The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have a second-round pick after trading it to acquire WR DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks, but with WR George Pickens entering the last year of his deal, there’s been speculation that the Steelers could try to move Pickens to recoup a second-round pick. Asked if Pickens’ contract could factor into the team looking to trade back into the second round or potentially draft a wide receiver, Omar Khan shut the idea down in a pre-draft press conference.
“No. We’re excited we have George and DK here. I think they’re gonna be excited for everyone to watch, but no,” Khan said via the team’s YouTube channel.
As for potentially trading back into the second round, Khan didn’t completely rule the possibility out.
“We’ll see how things shake out. I’ll say this, we gave up a second for DK and I’m so excited that we did that,” he said. “Having him here is great, and obviously when you get into the draft, you get excited about a lot of players, and wish I had 50 picks right now, cause there’s a lot of good players out there.”
The Steelers have long been searching for a receiver to pair with Pickens and adding Metcalf this offseason gives them one of the better duos in the league. It would likely take a really strong offer for the team to now move Pickens, even though his attitude has been a concern and 2025 could be his last year in Pittsburgh given his contract situation.
It’s a deep draft class as well, so the thought that the Steelers may want another Day 2 pick or to recoup their second rounder given up in the Metcalf trade isn’t outlandish. But it sounds as if Khan and the team view Metcalf as essentially their second-round pick, and while the opportunity to move back into the second isn’t off the table, it doesn’t sound as if Pickens will be involved or that his situation will influence the team to do so.
While the Steelers could still address wide receiver in the draft and have done their homework on receivers, they seem to like the idea of keeping George Pickens and Metcalf together and seeing how the two can operate together. The duo should almost certainly improve Pittsburgh’s passing game, as they’re both big-play threats and weapons on the outside. Even with the pairing potentially only lasting for one season, Pittsburgh will likely get to see how it works.
