For the past few weeks, rumors have heated up about George Pickens potentially being traded. When the draft passed, it seemed like that wouldn’t happen. However, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a deal in place to send Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys. In return, the Steelers are acquiring a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick. Former Steelers corner Bryant McFadden thinks that Pittsburgh lost this deal.
“The Steelers are my loser, and here’s why,” McFadden said Wednesday on CBS Sports HQ. “This was an offense, if you followed the Steelers, especially going back to 2024, George Pickens was the only legit playmaker in terms of the passing game. The issue a year ago with the passing game, it didn’t have a number two to help George Pickens, to help the entire offense.
“What you did was you traded for DK Metcalf. When you made that trade, you told all of us from the outside looking in, you have championship-like aspirations still. You still have playoff aspirations by making that move to go get another legit playmaker into the building. Well, you decided to move the next-best playmaker today in George Pickens. The wide receiver room is still a room of concerns.”
That’s a fair reason not to like this trade. Last year, wide receiver was one of the Steelers’ biggest weaknesses. Pickens was spectacular, but the Steelers didn’t have enough consistency outside of him. Calvin Austin III was the only other receiver with over 500 yards.
The Steelers needed to improve at that position this offseason. They did a great job at that, trading a second-round pick for Metcalf. That gave Pittsburgh a dynamic duo at wideout. While Pickens and Metcalf are similar players, they’re both extremely talented. Defending against both of them would’ve been hard for any defense.
However, we won’t get to see what that offense would’ve looked like. The Steelers put themselves in the same situation they were in last year, except Metcalf is in Pickens’ position. They haven’t made any other major acquisition at receiver. They didn’t even draft one.
While the Pickens trade might not look great right now, it might be too soon to bash the Steelers for the move. There are some decent free-agent receivers still available. They could also pull off another trade to fill the void left by Pickens. There’s time for them to bolster their receiver corps.
We’ll see what the Steelers’ receiver depth chart looks like come Week 1. They might be in trouble if it doesn’t change much from how it looks today. Maybe Austin or Roman Wilson will take a step forward, though. This trade might not be so bad for the Steelers in the long run. However, at the moment, it does seem slightly puzzling.
