Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens has taken the NFL world by storm since the moment he was drafted. Pickens has had viral moment after viral moment in his young NFL career and is putting together an impressive training camp in Year Two. Pickens is still developing, and today on ESPN NFL Live, Ryan Clark said something bold: Pickens has more ability than the Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson.
“George Pickens is much more talented than Justin Jefferson,” Clark said in a clip NFL Live which was posted to YouTube. “Justin Jefferson understands everything about playing the position, stems, leverage, he can catch the football in all kind of awkward positions. He’s a savant. Coach Tomlin told me something that I thought was great. They didn’t even work to tolerate him, and they certainly didn’t work to raise him at Georgia. They didn’t embrace who George Pickens is.”
Pickens is an incredible talent, but saying he is better than the best WR in the NFL is certainly a bold statement. If we break it down it does make some sense. Given how much elite talent was on Georgia in Pickens’ three seasons (2019-2021) they never really had to develop him that much. They could simply play to his strength, which was contested catches.
Pickens routinely makes incredible catches against starting NFL defensive backs; he was obviously doing it in college too. His play in Athens was really good and there is a reason he was drafted in the second round. But because Georgia could just rely on him winning with his incredible athleticism and contested-catch ability — and the plenty of other options the Bulldogs had on offense — the two-time defending national champions had no need to develop other skills, like route running.
The biggest area of improvement for Pickens this season is his route running. Pickens struggled to create separation last year and ran most of his routes hugging the sideline. Part of the reason for this was questionable play design from offensive coordinator Matt Canada, but the team was also playing to his strengths. For as good as Pickens can be, he simply was not a good separator last season.
This year, that may be changing. In Week One of the preseason, Pickens showed the ability to separate in his 33-yard touchdown reception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While it wasn’t Dionte Johnson-level of separation, it was an improvement. And for what it is worth when you have hands like Pickens, you don’t need to be an elite separator; you just need to be good at it.
Clark’s statement, when diving deeper into it, might not be so outrageous. Right now, Pickens is not better than Jefferson — who, like Clark, went to LSU — nowhere near it. But, with practice and development, he can get to be a top receiver in the NFL. As Tomlin told Clark, Georgia wasn’t in the business of really developing Pickens; Tomlin and the Steelers are. Pickens certainly has incredible talent and with some development, he may just be able to be a top WR in the NFL.
