Losing sucks, but the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to find ways to somehow make it worse. Their recent loss to the Dallas Cowboys was miserable for a million reasons, and the most prevalent one may have been George Pickens. He was off the field for stretches of the game although Mike Tomlin made it seem like that wasn’t to punish him. Either way, Pickens was visibly frustrated, and analyst Steve Palazzolo of The 33rd Team believes he could be following in the footsteps of several other former Steelers receivers.
“The ability for the Steelers to draft receivers who are absolutely awesome and then absolutely crazy within two-and-a-half years is astounding,” Palazzolo said Monday on his Check the Mic podcast. “It is an astounding ability of the Steelers to find non-first round wide receivers who are awesome yet a little volatile at the same time. Pickens, to me, he’s their go-to guy.”
The Steelers do have a long history of receivers who ooze talent but cannot stay out of their own way. The biggest example is Antonio Brown, whom the Steelers drafted in the sixth round in 2010. Brown is arguably one of the best receivers ever, but he had such terrible off-field issues that no team could handle him.
There are other examples too. Chase Claypool looked like a star in the making in 2020, but his attitude seemed to frustrate the Steelers, causing them to trade him. Martavis Bryant and Diontae Johnson are good examples too. Even Santonio Holmes, who was drafted in the first round, had some personal issues.
Some people would probably throw JuJu Smith-Schuster into that category as well, but he never really had the personal issues or effort problems that those guys did. He just seemed to be an immature kid. However, he’s another receiver the Steelers drafted outside the first round who looked great but didn’t stick with the team.
Pickens could be the next player to join that club. He reportedly had some character issues coming out of college, and those problems could be starting to appear. The most blatant example of his poor attitude this year was during the end of the game against the Cowboys.
The game was over following the Cowboys recovering a fumble after the Steelers attempted a series of laterals. Cowboys corner Jourdan Lewis seemed to gloat to Pickens, and in response, Pickens grabbed his face mask and threw him to the ground. It was a bush-league move. Even if a guy is celebrating in your face, there’s no need to act like that.
Pickens was likely frustrated because he did not have a good game against the Cowboys. He only had three catches for 26 yards, and he had some issues dropping the football. It makes sense that he would be mad. There are right and wrong ways to express that feeling though. Pickens chose wrong. Now, he’s brought this criticism onto himself.
He is ultra-talented, and like Palazzolo says, he is the Steelers’ go-to guy. However, they need to be able to trust that he can keep his cool. The Steelers already get in their own way enough. They don’t need their best receiver getting frustrated and hurting the team. Pickens has all the ability in the world, and he can be one of the best in the league, but he has to learn the right lessons from the Steelers receivers who have come before him.
