It is always the case that the future success of a team relies upon the continued maturation of its young players. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, this just so happens to be a really big year in that regard. That is not just because they have their franchise quarterback, Kenny Pickett, moving into year two, but he is also surrounded by youth.
That includes the man the Steelers drafted just after him, second-round wide receiver George Pickens, who is a special project of sorts of wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson, knowing just what kind of potential he has, saying that it’s “always fun” to work to shape a player with his abilities, via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He detailed some of the areas in which he’s trying to grow Pickens’ game.
“It’s my job to be able to correct and detail some of those little smaller things that the average fan may not see: the route running, being able to sink his hips”, he said, adding “being able to line up and be in the right spots. The talent is there, I’ve just got to continue to mold the football part of it and the football IQ part of it, which is the fun part of it”.
Pickens only played 24 games of college ball at the University of Georgia, in part due to injury, coming up shy of 100 career receptions for the Bulldogs. It’s no surprise he came into the NFL still in need of some fine-tuning—more than some.
But the good news is that progress is being made. He not only wants to be great and to have a complete game, he knows what he needs to do to get there. Because he’s smart enough to listen, and seems to be taking his coaching well.
“He’s a lot more well-versed in the offense”, Jackson said, compared to last season, “and he’s a lot more confident and knows what he’s doing. He’s just ready to take the next step, and I am ready to help him get there”.
The wide receivers coach also talked about wanting to grow his game from the perspective of yards after the catch, which was a real area of weakness for the Steelers’ offense altogether last season. Pickens does have that skill set with his speed and size, but his percentage of catches that come on contested targets make it difficult.
Pickett talked back in April about the work Pickens was putting in to round out his game, particularly with an emphasis on learning to run better routes with more nuance and polish and less predictability. Last year, he ran not only the most but the highest percentage of go routes of all qualified receivers.
The Steelers did start to use him more creatively as the season progressed, but it was more in a developmental stage. He is in the process of becoming the player he is capable of being. So perhaps we should just relax and enjoy watching the process unfold.
