George Pickens has been in the headlines recently, unfortunately not for his spectacular catches. Clips of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ No. 1 wideout jogging on several routes against the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday went viral. Questions about his effort have surfaced multiple times throughout his young career, with one noteworthy instance occurring late last season when it seemed like he stopped trying to block for Jaylen Warren on what could have been a touchdown run.
Pickens appeared Tuesday on FS1’s The Facility, where he was asked to address recent criticism his perceived lazy route running.
“I wouldn’t be here that long,” Pickens said. “Like I said, career high over a band [1,000 yards], five TDs [in 2023]. I’ve only been here three years so I couldn’t be too lazy. You know what I mean? For people saying, ‘Oh he’s running lazy routes, this and that.’ I couldn’t. I wouldn’t be able to be here. I wouldn’t be able to get past DBs running go balls if I was actually lazy, as they say, based off one game. And like I said, another thing, schematics is a lot too.”
With the recent influx of young wide receivers dominating right out of the gate — from Justin Jefferson to Ja’Marr Chase to rookie Malik Nabers — it’s easy to forget that George Pickens is just 23 years old. Antonio Brown didn’t reach his prime until his fourth season at 25 years old. Similarly, Hines Ward didn’t reach 1,000 yards until his fourth season, at 25 years old. While those two players didn’t exhibit the maturity issues (Antonio Brown’s issues developed over time) that Pickens has dealt with early in his career, we have to recognize that he’s basically a college-aged kid with only two full NFL seasons under his belt.
Still, Pickens has a lot of maturing to do as both a player and person if he’s going to develop into the star wide receiver that the Steelers want him to be. The talent is undeniably there, but he needs to fix some of his attitude issues.
Our own Alex Kozora broke down George Pickens’ game film against the Dallas Cowboys in order to get to the bottom of the effort questions. After combing through the All-22 tape, it was pretty clear that Pickens’ effort varied based on the play design. When he was part of Fields’ core progression, Pickens ran his routes hard, and when he didn’t expect the ball to be thrown his way he jogged through his routes.
I don’t have to tell you that he should be giving 100% effort on every down because that’s the standard in the NFL. But it would’ve been a much bigger concern if Pickens was consistently jogging on would-be targets from Fields.
The more recent issue that has arisen is Pickens’ dropping passes. He has five drops on the season (tied for third in the NFL), with two big drops on Sunday the Raiders including what would’ve been his first touchdown of the season. His incredible hands are probably his greatest asset, so it will be worth monitoring if it’s a recurring problem going forward.
Pickens will have a tough task against a vaunted New York Jets secondary this week, where he’ll likely be shadowed by All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner. He’ll need to put forth 100% effort on every play Sunday night in order to bounce back, and we can hope that his usual glue-like hands will return as he looks to secure his first receiving touchdown of the season.
