For the last two years, concerns about George Pickens and his attitude have popped up around the Steelers far too often. After a lackluster performance on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, which ended with Pickens grabbing Cowboys CB Jourdan Lewis by the facemask and throwing him to the ground after Pittsburgh’s loss, Pickens’ attitude is a discussion again. Former NFL GM Doug Whaley appeared on The Fan Morning Show on 93.7 The Fan, and he said the Steelers knew what they were signing up for when they drafted Pickens.
“That’s why he was there in the second round,” Whaley said. “So no one should be surprised. They took a gamble and it’s not paying off. It’s showed some flashes. And that’s when a guy like that, and that’s the great seductress of talent. It’s the Medusa theory. It’s just not worth it. Or, it is, I don’t know. That’s why those guys get paid the big bucks to make those decisions. But you lay with dogs, you get fleas. So no one should be surprised.”
For the most part, Pittsburgh looks to draft guys who are high character and are going to be good for the locker room. The nature of drafting wide receivers means there’s going to be some guys in there who want the ball and will be upset if they don’t get it. That’s been the case in the past with Pickens, but as the team’s No. 1 receiver this year, they’ve tried to get him the ball. Pickens was a first-round talent who fell to the second because of known problems with his attitude, so Whaley isn’t shocked it’s been an issue during his NFL career.
Even though he played less than Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III, who worked in the team’s heavier packages ahead of Pickens, he had seven targets, but he couldn’t make plays when he was targeted. He had a bad drop on 3rd and 4, and there were some other balls he probably could’ve made a play on and didn’t, all while wearing eye black that read “Always Fucking Open.” So it’s not as if the team isn’t looking to Pickens when he’s in the game, and he had his best game of the season in Week 4 with seven receptions for 113 yards, although that performance was marred by a lost fumble deep in the red zone.
The Steelers have dealt with attitude problems at receiver over the years, with the likes of Antonio Brown and Chase Claypool having issues. Pickens seems to be the next player who the team has to decide what to do with. The Steelers traded Diontae Johnson due to problems in the locker room, maybe thinking it would be better to not have him around Pickens, but the issues with Pickens are coming back, and we’re only in Week 6.
Last year, after Pickens was called out for a lack of effort blocking in Week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts, he had the best game of his career in Week 16. Maybe, he’ll go out and have a monster game in Week 6 and we can forget about his antics in Week 5, but the Steelers need to make sure it doesn’t become more of a recurring problem than it already is.
