The Pittsburgh Steelers have built a reputation for finding hidden wide receiver gems in the NFL Draft. They got Antonio Brown in the sixth round, Diontae Johnson in the third round, and multiple second-rounders who shined early in their careers including JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, and most recently George Pickens.
While these receivers may have been draft steals, they all left the Steelers in a messy breakup (JuJu’s was more sad than messy), except for George Pickens who’s entering his fourth year with the Steelers with a lot of complications.
Whether Pittsburgh decides to extend Pickens’ contract will be one of the biggest questions for the franchise over the next two years.
On Pro Bowl Live on SiriusXM NFL Radio this Saturday, former NFL linebacker and current analyst Kirk Morrison said that the Steelers probably need to get a true wide receiver one. He doesn’t believe Pickens is the solution.
“Is there a number one wide receiver that they truly need to help the quarterback situation that you can trust? George Pickens seems to be a number two, not necessarily a number one. So the Steelers, like I said, they have their work cut out for them this offseason.”
Pickens’ status as a true WR1 or an upside WR2 is debatable. He was the clear number one for the Steelers this season, but that’s in large part due to Diontae Johnson being traded in the offseason, and Pickens’ only competition being Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin III, and half a season of 30-year-old Mike Williams. Pickens was on pace for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, before an injury kept him out of three games in December. And he has a play or two every game where he looks like prime Randy Moss playing “500” against a bunch of fifth-graders.
But on the flip side, he has yet to record 65 catches in a season. He has just 12 touchdowns through 48 games. And beyond the numbers, he’s not an elite route-runner, he often struggles to create separation, and worst of all, he’s a diva on and off the field.
Pickens has the physical traits and hands of an Alpha WR1, but his attitude is a serious problem. Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have dealt with receivers that have attitude problems more than any other organization, and if any coach could reach the person beyond the player it would be Tomlin. Yet even Tomlin seems to get headaches from Pickens and his antics. In early December, following a game where Pickens had multiple unsportsmanlike penalties, Tomlin said ‘he’s gotta grow up in a hurry.’ It’s hard to say that he showed signs of growth in the final month-and-a-half of the season.
So if Pickens isn’t the answer, who is? The obvious option is to draft a receiver in the first or second round this year. Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka and Ole Miss’s Tre Harris are two players who could be available in the first or second round. They could also look at free agents, with Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins being the obvious number-one candidate, but a player like Jacksonville’s Christian Kirk might be more in their price range.
There are a hundred different routes that Omar Khan and the Steelers could take, but one thing is clear: the Steelers need to improve their wide receiver room in 2025, especially if they aren’t able to improve their quarterback room.
