The Pittsburgh Steelers have never indicated they want to trade George Pickens, but rumors swirled during the draft that they might. And to be fair, teams very rarely broadcast their desire or even willingness to trade a player until the last possible minute—when they announce a trade. They never said they were exploring trading Martavis Bryant, Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, or even Sammie Coates.
But even during the draft, the rumors swirled, suggesting the Steelers were making and taking calls about George Pickens. We don’t know whether or not that is true, of course. While Gerry Dulac didn’t address that report, he did say he believes they never neared a trade.
“I don’t think they came close at all” to a trade of George Pickens, he said on the DVE Morning Show. “I don’t think they want to right now. If you trade George Pickens, now you’re basically back to where you were before you had DK Metcalf. So no, I think their approach is to go into the regular season and have those two and add whatever you can to it, with Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin [III]”.
While he continues to maintain that the Steelers will not sign Pickens to a second contract, Dulac has consistently claimed they would not trade him during the offseason. He is, however, going into the final year of his deal, so the clock is ticking. And perhaps if the draft broke a different way, a different set of variables could have affected their thinking.
“I think if they drafted a receiver, that might have heightened [the Steelers’ interest in trading George Pickens] a little bit”, Dulac said. “But I don’t think they intended to trade him today. Now, I’m not gonna tell you they’re not gonna trade him before the November deadline”.
The Steelers don’t often indulge in in-season trades, but they did when the Bears sent them a second-round pick for Chase Claypool. If a team wants to trade for Pickens in-season and give the Steelers a second-round pick would they say no? I suppose it depends on how the season is going at that point. After all, they were 10-3 at one point last year.
But now, outwardly, the Steelers have given no indication they want to trade George Pickens. Not only that, they have offered no hints that they are even interested in dealing him. Indeed, in signing veteran Robert Woods, they are indicating they don’t believe the group is strong enough.
Dulac is right that it doesn’t make sense to approach making a position a strength and then sabotage it. The Steelers traded for DK Metcalf to strengthen the group, not to dump Pickens. At least, not for anything less than a stellar offer–which is probably at least a second-round pick.
And as Dulac pointed out, the clock doesn’t stop until November. The Steelers could still move George Pickens up until the trade deadline. Now, it’s worth keeping in mind that the Steelers traded Claypool in his third season, not his fourth, in case you’ve forgotten and wonder why they can’t get a second-round pick just as easily. Indeed, they probably won’t, but that doesn’t mean they’ll just let the phone ring.
