During the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, WR George Pickens sported eye black with an explicit message – Always Fucking Open. The NFL is now reviewing the eye black, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, and could fine Pickens for a violation of the NFL’s uniform policy on personal messages.
A fine for personal messages would cost Pickens $11,255, according to the NFL Operations Fines & Appeals Page. Players can get fined for any number of personal messages, even positive ones, and the explicit nature of Pickens’ eye black surely caught the league’s eye. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he ends up on the Gameday Accountability page on Saturday, and it might not be just once. Pickens also threw down CB Jourdan Lewis by the facemask at the end of the game, a play that Cowboys EDGE Micah Parsons thinks should get fined.
It’ll be interesting to see how much Pickens is fined for his actions Sunday, especially coming after a season where he was heavily fined by both the league and the team. A report by CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones said that Pickens was fined over $200,000 last season, and he could see a hefty fine come his way this week, especially with potentially multiple violations.
It wasn’t a good game for Pickens performance-wise, either. He had just three receptions for 26 yards on seven targets, and he had a bad drop on 3rd and 4 that could’ve extended Pittsburgh’s drive. Instead, it led to a punt and Dallas scoring the go-ahead touchdown. Pickens will need to regroup for Pittsburgh’s Week 6 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders for the Steelers to avoid dropping three games in a row.
He needs to be Pittsburgh’s No. 1 receiver, and that includes being a leader. Picking up continual fines for avoidable acts and acting out on the field isn’t doing that, and the Steelers are surely going to want to see Pickens grow up a little bit and eliminate stuff like what happened against Dallas before they commit to potentially giving him a big contract this offseason.
