12th pick…
Pitt goes up and gets their player at 12(TMac or whomever) and Cowboys get their WR2…a young stud imo…
Plus they draft their RB at 21(Henderson or Hampton) whoever they like better…a 2 for 1 for Dallas…
Dallas would have to pay Pickens of course but they have plenty of Cap Space and will accommodate another 10mill once Parson signs….
I know it’s a lot of flying parts here but it’s definitely doable if both teams are serious about improving their rosters…
Win-Win IMO!!!
I love Pickens’ catching ability, but the immaturity, yeah, trade him. I’m curious how a Packers trade would play out: swapping 21 for 23? Getting their 2nd too?
Would love their number 2 in your scenario.
Shame about Pickens. So much ability but incredible immaturity and selfishness
Jeez, in a perfect world I’d love to see he and DK in the same offense
Forgot to say, I think Dallas is a more likely spot
Dallas is having enough problems signing they players already on their roster.
Well, yeah, keeping him wouldn’t be that bad. Metcalf and Pickens together would be the best on field receiving corps that Pittsburgh has had in a while. They’ll definitely lose some on the field, but in this case, you can make an easy argument that avoiding the contract dilemma with this player could be worth the picks.
With poor WR class you’d think this would work in the Steelers favor when it comes to their return in a trade
Aren’t they defeating their purpose of a thin wr group by trading Pickens? Seems best to keep him to see how he works out with Metcalf. I’d rather them trade watt. He’s 31 and to give him 30 to 40 million a year is just going to be a backbreaking signing. He’s on the downside. They can get more for watt than fir Pickens in a trade. Typical steelers move
Watt is, literally, the only reason they win games.
Check their record with him vs. without him.
If you trade him, you trade everyone, too and go full teardown.
If teams were willing to pay for a sack guy in his 30s looking for a contract then I’m sure Hendrickson would have been dealt.
I don’t think they’d get as much for watt as you might think
I’m sure there’s a scenario where keeping Pickens to see what happens with TBD QB and Metcalf is great. But if the team is bad, or the team is good but he isn’t getting the ball enough, or injuries occur, or mercury is in retrograde, it feels like a significantly greater likelihood that he would become a liability on and off the field. Even if he has a good season, I don’t think it would increase his trade value much compared to how much it seems like it could nosedive.
I think you make a good point, and if Pickens weren’t a question mark long term, this would be an easy request to rebuff. The thing that makes me think that it could be good as well as risky is what we would expect to see from a long term Pickens extension. Would he mature? Would he produce? Would he fall back into bouts of immaturity if he doesn’t get favorable outcomes?
Those questions are what make the trade worth considering. If they weren’t, then you’d just consider the on field implications, which would be, as you said, a thin receiving corps.
Keeping Pickens until he walks as a UFA (that they would never even consider resigning) would be malfeasance on the Steelers’ part.
Which is why, after this offseason, I assumed they would.
Trading him to get his replacement and maybe another pick would be the best move.
True, but they aren’t going to get a lot in a trade this year and will still have to use a draft pick to replace his production. The free agents available right now won’t fill that gap.
Going to be an Aj Brown like trade. Kids gonna be a star if he ever grows up
Exactly.
Teams should offer the Steelers a second and a third for this future star once he grows up.
Checking with teams on Pickens value makes a lot of sense. His known immaturity issues since HS is known league wide, so I think that will really depress his value, but it doesn’t hurt to make the phone calls, since it only takes one team to be willing to overlook those issues and just see his talent level. If he leaves as a UFA, somebody will give him a big enough contract where Pittsburgh should get a 3rd rd compensation pick, so I wouldn’t trade him for anything less than a 3rd rd pick before this draft. If they don’t get at least that, they are better off just hoping he plays his butt off in this contract season, taking the production, and getting the 3rd rd compensation pick in the next draft.
Stay away DAL. You have enough guys you need to pay, no sense in adding another who will want to get paid next year. Also, I am not sure how he will handle being the 2nd option, maybe 3rd after TE. Especially if PIT is looking for a 2nd, since I assume they could get close to a 3rd comp pick for letting him walk next year. They can keep the 2nd and draft someone like Jayden Higgins. Honestly, I think I’d still pass even if it was going to cost a 3rd, simply because of what I mentioned earlier about having to pay other guys: Tyler Smith, Parsons, and possibly Bland & Ferguson come to mind.
I like Ferguson but I wouldn’t be upset if they traded him to LAR, LAC, etc. and brought in a cheap vet (Everett or Hurst are still available) to go with Schoonmaker. Luke looked decent enough when he filled in for Ferguson and that was with Rush throwing him the ball. Again because of the cap issues they will soon be facing, they should try to get something for him while they can. Maybe a 3rd for him, even if it means adding a 6th or late 5th to do so?