George Pickens vs. Zach Azzanni hasn’t exactly been the headline that many thought it would be for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After some early overblown dramatics at the start of training camp, everything has settled down. That’s not to say that everything is perfect, but things are as they should be—a coach-player dynamic. And not just any coach-player dynamic. Even Azzanni admits that Pickens has all the talent in the world—all the more reason to push him.
“I’m excited where he’s at”, Zach Azzanni said of George Pickens, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “There’s a lot of little things in his game that between him and I we’re trying to clean up. As long as he takes coaching and buys in, he can be as good as there ever was. But he’s got to buy into those things, and he is, slowly but surely. It’s fun to watch him do it”.
These are the same sorts of things that we have heard for the past two years. Former Steelers wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson blamed himself for not getting the most out of Pickens last year, and Azzanni doesn’t plan to repeat the pattern. After all, that is the main reason the Steelers replaced Jackson with Azzanni to lead Pickens’ room.
A 2022 second-round pick out of Georgia, George Pickens is an athletic freak with superb natural ability. He is a one-man human highlight reel at his best, but Azzanni’s job is to continue to push him on the play-to-play buy-in. Even Pickens has admitted that he struggles when he’s not getting the ball. He said that he took up blocking as a way to draw attention to himself when not catching passes.
As long as he is channeling it all productively, there isn’t a problem. The thing is, Pickens hasn’t always channeled it productively, on or off the field, but Azzanni isn’t about to enable this sort of behavior. I’m sure Frisman Jackson would still be here had he handled that whole situation better.
“George is a competitor. I’m a competitor. We’re all competitors”, Azzanni said. “My job is to push guys hard and not let us drop below a standard. Me and George are great. He’s in. I’m in. There’s no ill will, none of that. We’re coach-player and we’re rolling together. He’s been great”.
Last season, George Pickens caught 63 passes for 1,140 yards and five touchdowns. He led the NFL with 18.1 yards per reception, but didn’t always do his job away from the ball. Azzanni is emphasizing making Pickens buy into the grunt work as part of his job. As he noted, it is coming along “slowly but surely”.
Of course, we will wait to see what the exact pecking order is. If the Steelers do trade for Brandon Aiyuk, Azzanni will have that on his hands with Pickens. He claims that they aren’t discussing it at all in the wide receiver room, but they might have to soon.
