The Pittsburgh Steelers, Brandon Aiyuk, and everybody else (though perhaps not George Pickens) await word from the San Francisco 49ers, so you’ll pardon me if we frontload morning articles in the event that breaking news beats us to the punch and renders something irrelevant.
With that out of the way, Gerry Dulac wrote something very interesting yesterday, an elaboration of a previous remark. While he previously claimed that acquiring Aiyuk would have no bearing on Pickens, he also writes that the Steelers would still “consider Pickens their No. 1 receiver and intend to pay him accordingly”.
That would certainly be quite a story and would make the Steelers’ wide receiver room very expensive. The Steelers are believed to have offered Brandon AIyuk a contract worth around $28 million APY. If George Pickens is the Steelers’ top receiver, though, he would obviously come above that.
Pickens will be due a contract extension in 2025, and the Steelers anticipate a big season from him. Should the year play out in such a fashion, he should easily join the $30 million APY club. Suddenly, the Steelers would be paying around $60 million per season to two wide receivers.
That hasn’t exactly been the Steelers’ way with the position, as Dulac notes. They paid Hines Ward and allowed Plaxico Burress to leave in free agency. When Mike Wallace turned down their offer, they turned around and extended Antonio Brown. Once they extended Brown, they allowed Emmanuel Sanders to walk in free agency.
“That is not their plan with Pickens”, however, Dulac writes, assuming the Steelers trade for Aiyuk and extend him. While the salary cap continues to rise on an annual basis, it’s still hard to see them spending that kind of money at wide receiver.
There is some precedent, however, with the Miami Dolphins right now. With Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, they have two of the five most expensive wide receivers to date. And they also have a big, fat quarterback contract on the books.
The Steelers don’t currently have a fat quarterback contract, but they hope to in 2025 with Russell Wilson. It’s fair to wonder if the Steelers’ dedication to paying up for both Brandon Aiyuk and George Pickens is really tied to the advancement of the quarterback position. Those numbers are hard to justify solely in a run-first offense, to be sure.
But would the Steelers really view Pickens as the top receiver over Aiyuk, assuming he lands here? I don’t think that is what most assumed. Dulac’s colleague, Ray Fittipaldo, for example, previously said Aiyuk would immediately become their top receiver. Back in June, he even suggested the Steelers still aren’t sure about giving Pickens a second contract.
At this point, it’s hard to say if anybody even knows what they’re talking about. At least in Dulac’s case, however, he is clearly basing his comments on things others have told him. He could still be wrong, but if so, it would be based on false information rather than random musings. At this stage, I suppose that counts for something.
