If you have to rank your top ten players having the most impressive training camp showing, Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens better be on your list.
Pickens did make that list for CBS Sports just a few days ago, turning heads in Latrobe, PA for the highlight reel catches he is making on a daily basis. The cast of GMFB on NFL Network thinks the same thing, having a discussion on Thursday’s episode about whether Pickens or Baltimore Ravens rookie WR Zay Flowers has created more training camp buzz thus far.
“Pickens energy is just awesome to me,” Jason McCourty said on GMFB. “Whenever he talks, he is making catches. He’s putting a ball in his teammate’s faces. He’s giving his top five all-time receivers. He said him and Kenny Pickett’s connection is on trajectory to get to that AB and Ben Roethlisberger-type of connection.”
McCourty ended up choosing Flowers over Pickens due to the relative unknown with him and the nickname “Joystick” he’s earned at the Ravens training camp. Still, that should be no slight to Pickens who fellow show host Peter Schrager compared to a player who made one of the greatest catches in NFL history.
“Odell [Beckham] had the catch in a game on a Sunday night in front of… George Pickens’ stuff this summer feels like the Odell catch every single week and it’s happening against his own teammates when he catches the ball and then hands it back to Joey Porter Jr,” Schrager said on Pickens.
Pickens’ catch against rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. went viral, and for good reason. He made an absurd one-handed catch in a one-on-one drill against Porter, getting parallel to the ground while levitating in the air and came down with the catch, letting Porter know he made an outstanding play.
While the cast of GFMB may be split on Pickens in comparison to Zay Flowers regarding who is generating more camp buzz, it’s quite clear that Pickens is no longer a rookie and shouldn’t be treated like one. Ben Roethlisberger mentioned on his latest edition of his Footbahlin’ podcast that Pickens may draw WR1 treatment from opposing defenses, having the top CB follow him rather than Diontae Johnson.
It will be a big test for Pickens as he enters his sophomore season now that the rest of the league knows what he can do. Still, we could easily see a situation similar to what the Dallas Cowboys experienced recently with WR CeeDee lamb making the leap in Year 2, overtaking Amari Cooper as the WR1 for the Cowboys. Pickens has the talent and the opportunity. Now he must capitalize on it and seize the moment.
