Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: WR George Pickens
Experience: 3 Years
Will this exit meeting really be a Steelers exit for George Pickens? Though he has a year left on his rookie contract, speculation has been rampant about a possible divorce. It’s hard to conceive of the Steelers carrying him into the 2025 season under the terms of his rookie deal. While it’s possible, many believe it’s more likely they either extend or trade him.
That depends on the disparity between how the Steelers feel about Pickens and how the outside world does, though. Pickens has been alternately exalted and raked through the coals depending upon the week.
While the Steelers readily admit that he has to grow up—Mike Tomlin even said it in his year-end press conference—they clearly also believe he can do that growing in Pittsburgh. Tomlin, I’m sure, wants to “solve” George Pickens, but what do the rest think?
Is Art Rooney II about to allow the Steelers to give Pickens $25 million per year or more? Would Omar Khan dare turn down, say, a second-round pick for him? The conversation has to be about the options—you can’t do it in a vacuum.
And that’s partly because Pickens keeps moving back and forth between worth the trouble and not. One week he is the reason the Steelers win a game and the next he is an agent of chaos. But we have seen this Steelers offense without him, and it’s not good.
The latest theory has been that if the Steelers can land a premium wide receiver like Tee Higgins in free agency, they will trade George Pickens. While many question whether they would do that, they did big-game hunt receivers last year via trade.
In 14 games in 2024, Pickens caught 59 passes for 900 yards and just three touchdowns. He did catch five for 87 and a touchdown in the Steelers’ playoff loss. In his first six games with Russell Wilson, he caught 29 passes for 487 yards and three scores, though.
And there is the tease. The Steelers know how talented Pickens is, and he can be very productive in stretches. Part of the issue is the fact that they have rarely had the structure around him to allow him to thrive. But over a full season, those numbers cited would translate to 82 catches for 1,380 yards and eight touchdowns. If they could get that or better out of Pickens with stability around him, then maybe he is worth paying. And he’ll probably be less of a headache if he’s consistently putting up numbers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
