The Pittsburgh Steelers are roughly a month into practices now, with the ten offseason training activity sessions now complete and the mandatory minicamp underway. There is a lot of change with the roster overall, but especially so on the offensive side of the ball. One of the holdovers from last year’s roster, George Pickens, will have big expectations placed on him with less talent around him in the WR room. The team upgraded the quarterback position to help maximize his talents.
The first step towards a thriving connection between Pickens and Russell Wilson is underway, with the two working on their communication on and off the field.
“It’s exciting to watch his growth day-to-day,” Wilson said in a video posted on the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “There’s only so many people in the world that can do what he can do, and I’m really excited. We just spend a lot of time communicating and everything else, so you just take one day at a time and just continue to build on it.
“I’ve been fortunate to play around some really special receivers and he’s that guy. He’s definitely one of those for sure, and I’m excited to see his growth day in and day out.”
Wilson has certainly played with an impressive group of wide receivers over his 12-season career. That list includes Sidney Rice, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Jerry Jeudy, and Courtland Sutton. Pickens’ potential stacks up against anybody on that list, and with a better quarterback passing him the ball in 2024, he may finally start to realize that potential.
Even with Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph passing him the ball over his first two seasons, he has nearly 2,000 yards receiving and ten total touchdowns. He reached the 1,000-yard mark for the first time last season, and now the sky’s the limit entering year three.
From the sounds of it, Wilson has been busy studying Pickens’ tape to get to know his strengths as a player. He referenced some specific route concepts that Pickens scored touchdowns on, so you can tell Wilson is locked in on maximizing the impact of his top receiver.
Surprisingly, despite Wilson’s prolific passing numbers throughout his career, he has only produced six 1,000-plus-yard seasons from his receivers. He has far more seasons without a 1,000-yard receiver than he does with one. The single-best season for one of his receivers was Metcalf in 2020 when he had 83 receptions for 1,303 yards. Lockett also had over 1,000 yards that season. Wilson has made his money spreading the ball around, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out with no clear WR2 on the roster at the moment.
Could Pickens eclipse Metcalf’s 2020 mark and become the most successful WR in Wilson’s career? He would only need 163 more yards than last season, and that seems like a very reasonable progression in year three. Pickens has stated his desire to receive Pro Bowl accolades, and that kind of jump would likely get him there.
