The Pittsburgh Steelers need WR George Pickens to thrive for this offense to have success. It seems all offseason that they are well aware of that fact, particularly when they traded Diontae Johnson. Barring a trade, he is far and away their top receiving threat, but his quarterbacks see the continual improvements.
Russell Wilson hasn’t played much yet, but Justin Fields and Kyle Allen have thrown a lot to Pickens. The latter spoke about working with him on Saturday when asked why he sees so many balls no matter which quarterback is on the field.
“He’s easy to find. He’s usually open. You throw it in his vicinity, and it’s usually coming up in his hands. We trust him a lot”, Allen said of Pickens via the team’s website. When asked about the extent of his route tree, he added, “He’s got the ability to do whatever he wants to do”.
A second-round pick in 2022 out of Georgia, George Pickens is one of the most talented receivers in the league. He caught 63 passes for 1,140 yards and five touchdowns last season, leading the NFL with 18.1 yards per catch. But he has yet to work within an offense or with a quarterback that matches his talent.
The result has been some friction from time to time, on and off the field. While Pickens hasn’t always behaved with the utmost professionalism and maturity, he has his teammates’ and coaches’ support. The Steelers likely wouldn’t have traded Johnson if they felt otherwise about him.
But that doesn’t mean Pickens is at the peak of his abilities. His route-running is something that frequently comes up as being overly limited. Last year, for example, he still ran the highest percentage of vertical routes in the NFL. At the same time, we saw incremental improvements throughout last season, and it’s an ongoing process.
At the start of training camp, George Pickens and wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni seemed to butt heads, igniting old concerns about his ability to maintain his composure. I’ll note that we haven’t heard anything similar in a week, however. Pickens even later praised Azzanni and said that his coaching style is not new to him.
While there may be some legitimate concerns about keeping Pickens in line, the goal is to neutralize the cause. As long as the Steelers keep him producing the way he should, it will benefit both the player and the team.
“It’s more of just getting on timing with him, figuring that out”, Kyle Allen said about building that rapport with Pickens, who is dealing with all new quarterbacks this year. “Just spending time with him and going through it. He’s bought in. He’s ready to go, and you can see we progress every day with him”.
Pickens has made his typical plays so far this training camp, even without working much with Russell Wilson. For most of us, our first chance to see him in 2024 will be on Friday during the Steelers’ first preseason game.
