The Pittsburgh Steelers ability to gain yards after the catch last season was dismal. A repeat of that in 2023 certainly won’t suffice on offense and it’s obvious the players have been told. WR George Pickens certainly has been told that and he had an interesting way of attempting to improve his YAC during the offseason.
Recently, Pickens sat down for a one-on-one interview with Missi Matthews of steelers.com and after first explaining things he was directed to improve on during the offseason during his rookie season exit interview with head coach Mike Tomlin, the second-year wide receiver out of Georgia explained how he went about working on sharpening his YAC ability over the spring and summer.
“The biggest thing I did in the offseason this year was probably just run after catch,” Pickens told Matthews. “Like, I was doing a lot of, mostly like running back drills just to help me so when I do catch a ball, I can get some yards after.”
With that declaration by Pickens now out of the way, we’ll start finding out on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium if those offseason running back drills he did will pay off. Personally, I don’t see how they won’t. Of the 150 players who caught 30 or more passes during the 2022 season, Pickens averaged the lowest yards after the catch per reception of all of them at 2.0, according to Pro Football Reference.
While Pickens’ rookie season culminated with him catching a very respectable 52 passes for 801 yards, he probably could have flirted with 900 total receiving yards had his yards after the catch been in the middle of the pack of those 150 other players that registered 30 or more catches in 2022.
Now, in Pickens’ defense, the route tree he mostly ran during his rookie season hindered his ability to gain a lot of yards after the catch on quite a few of his receptions. You can see in the data below from Sports Info Solutions that 29 of Pickens’ 52 total receptions came via curls, back shoulder fades, out or comeback routes. Those 30 receptions on those four route types resulted in Pickens gaining just 49 yards after the catch, good for a 1.63 average.
While we shouldn’t read too much into this year’s preseason games, Pickens did register 29 yards after the catch in the three games on his catches, 21 of those yards came on his first preseason reception, a 33-yard touchdown via slant. His two other preseason receptions resulted in 8 yards of YAC, with each being good for 4 yards. Once again, small sample size but large results just the same.
Pickens has already made it known several times during the offseason that his goal is to hit at least 1,000 yards receiving. That goal should be attainable and especially if he can double his YAC average from his rookie season. A more complete route tree target selection should also play a role in his push for 1,000 receiving yards.
With the Steelers 2023 season about to get underway, you can bet we’ll be watching Pickens’ YAC output closely every week. Hopefully those running back drills he did during the offseason pay dividends.
