From a fan or media perspective, there is such a limited view into players and their personalities. Most players are too careful or too uninterested during interviews to let their personalities shine through. That means we often take what we see on the field, run it through a bunch of base assumptions in our head, and produce an idea of what we think the players are like. For George Pickens, those assumptions aren’t very positive because of some issues as of late.
CB Donte Jackson appeared on SNR Drive with Matt and Dale and described a different side to Pickens.
“That dude’s a unicorn, man. And I think that the biggest thing about him is, man, I don’t think nobody has as much fun as he has playing the game of football day in and day out,” Jackson said via Steelers.com. “He’s on that field, you’re gonna see a smile on his face. You’re gonna see him interacting with his teammates. You’re gonna see him doing everything just to build everybody up around him.
“And I think that part of him just goes completely unnoticed because everybody’s always worrying about other stuff he does or says.”
Some of the Mic’d Up segments from NFL Films occasionally give a glimpse into this side of Pickens. How he reacted to Mike Williams’ game-winning touchdown is a great example. He was yelling Williams’ name in excitement with a big smile on his face.
Here is the clip I’m talking about via The Standard on the Steelers’ YouTube channel.
Hopefully with Hard Knocks covering the team for five more weeks, we get to see more of that side of Pickens. I think it would help him tremendously if they showed that. The unsportsmanlike penalties, the scuffles at the end of losses, and the general idea that most wide receivers are divas paints quite the opposite picture in most people’s head.
Russell Wilson often paints a favorable picture of Pickens when asked about him, and Jackson is backing that up with a different perspective than we are used to hearing.
“When you see him making these plays on Sunday, these wild catches and stuff like that, you’re actually genuinely happy for him because you know he puts everything and more into being a great receiver,” Jackson said. “I think sky’s the limit for George, and he can do whatever he really wants to do on the field for real.”
I think most people agree that the sky is the limit for Pickens. His physical gifts and his knack for spectacular plays give him all the potential in the world. It sounds like he is a good teammate in most ways, but obviously hurting the team with penalties puts that in jeopardy from time to time. If he can fix that side of the equation, then he can accomplish just about anything in the NFL.
