You can’t fault the Pittsburgh Steelers for trading George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys.
You can fault them for the process, though.
At least so far. Maybe the Steelers aren’t done.
Maybe a move to backfill for Pickens is coming. Then again, we said that from March through November of last year, after the team dealt Diontae Johnson and never figured out how to fill the No. 2 wide receiver position.
If the Steelers weren’t planning to give George Pickens a contract extension beyond this year when his entry-level contract expires (and obviously, they weren’t), then they needed to trade him eventually.
Pickens would’ve held out, held in, or arrived at practices as a general nightmare and malcontent the entire summer. That would’ve lasted until he pouted his way into an extension or was dealt before the mid-season trade deadline.
Understood. I’ve been endorsing a trade of Pickens for months now.
But to get just a third rounder in 2026 and a pick swap in 2027 in exchange for him — less than two weeks after this year’s draft — is underwhelming and curious.
Trading Pickens is what needed to happen. However, it also needed to happen two weeks ago if we are truly to believe that this organization is allegedly attempting to compete for a Super Bowl as it publicly positions itself to be doing every year.
General manager Omar Khan couldn’t coax a third-rounder this year out of the Cowboys to offset Pickens’ departure when they were reportedly thirsty for Pickens days before the draft? He couldn’t leverage the Packers against the Cowboys. Green Bay was also allegedly interested in Pickens. They drafted two receivers over the first three rounds.
Forget using Green Bay as leverage, could Khan have just worked out a deal with them instead? I mean, he got a second-rounder for Chase Claypool from Chicago a few years ago for crying out loud.
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I’m seeing fans on social media defend the Steelers’ return in this trade by saying, “What do you think the market is for a problematic receiver in the last year of his contract?”
Well, gee, I dunno. Didn’t the Steelers set that market back in March by giving the Seahawks a second-round pick for an older DK Metcalf after he requested a trade in the last year of his contract?
I mean, Metcalf isn’t the constant boiling pot of water that Pickens is. Although he’s not exactly immune to sideline flare-ups and fighting with defensive players mid-play, too.
Also, if the Steelers could’ve traded Pickens before the draft, it would’ve spared Khan, Mike Tomlin and many within the Steelers media army from giving us the hard sell about how the franchise is happy to still have Pickens, and pumping up what that DK-GP combo would look like with Aaron Rodgers throwing them the ball.
“We’re glad we have George and DK here. I think they’re going to be exciting for everyone to watch,” Khan said two days before the draft.
Oh, by the way, what is going on with the Rodgers thing? Is that signing happening sometime this month, or not? Or is Rodgers even less inclined to join Pittsburgh now that a valuable pass-catching weapon is gone?
Actually, come to think of it, maybe Pickens is such a giant pain in the backside that Rodgers might be inclined to finally sign now that he is gone. I’m honestly not sure on that front.
What I am sure of is that trading Pickens is the right move.I’m also sure that it should’ve been done before the draft, and any massaging of that statement is merely Steelers fans denying reality.