What does the Pittsburgh Steelers’ reported interest in WR Davante Adams mean for George Pickens? Finally the team’s bona fide No. 1 WR, he is now facing another pursuit of a big-name target at receiver after the Steelers failed to trade for Brandon Aiyuk. Former NFL GM Doug Whaley, however, believes Pickens should root for them to pull this trade off.
“What I automatically think of [is], ‘Okay, we’ve got to start looking at wide receivers, because Pickens is gonna be gone’”, he said on 93.7 The Fan yesterday, about the Steelers’ reported interest in Adams. “Meaning Pickens isn’t gonna want to stay here and be a No. 2 to Davante Adams. Now you go to your scouts. ‘Let’s adjust. Let’s start looking at wide receivers’”.
Davante Adams is a six-time Pro Bowler with over 10,000 career receiving yards and 96 touchdowns. He is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career with numbers to which George Pickens only aspires. But Adams wasn’t putting up huge numbers during his first couple seasons, either.
And Whaley thinks bringing in Adams will actually help Pickens reach those sorts of numbers. While he is still looking for his first touchdown of 2024, he is putting up some yards. But he could do even more, so the theory goes, with a legitimate threat on the other side.
“This year, I think [a Davante Adams trade] helps tremendously”, Whaley said. “But because now Pickens is your No. 2 but everybody is gonna start rolling your coverage to Adams,; he’s gonna have a monster year. So if I’m Pickens, I’m lobbying, ‘Go get that dude! Go get him! Yeah!’”.
George Pickens has 20 receptions on the season for 284 yards, catching 7 for 113 on Sunday. He had a shot at a ball in the end zone for his first touchdown, but he couldn’t finish the play. We’ve talked about how he could have had even more yardage earlier in the season, but penalties robbed him of some key plays. That does include a touchdown he scored that was negated by a penalty.
Adams has missed one of four games this season, but he has 18 receptions for 209 yards and a touchdown. He is a player Pickens has admitted in the past whom he models his game after with a similar body type.
While the Steelers have expressed interest in some big-name receivers like Aiyuk and Adams, they have publicly supported the receivers they already have, Pickens foremost among them. Reportedly, Adams prefers to play with a quarterback he is already familiar with. That makes the Jets the clear favorite with his long-time teammate, Aaron Rodgers. But the Steelers have their feelers out there.
