Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens surprised a lot of people last year with his rookie performance. He hauled in 52 receptions for 801 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 15.4 yards per reception, had 17 receptions for over 20 yards, and one reception that covered over 40 yards.
However, it was easy to see that Pickens’ biggest struggle was after the ball got in his hands. Let Steeler Depot’s Alex Kozora demonstrate.
Yards after the catch is a crucial stat. It can turn five-yard catches into 10-yard catches, 20-yard catches into 30-plus yard catches, and 42-yard catches (Picken’s season-long) into touchdowns. Pickens has previously discussed playing with more of an edge after getting the ball in his hands as a way to improve after the catch. However, at the conclusion of the Steelers’ minicamp Thursday, Pickens offered another way that he is trying to improve when talking with Teresa Varley of steelers.com.
“It’s the beginning of the route angle,” Pickens said. “If you mess up the defensive back super bad, it’s going to give you more advantage for yards after catch. If you have him on you, you can break a tackle, but it’s a little harder. Your best advantage to really get that going is have a great release point.”
Suffice it to say, per the stats shared by Kozora, Pickens was arguably the worst receiver in the National Football League last season after the ball was in his hands. Part of that came due to the lack of separation he would get from his defender. Thankfully for Pickens and the Steelers, he was quite good at making contested catches as he finished third in the league with 19 such catches. There’s no question that Pickens has the ability to turn 50/50 balls into receptions at a rate higher than just about anyone in the league. In fact, his 67.86 contested catch rate was the best among players who had at least 25 contested catch targets last season.
Yet having to make contested catches at a high rate drastically lowers your opportunity for yards after the catch as Pickens said Thursday and showed throughout the 2022 season. He averaged quite well in terms of yards per catch, but obviously, the majority of that yardage came before the catch. Pickens may be a large man at 6’3″ and 200 pounds, and that certainly helps with making contested catches. However, his size wasn’t enough to consistently bully defenders after making the catch.
So now Pickens turns to his route running. As he said, it’s always easier to make catches and gain yards when you don’t have a defender immediately draped on your back when you make the catch. How do you accomplish this? By gaining separation, and that starts at the beginning of your route. Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, regarded as one of the best receivers in the league, is also considered an elite route runner and led the NFL with 1809 receiving yards. He also finished with 4.9 yards after the catch per reception.
While we all enjoyed watching Pickens making sensational catches around defenders, it would be better for Pickens and the Steelers’ offense if he was able to win against defenders more with his route running. While I’m not making any sort of comparison between Jefferson and Pickens, there’s no question that improving your route running will bear fruit.
There will still be times where you’ve got to make a contested catch and Pickens has already proven he can do that. However, if Pickens wants to take the next step in his career, now it’s time to start winning before the catch because it will make a huge difference in terms of success for him and the offense as a whole.
