The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys have finalized a trade for wide receiver George Pickens. Dallas confirmed the deal on Wednesday after ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the trade. Schefter noted Pickens' agent is also the agent for Micah Parsons, who is seeking a long-term extension from the Cowboys this offseason.
Pickens has played all three of his NFL seasons with the Steelers, who selected the Georgia product with the No. 52 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. Last season, the 24-year-old caught 59 passes for 900 yards and three touchdowns on 103 targets in 14 games.
He came just short of his second straight 1,000-yard campaign after dropping a 63/1,140/5 stat line the year before. Pickens also fared well in the playoffs, catching five passes for 87 yards and a touchdown in the Steelers' 28-14 AFC Wild Card Round loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The 6'3", 200-pounder represents a big target for quarterbacks to find downfield.
He's found success despite playing with five different starting signal-callers during his time as a pro (Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson). As talented as Pickens has been, there have been some issues on and off the field. Bryan Murphy of Sporting News gave a detailed timeline, while ESPN's Brooke Pryor summarized some concerns in 2024.
"Between bursts of productivity and highlight-reel catches, Pickens' third season with the Steelers included a series of on-and-off the field incidents," Pryor wrote. "Not only did he draw [coach Mike] Tomlin's ire after being flagged for two unsportsmanlike penalties in a December victory against the Bengals, Pickens also arrived at Acrisure Stadium less than 90 minutes before kickoff of the Christmas Day game against the Chiefs." Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II said after the season that Pickens has "room to grow."
"George is a very talented player who has room to grow," he told reporters during an end-of-season press conference. "And we'd like to see him grow, and hopefully he realizes the potential that he has, but there's definitely room for growth there." After the 2024 season, Pickens had one year left on his rookie deal.
However, it appears Pittsburgh is changing course, dealing Pickens and dramatically shifting its pass-game outlook given his importance to the team. Perhaps the addition of DK Metcalf via trade from the Seattle Seahawks made the team think Pickens was more expendable. Pittsburgh notably signed Metcalf to a four-year, $132 million contract extension as well.
However, Pickens was just one of two wideouts last year to have more than 276 receiving yards (the other being Calvin Austin III with a 36/548/4 stat line). Now the Steelers need to find more help at wide receiver, so there's a huge question mark at the position. Now Pickens is with the Cowboys, who desperately needed a WR2 to work alongside CeeDee Lamb.
Dallas didn't add any wideouts in the draft and lost Brandin Cooks in free agency. It did retain some other talents from previous drafts, including Jalen Tolbert.
