The Pittsburgh Steelers were never going to give wide receiver George Pickens a new contract before the 2025 season, his final year under contract.
Not after paying new star receiver DK Metcalf $150 million in a contract extension after trading for him.
The Steelers trading Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys Wednesday morning, though, went beyond his contract situation. It was about his antics, behavioral issues and some of the frustration he caused in the locker room, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero stated.
On The Rich Eisen Show Friday afternoon, Pelissero stated that there were a “variety of different issues” that ultimately pushed the Steelers to move on from Pickens after just three seasons together, getting a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick in return for Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick.
“This was not just a snap decision. This was not he overreacted to them paying and trading for DK Metcalf. It was everything over the past several years,” Pelissero said, according to video via the show’s X account. “Again, unbelievably talented football player, but there were a variety of different issues. There was tardiness to meetings, there was a couple of games where he showed up late to the locker room.
“You know, you always want guys there before you turn in your inactives 90 minutes before the game. There were multiple occasions George Pickens wasn’t in the locker room yet.”
Pickens, who missed three games due to a hamstring injury during the 2024 season, made his return to the lineup on Christmas Day against the Kansas City Chiefs. Unbeknownst at the time, Pickens showed up late to the game, according to a report in January from The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo.
Then Pickens went out and had some frustration on the field as the offense struggled. After the Steelers’ 29-10 loss, Pickens went up to Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and dapped them up during a TV interview, generating more negative attention.
Pelissero reveals here that Pickens showing up late to games happened multiple times, which is eye-opening. He reportedly would show up late to practice, too, but practice and games are a bit different, and Pickens was clearly allowed to get away with it at times — right up until the Steelers had enough and shipped him out of town.
It wasn’t just the showing up late, either. It was the headaches he caused on the field with personal foul penalties, meltdowns on the sideline, arguing with fans, lacking effort on some plays, and more.
“Obviously the personal fouls, that stuff that everybody saw on the field, there were at times missed assignments, which might be related to him being late to meetings. And it just kind of sucked some of the energy out of the locker room when you have somebody who on a weekly basis, you just don’t know what type of things they might be involved with beyond making unbelievable catches,” Pelissero added regarding Pickens. “And it was the same stuff, like I said, coming out of Georgia where there was just, there was a lot of concern about the level to which you’re gonna have to hold George Pickens’ hand, not as a football player. He is gonna go out and make catches. But it was about just doing all those other things right.
“And, you know, there were times that he had clashes with various quarterbacks. He was certainly somebody who wanted Russell Wilson to be playing, not Justin Fields last year. There’s a lot there.”
None of this should be a surprise. This was the concern about Pickens coming out of Georgia, and the biggest reason why he fell to No. 52 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, despite being a top-20 talent.
Granted, he’s still young and growing and maturing, something he talked about Thursday during his introductory press conference with the Cowboys. But over three years, the same mistakes and headaches started to weigh on the Steelers, and it was time to move on.
The timing of moving on was surprising, but the Steelers made the right call in the end. Now, we’ll see if the wake-up call of being traded is answered by Pickens moving forward.
