The Pittsburgh Steelers backed themselves into a corner at the wide receiver position last March after they traded Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers. It was the correct choice given how Johnson’s 2024 season went, but they left themselves without a viable WR2 to complement George Pickens. The solution was meant to be a blockbuster trade for Brandon Aiyuk, but it fell just short of coming to fruition, and by the time it fell through there were no more options to meaningfully improve the position.
The Pat McAfee Show’s Mark Kaboly thinks the Steelers learned from that mistake.
“I think they might have learned from that last year,” Kaboly said via Kaboly + Mack on YouTube. “I think they learned their lesson the hard way last year that they just can’t have their sight set on one guy and just wait for him to make that decision.”
The Aiyuk saga dragged on for months during the offseason, and it left the Steelers in a really tough spot. They were forced to enter the season with a WR room of Pickens, Calvin Austin III, Van Jefferson, and Scotty Miller. Roman Wilson was injured for most of the season, and while Austin’s arrow was pointing up by the end of the season, it wasn’t enough to fill the void.
It was particularly felt when Pickens was injured for three games toward the end of the season. The Steelers’ offense sputtered to a halt during that time with just 167.7 passing yards per game while Pickens was out of the lineup. That was the beginning of the end of the offense being effective. Russell Wilson was knocked out of his groove, and the Steelers never regained their midseason form.
Pickens is entering the final year of his rookie contract. That is typically when the Steelers offer a long-term deal to core players to prevent them from hitting the open market the following season as an unrestricted free agent. In today’s NFL, there is an ever-growing risk of contract-year players holding out or otherwise causing issues behind the scenes.
Kaboly has theorized for months now that the Steelers would either need to extend their best wide receiver or trade him, warning of what a lame-duck year for Pickens might look like. He is now coming around to believing Pickens will be back.
“Anybody short of [signing] Tee Higgins, I think I’m really, really thinking or believing that George Pickens will be back,” Kaboly said. “So you better prepare yourself. They’re not just gonna dump him and say, ‘Let’s cut the cancer and just move on here.’ They want to at least have somebody in place, and unless you have a guy who is as talented as him, you’re not going to do that because all of a sudden that compromises your whole offense. I don’t see that happening.”
The Steelers’ philosophy is such that they are always trying to compete in the present. They put together the best possible roster every year. There is never the thought of a full rebuild, as much as fans would like to see one. Moving on from Pickens without a real plan in place is out of the question. The Steelers would have to both sign a replacement and also use a high draft pick to make things work. Finding two starting receivers in one offseason is much more difficult than finding one.
Based on team president Art Rooney II’s comments, the Steelers haven’t had any contract talks with George Pickens, but he is still holding out hope that they can unlock his full potential as a gifted young player.
