As of now, the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have a second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. They also have a talented receiver in George Pickens, who’s heading into the final year of his rookie contract. Naturally, the idea of trading Pickens to recoup some draft capital will be a hot topic as we inch toward the draft on Thursday.
Giving Pickens a contract extension doesn’t feel like the most likely scenario. Yet, it’s not something Steelers insider Brooke Pryor is ready to rule out.
“The closer we get to the draft, the more likely it continues to be that they [Steelers] work out an extension with George Pickens, or that’s the route that they take,” Pryor said Monday on 93.7 The Fan. “So I get the sense that it’s still continuing to trend towards an extension, but crazier things have happened. We have seen them happen. But at this point, that’s where it feels like things are going.”
Trading Pickens would make some sense. As of now, it doesn’t seem like the Steelers feel ready to extend him. The Steelers haven’t held any talks with the young receiver. They also made the bold move to trade for DK Metcalf.
Trading for a wide receiver and then handing him a large extension shows that the Steelers didn’t see a player at the position they could count on long-term. As soon as the trade was made, many took the move as a damning sign that the Steelers don’t see Pickens as a part of the team past 2025.
And yet, if Pickens stays on the roster heading into next season, there are reasons to be excited. Compared to what the Steelers had at the position last year, a duo of Metcalf and Pickens is a massive improvement.
With that said, Metcalf’s contract makes things complicated. It’s rare to see teams pay big money to two different receivers at the same time. The Cincinnati Bengals are giving it a trial run now, with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. It’s not common practice, though, and certainly doesn’t feel like something the Steelers would typically do.
However, giving Metcalf that extension before playing a down in Pittsburgh didn’t feel like something Pittsburgh would do either. With the disappointment the last few seasons have ended with, it wouldn’t be too much of a shock for the Steelers to continue to make bold moves like that.
Extending Pickens would give the Steelers a talented receiving duo for years to come. Having those two on the roster would help the development of a young quarterback as well. It would be harder to build the team around them, sure. But that doesn’t stop Pryor from seeing it as a possibility.
