The Pittsburgh Steelers are pairing a new quarterback, likely Russell Wilson to start the season, with George Pickens as the team’s clear-cut top receiver in 2024. Justin Fields will challenge Wilson for the job, but whoever wins will have an emerging young wideout to throw to, and NFL.com’s Kevin Patra writes that the question of who’s gonna start at quarterback “does nothing to dampen the optimism” surrounding Pickens’ upside in 2024.
“The third-year pro is the obvious alpha in a wideout room with Van Jefferson and 2024 third-round pick Roman Wilson as the next-best options,” Patra writes. “Pickens is coming off a campaign in which he put up 1,140 yards despite less-than-ideal quarterback play in an offense that didn’t exactly funnel the ball his way.”
Patra writes that while Pickens’ yards per reception is likely to go down, it’ll be due to an increase in targets. He also expects Pickens and Wilson to build a nice connection with Pickens’ back-shoulder catch ability if Wilson does win the job, which feels like the most likely outcome right now.
Patra also believes that Pickens can see a lot of targets in Smith’s offense given that Drake London was targeted heavily as the WR1 in Atlanta.
“We know Arthur Smith’s offense can funnel targets to one wideout — see: Drake London — so expect the Steelers to lean heavily on Pickens, particularly early in the season, until their rotation shakes out,” he wrote.
Last season, London was targeted 110 times, while the next closest pass catcher was tight end Kyle Pitts at 90 receptions. The next highest receiver was Mack Hollins with just 30 targets for Atlanta. Smith doesn’t utilize many three-receiver sets, and he hinted at not feeling the need to have a traditional No. 2 receiver, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Pickens’ target volume saw a boost.
For what it’s worth, Patra ranked the Wilson/Fields-Pickens combo No. 5 in the category of new veteran quarterback/receiver combos, but Pickens could be in for a major leap in Year 3. Wilson or Fields are both an upgrade over Kenny Pickett, and Pickens will see a bump in targets.
Both Fields and Wilson throw solid deep balls, which should benefit Pickens. His underneath volume is also going to increase as he’s the undisputed top dog in the Steelers’ passing attack. Especially while Roman Wilson settles in early and some of the new receivers adapt, Pickens is going to see the ball a lot, and this could be a true breakout campaign for him.
