Steelers Trade WR George Pickens to the Cowboys
After a couple months of speculation, the Pittsburgh Steelers have traded WR George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2026 third round pick, and pick swaps in 2027.
Sheesh…this one has thrown Steelers Nation in quite the tizzy.
Despite the fact that I’ve been a vocal opponent of the idea of trading Pickens for a while now, even following the acquisition of D.K. Metcalf, I understand why the Steelers chose to make this move. As fans, we have to understand that we’re currently staring down the barrel of Mason Rudolph as our starting QB this season, and George Pickens playing on an expiring contract. The team just paid Metcalf at a rate of $33 million a year, and I have to imagine that there’s a team out there that’s going to be willing to pay Pickens $20 million+ per season. Thinking the Steelers are going to pay two different WRs that kind of money is living in a pipedream…so we had a few options as it pertained to G.P. We could’ve let him play on an expiring contract and test free agency next year, where he’ll earn WR1 money from someone else. In this instance, Pittsburgh would get a fourth(maybe a third) round compensatory pick for him in the 2027 draft. The other option would be to trade him now and get what you feel is worth it out of him. That’s what the Steelers chose to do, and to them, a 2026 third round pick was enough. Basically the question we’re asking ourselves is: is one more year of George Pickens running routes for a QB carousel worth waiting an additional year to be compensated for his services in the draft? Seeing how the Steelers have stockpiled picks for next year…I don’t see why you would wait for that draft capital unless you think you’re winning a Super Bowl this season, which, newsflash ...we're not.
This one is tough for me. George Pickens is one of my favorite players on the team, and somebody that I was really hoping would be a Pittsburgh Steeler for a long time. There’s no denying the exponential amount of talent that kid has. I’m not exaggerating when I say that he has the body control and ball skills to be one of the best deep-ball threats in the NFL. However, the writing has been on the wall for a while now, even if I was actively choosing to ignore it because of my love for the player. While the thought of G.P. and D.K. Metcalf on the field together was exciting, in actuality, their skill sets overlap so much that it’s hard to say with any certainty that they would’ve meshed well on the field together.
With that being said, I’m not going to spend too much time talking about how this affects the Steelers on the football field this year, because I don’t think that played into this decision at all. If you look at how the Steelers have operated from the start of the offseason, it seems to be a calculated effort to stockpile draft capital for next year and take a significant leap following the 2026 NFL Draft, which takes place in Pittsburgh. There’s some guys that we’ve let walk, like Elandon Roberts and James Daniels, that I thought were poor decisions from a football perspective, at least for the immediate future. The same can be said about letting Justin Fields out of your building. I know the Steelers will ALWAYS try and field a competitive team to win football games, and I don’t think they’re tanking right now. HOWEVER, it’s clear to me that 2025 is not an all-in year like 2024 seemed to be.
Then, to address the elephant in the room, we have to consider Pickens’ perceived character issues. Going back to the 2022 NFL Draft, the Steelers were able to land this wiry WR from Georgia in the second round, despite his first-round talent, because of his character issues. He was suspended twice at Georgia, one instance stemming from an on-field fight he got into with a Georgia Tech player, which I’m sure most of yinz have seen the video of. Since he’s been in the league, he’s had his fair share of sideline explosions and cryptic social media moments. Wide receivers have a reputation for being “divas” and if that’s true, then Pickens probably fits in that category. To me, when you have a career 16+ yard per catch receiver, you just deal with it UNTIL those perceived character flaws show themselves on the football field. There have been quite a few instances in the past couple years that Pickens has flat out given up in games. Concentration drops, jogging on routes, refusing to block, standing around on run plays; you name it…he’s done it. I love George Pickens, but I’m not blind to the notion that he’s a complicated guy to have in your locker room.
The Steelers are, undoubtedly, worse than they were when we went to bed on Tuesday night, and that really sucks. The Steelers WR room is also extremely reminiscent of the 2024 group, which yinzers far and wide grumbled about all season long; myself included. That’s terrible. The difference from last year, like I said, is we’re not all in this time. We’re building up the trenches, cleaning house in the locker room, and expecting to have a down year heading into the 2026 NFL Draft IN PITTSBURGH with a haul of 12 picks. If yinz release yourself of the emotion tied to losing a phenomenal football player (one that we were going to lose anyways)...it kinda feels like poetry in motion doesn’t it?
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