The Pittsburgh Steelers trading wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys Wednesday morning wasn’t a surprise. The timing was though, as the Steelers waited until after the 2025 NFL Draft to move the fourth-year receiver who is entering a contract year.
Despite the strange timing, the Steelers seemingly did well in the trade, landing a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick for Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick heading to Dallas.
For ESPN’s Seth Walder, it’s a trade that brings “good compensation” for the Steelers, even though it pushes them further from being a contender. In a piece grading the move, Walder gave the Steelers a B+ and the Cowboys a B-.
“For the Steelers, this is good compensation. The league widely knew they wanted to move on from Pickens, and they still got a Day 2 pick back. Pittsburgh already acquired Pickens’ replacement in DK Metcalf earlier this offseason,” Walder writes. “While the two wideouts could have played together, there’s an obvious overlap in their styles, and it certainly appears that the Metcalf acquisition was in anticipation of losing Pickens.
However, the Steelers once again have a receiver problem. Behind Metcalf on the depth chart are Calvin Austin III, Robert Woods and Roman Wilson.”
After originally being offered a fourth-round pick for Pickens during the draft, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Steelers held out and got a third-round pick for the young receiver. That allowed them to get some solid compensation for him in the 2026 NFL Draft, a draft that will be held in Pittsburgh and one in which the Steelers seemingly have their sights set on finding a quarterback.
But the move also opens up a significant hole at receiver once again, something the Steelers dealt with last season behind Pickens. The Steelers have DK Metcalf but will be counting on veteran Robert Woods and young receivers Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson to step up at the position.
It’s not a great position to be in, but it’s a worthwhile trade-off for the Steelers, who move on from a player who has created quite a few headaches in his three years with the franchise.
While it might help the Steelers in the 2026 NFL Draft and beyond, the 2025 season could be a challenging one for them. Pickens is gone and the Steelers still don’t have an answer from 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“The last piece of the puzzle is how this relates to Aaron Rodgers. Without a second receiver next to Metcalf, Pittsburgh is that much further from being an immediate contender,” Walder added regarding the Pickens trade. “That makes bringing in Rodgers a little harder to justify — even if the Steelers’ options at QB are extremely limited with the draft in the rearview mirror. Perhaps Kirk Cousins could be another route?”
The move off Pickens does raise some questions about the viability of Rodgers coming to Pittsburgh, but the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said Wednesday morning that he doesn’t think the Pickens trade has any affect on Rodgers’ situation.
It’s a puzzling move overall, strictly due to the timing, but looking at it on paper, the Steelers did well with a third-round pick in return. They are now set up nicely with quite the war chest of draft picks in 2026 to potentially be aggressive and go get that possible franchise quarterback in what appears to be a good QB class next year.
