A year ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers had issues with their wide receiver room. Both Diontae Johnson and George Pickens made headlines for all the wrong reasons over the final stretch of the season when their questionable effort was on display. Johnson watched as a fumble was picked up and returned without attempting to make a tackle. And Pickens made a business decision when he stepped out of what would have been a key block for RB Jaylen Warren near the end zone. Johnson was traded to the Panthers, which leaves Pickens as the most tenured receiver in the room for the Steelers.
With Frisman Jackson’s contract expiring, the Steelers hired WR coach Zach Azzanni to take his place. After learning more about Azzanni, it became very clear that he coaches his players hard. Alex Kozora put together a cutup of several video clips of Azzanni instructing players, and one quote stuck out to me.
“Our standards are very high, are they not? That’s what we like. Our standards are very high. And I’m going to be very, very demanding on that stuff. Remember, take your sensitive pill if it’s time to go outside. It’s football. It’s a tough game. You’re going to get coached tough. You’re going to get coached hard.”
It would appear that it didn’t take long for tempers to flare between Pickens and Azzanni at training camp.
According to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in his recap of the first day of training camp, the two of them got into a heated exchange toward the end of practice.
“New receivers coach Zach Azzanni and George Pickens got into a heated exchange late in practice when Azzanni didn’t like the way Pickens executed his assignment,” Fittipaldo wrote. “Pickens didn’t take kindly to Azzanni’s words. Some of the other receivers approached Pickens after the exchange, but Pickens was visibly upset.”
This is going to be a fascinating situation to track over the course of training camp and into the regular season. Pickens has worn his emotions on his sleeve throughout his first two NFL seasons. Playing in front of his hometown crowd in Atlanta during the 2022 season, Pickens was visibly frustrated with having just one catch in that game.
The optimistic way of looking at it is that Azzanni is exactly the type of coach Pickens needs to mature as a player on and off the field. On the other hand, it is not an ideal situation for the leading receiver to be discontented with his coach. Hopefully this was just a product of adrenaline and the heat of the moment, but my guess is that this will not be the last time we hear of this happening between Pickens and Azzanni.
