One of the best scenes in cinematic history occurs toward the end of A Few Good Men. Tom Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee finally gets Jack Nicholson’s Col. Nathan Jessup to admit that he ordered a “code red” on Pvt. William Santiago, leading to his arrest in the courtroom. On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded WR George Pickens, a move that was reportedly Mike Tomlin’s doing. While the drama on the South Side certainly wasn’t Hollywood-level, it seems like the Steelers grew tired of Pickens’ repeated violations of team rules and decided to move the receiver ahead of the final year of his deal.
With Tomlin reportedly being the driving force behind the move, Colin Cowherd said on FS1’s The Herd thinks that the Cowboys, and other teams need to pay attention when Tomlin orders a “code red” on a player.
“When Mike Tomlin orders a code red, you may want to pay attention. ‘Cause he’s like the most patient, pro player guy in the league…and he knows when to bail on people.”
Cowherd warned the Cowboys to “be careful” with Pickens and cited other players that the Steelers have traded.
“Go look at what they produced post-Mike Tomlin,” he said. “And the answer is not much consistently.”
In most instances, when the Steelers trade wide receivers, their NFL career usually doesn’t last much longer. The three wide receivers the Steelers traded before Pickens were Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and Antonio Brown. Post-Pittsburgh, Claypool had 22 receptions and is currently out of the league. Johnson spent time with three separate teams last season and signed a minimum salary, one-year contract with the Cleveland Browns last week. Brown was part of a Super Bowl team with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he had just 91 receptions in three seasons after the Steelers dealt him.
Pickens has the talent to avoid the same fate. But like Pickens, Brown, Claypool and Johnson were traded at least in part for their attitude, and not their talent on the field. Pickens has been a productive receiver, and should continue to be so. But the question will be if he can grow up and avoid being a headache for his team. That’s his path to avoiding the same fate as some past Pittsburgh receivers.
It’s rare that Mike Tomlin will lose his patience with a player. While the Steelers haven’t been winning consistently enough recently, there’s no denying that he’s one of, if not the best, coach in the league at managing personalities. Cowherd is right that teams need to pay attention when the Steelers are looking to move a player and really take into consideration the “why?” behind it.
At this point, teams probably are paying attention. But that didn’t stop the Panthers from trading for Johnson last offseason. Nor did it stop the Cowboys from trading for Pickens. Cowherd thinks it’s due to Jerry Jones wanting to “save” people, and thinks Jones will ultimately overpay on an extension for Pickens.
It’s far from a certainity that Pickens meets the same fate as the likes of Claypool and Johnson. His potential is still high, and he has the talent to be one of the best receivers in the league. But given some of his on-field outbursts, the Cowboys have to be wary that history could wind up repeating itself.
