For the second straight summer at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens is dominating the competition daily, generating a ton of buzz both locally and nationally.
Last season, Pickens burst onto the scene as a rookie, making plays left and right throughout camp. That carried over into the preseason and led to a strong rookie season overall.
Looking to build off his rookie season, Pickens has taken his game up a notch this summer in Steelers training camp. He’s already made two absurd catches in training camp, one of which was over rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. that went viral and landed him on all the sports talk shows across the country.
Based off his showing through 10 practices, it’s no surprise that Pickens landed in CBS Sports’ piece Monday morning highlighting nine players making the “biggest waves” in training camp so far.
“Pickens appears to be one of the true highlight-makers of training camp this summer. On top of his ability to separate, he’s been putting together some ridiculous catches that make a breakout sophomore season a real possibility,” CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan writes. “Pickens had an impressive rookie season and did seem to develop a solid rapport with Kenny Pickett. With Pickett also heading into Year 2, any sort of leap in production from the young quarterback could set the stage for Pickens to ascend to an elite level.”
So far, the two have put together some impressive plays in training camp, building off of the rapport they developed down the stretch during the 2022 season as rookies, which included go-ahead scores against the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens on the road, and a big-time touchdown against the Cleveland Browns in Week 18 that ultimately led to a win.
On top of his spectacular catch over Porter that drew plenty of eyes from around the NFL world, Pickens has continued to improve as a route runner and hone in on his craft in an effort to take his game to the next level.
Pickens has improved as a route runner this offseason, according to his quarterback, showing more nuance coming out of his breaks and properly setting up defenders to get into open grass. Even when he’s not considered “open” Pickens lobbies that he is always open. We saw that just a couple days ago when he made the amazing catch over Porter along the sideline with Porter in perfect position.
Steelers Depot’s own Alex Kozora has seen a change in Pickens, too, recognizing some of the small things within his game that have improved entering Year Two, especially from a separation standpoint. While Pickens is always going to make the highlight reel plays, the key to him becoming a true No. 1 receiver in the NFL is refining his game all around, from his route running, attention to detail and ability to create separation.
So far, he’s off to a good start in training camp. Attention comes with that. He seems to be handling it well once again and looks like a bona fide star moving forward.
