The more you talk and the more you write about a team in all of its aspects, the more the point is driven home to you that so many pieces are dependent upon one another. While you can easily make the case, for example, that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ future lies in the hands of young quarterback Kenny Pickett, so much else has to work to his and the team’s advantage in the process.
Including his rapport with his receivers, chief among which many believe will be George Pickens, the second-year wide receiver the Steelers selected just after drafting Pickett in the first round in 2022. The two already had a solid connection as rookies, but working together for a full year now, and maturing as professionals, Pickett is already seeing the signs of what he hopes are things to come.
“We’ve had a really good first couple days here”, he said last week about the first OTA sessions, speaking to Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller on 93.7 The Fan. “He’s got great communication. We’re on the field and stuff and we’ll just be constantly talking about what we see, what he sees, and where I need him.
“He goes out there and does exactly what we ask him to do and then you just let his talents take over. You don’t want to have him overthinking. I always just tell him I’ll put it in his zip code and he’s gonna do the rest. The guy makes unbelievable plays. Excited to go into year two with him and build off of what we did in year one together”.
One of the most gifted players to come out of the draft the past few years, Pickens has about everything you would one in a prototype wide receiver from his body type to his hands. But he is still working on becoming a more well-rounded wide receiver.
And we’ve been getting glimpses, or at least accounts, of that progress being made this offseason. “What I saw today just kind of working his routes, he wants to become a route runner and he wants to have all those routes in his arsenal where it’s not just one or two routes where guys really have to worry about”, Pickett said of the wide receiver back in April.
Pickens caught 52 passes during his rookie season for 801 yards and four touchdowns. Those numbers might look unremarkable, but they’re more impressive in the context of the state of the Steelers’ passing game in 2022, which was very much in a state of transition, to say the least.
The young man certainly possesses Pro Bowl talent, but will he be able to put all the pieces together and reach his full potential? There’s nothing saying that he can’t, but he won’t be able to do it alone. Building that chemistry with Pickett isn’t a bad place to start.
