It sounds like George Pickens being late for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs wasn’t a one-time thing. In fact, it sounds like it’s a regular occurrence and something teammates have simply accepted as him getting a pass for.
Appearing on 93.7 The Fan Tuesday morning, The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo, who shared the story of Pickens being extremely tardy for the Steelers-Chiefs Week 17 game, added more insight into his practice habits.
“Basically players kind of shrugged it off and they were like, ‘Yeah, he’s late for practice often. He’s late for other things,'” DeFabo told The Fan’s Joe Starkey. “There needs to be a certain level of professionalism and it’s just obviously not there.”
Per DeFabo, Pickens didn’t arrive at Acrisure Stadium until there was less than 90 minutes before kickoff, putting his arrival time after 11:30 AM/EST for a 1 PM/EST game. It came after inactives were officially released by the team and DeFabo says he personally watched a “frantic” PR staffer quickly whisk Pickens inside the stadium. He said there was no indication Pickens’ late arrival was excused or for some pre-determined reason.
This offseason will a pivotal one between Pickens and the Steelers. Pickens will be in search of a long-term contract extension that could pay him close to $30 million per season in a wide receiver market that’s seen plenty of talented receivers cash in over the past 12 months. But Pickens comes with plenty of strings and headaches and the organization has to decide if it will tolerate the anxiety he causes over the long haul at premium prices.
“The Steelers need to be proactive, I believe, and before it gets to that point,” DeFabo said. “I believe that they should get whatever they can in a trade. I think that’s the best approach at this point.”
Right now, it feels like the Steelers have little leverage. Entirely dependent on Pickens as their only threat at wide receiver, it’s perhaps on reason why Mike Tomlin has placated him so much, especially this season. Their passing game tanked during the three games he missed with a hamstring injury that began their five-game slide and hasty exit from the playoffs. Adding more help gives them more options.
A Pickens trade wouldn’t take place until March at the earliest but would be a path the Steelers have gone down before with Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Chase Claypool, and Diontae Johnson.
