Over the first two seasons of his NFL career, it was easy to look at George Pickens and wonder what his potential could be in a competent offensive system with a good quarterback. He, of course, had neither of those two things with QBs Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph as well as offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
Now he has Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith, a very clear upgrade in both areas.
“If you’re a Steelers fan, you’re finally saying ‘Man, we’re getting the best out of George Pickens right now,’” former Steelers OL Willie Colon said Monday via FS1’s Breakfast Ball. “There was a large part of this season, we thought, ‘Man, we’re wasting a generational talent because we have Justin Fields at quarterback.’ And that is not a knock on Justin Fields, but right now the Russ-Pickens connection is what’s making this offense go alongside with the run game. So you have to be extremely excited about what Russell’s doing right now.”
Pickens has very clearly experienced a bump in his production with Wilson at quarterback. Over the first six games, he had 26 receptions for 363 yards and zero touchdowns. Over the last three games, he has 14 receptions for 276 yards and two touchdowns. He is on pace for roughly 76 receptions and 1,207 yards. He was pacing behind last year’s numbers with Fields at quarterback, but he is now pacing ahead of last year in every metric but touchdowns, which should change down the stretch.
In the Week 10 win, Pickens had five receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. That one touchdown he had was the perfect display of his unique body control and athleticism as he twisted his body and reached out to catch the ball.
Pickens has a personal goal of garnering some of the individual accolades like Pro Bowl or even All-Pro honors. He is now ninth in total yards with the majority of the receivers ahead of him having played an extra game at this point in the season. He is in position to inch toward the top five for receiving yards.
While I agree that the Steelers are finally getting better production out of Pickens, I don’t think they are getting “the best” out of him like Colon suggests. There is still some meat on that bone. Perhaps Mike Williams getting more involved in the offense and teams being forced to pay more attention to him will bump Pickens up to that next level. He’s only had three regular-season games with Wilson, too. Their chemistry will continue to improve.
