4 Steelers players who will be facing too much pressure in 2022
By Tommy Jaggi
Steelers WR George Pickens
After the Steelers lost three receivers this offseason, it’s probably pretty safe to assume that George Pickens could be thrown into a sizeable role on offense from the gate. JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Washington, and Ray-Ray McCloud accounted for a sizeable portion of the offense and all three have found different homes in 2022.
Pickens is extremely talented, but he may be asked to do too much during his rookie season. The Georgia product suffered injuries much of the past two seasons that caused him to play in just 11 games since his freshman year in 2019.
Pickens is also coming off a torn ACL he suffered early in the 2020 season, and he is coming up on three seasons removed from any sort of relevant production on the football field.
I have little doubt that Pickens will get things figured out (assuming the character/maturity stuff is a non-issue). However, I don’t know if we should expect outstanding play from him early in his rookie season as the 21-year-old still has a long way to go. Still, his need to develop may not prevent the Steelers from thrusting him into action early.