There was a time not so long ago the George Pickens seemed to be public enemy number one in Pittsburgh. The Steelers wide receiver ran afoul both on and off the field, in word and deed, culminating in…well… While head coach Mike Tomlin had some choice words for his conduct, he never disciplined him, at least publicly.
For Brooke Pryor of ESPN, it’s an interesting case study without a firm conclusion. She brought it up recently on the This Is Football program in which she discussed the team with Kevin Clarke. In talking about Tomlin’s impact, she brought up how he handled Pickens, in both its positive and negative impacts.
“Honestly, I disagreed with the way that he handled it”, she recalled, “because he came out and he chastised George [Pickens] for how he dealt with the media, at least to the media. He said, ‘You know, George needs to get better at how he interacts with you guys, but we’re addressing it with him’”.
She pointed out that while Tomlin had some words for Pickens, he didn’t seem to be addressing the bigger issues. “There was no serious punishment for Pickens, which I thought was a terrible decision. And it may come back to bite him this year or in the future because you didn’t harshly punish him at the time to prove a point”.
Tomlin never benched Pickens, or even sat him for a single play. But he did go on a tear right after the lowest moment of his career, and Pryor sees that as a shining example of Tomlin’s impact and his approach to leading young men.
“He knew that, depending on how he handled it, could elicit one of two responses”, she said. She noted the run that Pickens had at the end of the season, including a 195-yard, two-touchdown game. “If he comes down hard on him and suspends him for a game or sits him for a half, you might not get that production out of him”.
Not that Pryor still necessarily agrees with the approach that Tomlin took with Pickens. She, perhaps not unfairly, questions how that might influence the young wide receiver moving forward. Especially now, as he is the clear-cut number-one receiver after the team traded Diontae Johnson.
“Now maybe you’ve created a monster who now thinks that he can do whatever he wants and he rules the roost and there are no consequences”, she said of Pickens, as a result of the lack of publicly known consequences for his poor conduct on and off the field.
“But at the time, {Tomlin] got exactly what he needed out of [Pickens] for that team, and he was also betting on himself, saying, “All right, I’m gonna do this. It could create this down the road, but I believe that I can manage it when it comes to it’”.
I don’t think there is ever a time that Tomlin didn’t bet on himself and his ability to navigate challenges. The only time he ever seems to give up on a player is when that player gives up on him. Ask for a trade and he’ll oblige. But if you’re just a young man struggling your way through becoming a professional, like George Pickens, then you won’t find a bigger advocate.
Perhaps that’s just the father in him. Many players have referred to Tomlin as a father figure, including those with complicated relationships. Most recently, Antonio Brown did just that, and I think you know how that relationship ended.
Pryor did acknowledge that her knowledge is limited because she only has so much access to the locker room. We don’t actually know how Tomlin might have disciplined Pickens after railing at the media, failing to block for teammates, and generally loafing and acting out to express his frustrations.
But it is unambiguously true that many disagreed with Tomlin’s decision not to sit Pickens. And it was precisely for the reasons that Pryor talks about. It wasn’t about whether Pickens could put up numbers. It was about how he would conduct himself moving forward. And perhaps he will be the good soldier, even without the explicit, tangible, publicly accountable discipline. But we won’t really know until he has to face some adversity again.
