It is no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers need help at wide receiver. After a year of basically relying solely on WR George Pickens, there is a chance they look to one of his friends in the 2025 NFL Draft in Syracuse WR Jackson Meeks.
Meeks spent three years at the University of Georgia before transferring to Syracuse last year. For his first three seasons Meeks struggled to get playing time, catching only 10 passes for 132 yards and zero touchdowns. While disappointing, that in no way indicated that Meeks couldn’t play.
After transferring to Syracuse, he exploded in 2024. Meeks tallied 78 receptions for 1,021 yards and seven touchdowns, putting up an impressive 78.5 receiving yards per game. His best game came early in the season, Meeks catching 10 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown against Holy Cross.
Meeks didn’t just put up numbers against Holy Cross. He also had an impact performance against Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes at the end of the season, helping knock the Hurricanes out of the College Football Playoffs. Meeks caught seven passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns in Syracuse’s 42-38 upset win over the Hurricanes.
While Meeks really emerged at Syracuse, he made valuable connections in his three years at Georgia. In particular, Meeks’ freshman year (2021) overlapped with Pickens’ final year in Athens. Despite Meeks and Pickens spending limited time together in the same locker room, Pickens had a big impact on Meeks.
At the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl, Meeks spoke with Steelers Depot’s Josh Carney and was asked who he models his game after.
“Currently I watch a lot of GP,” Meeks told Carney. “My old teammate, George Pickens. I watch a lot of Keenan Allen. I also watch a lot of old film. I watched Stevie Johnson.”
If you were playing a game of “which one of these is not the same,” Pickens would be the clear odd one out. Allen and Johnson are some of the great route runners in NFL history while Pickens is more known for his jump ball ability.
Meeks is 6-2, 210 pounds, so he profiles like all three from a size and weight perspective. Meeks said the best part of his game is his contested-catch ability, one of Pickens’ trademarks. Meeks told Carney that Pickens is someone he speaks to often.
“George’s like a big brother,” Meeks said. “I definitely ask him questions like about different stuff he did in different games. And honestly, some of the stuff George does, you can’t really model. You can’t really do same things he does, but at the same time I can ask. I can ask questions. I can pick his brain.”
Given that Meeks said a strength of his game is contested catches, it makes sense to pick the brain of Pickens, who is arguably the best contested-catch wide receiver in the NFL.
“His body control is something I try to model,” Meeks said. “It’s stuff that he does that I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s cool.’ But like, you said, his contested catches, his back shoulder, catches his high point, him looking the ball all the way through. Just trying to take those small details in his game and apply it to my game is the biggest thing.”
Pickens isn’t seen as a technician, instead more of a freak athlete. But as Meeks points out Pickens is more than that. Sure, Pickens may not have the greatest release or footwork, but there aren’t many receivers who flash their hands just at the right time so the ball drops safely into them instead of getting swatted away by a defensive back. Meeks is trying to learn that, and he is doing that by speaking with Pickens and watching film.
If Meeks can find a way to combine Stevie Johnson’s route running with George Pickens’ contested-catch ability, he could be a draft-day steal. He already has Pickens mentoring him and teaching him how to become a better contested-catch receiver, which is super important in the NFL where cornerbacks are almost always playing tight coverage.
