Was Steelers George Pickens better than the Rookie of the Year winner?

Garrett Wilson recently received the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, but was Steelers receiver George Pickens actually more deserving?

I’m not one of those fans who’s going to believe that what my team has is always the best. I was incredibly hard on the Pittsburgh Steelers this year, and I still think their roster is severely lacking talent at several big positions. However, I do like to give credit where credit is due, so I’m taking a moment to stand up for George Pickens, who I believe was recently disrespected by the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year voting results.

In a tight race between Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker and Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson, it was ultimately Wilson who prevailed after earning more total ‘points’ when it came to first-place, second-place, and third-place votes.

This wasn’t surprising given the production he earned in 2022. Admittedly, Wilson was impressive in many ways thanks to his ability to separate, win at the catch, and make plays with the ball in his hands. While I think he deserved to win the award, I want to make a strong argument that George Pickens was actually the better player in 2022.

Steelers rookie WR was better than Garrett Wilson in 2022

Pickens is far from a perfect player. The 21-year-old receiver had some down moments and big drops during the 2022 season, and he has to work on improving and selling his routes. However, what Pickens was able to do under the circumstances in his first NFL season was much more impressive to me than what Wilson accomplished this past year.

On just 84 targets, Pickens managed 801 receiving yards to pair with 4 touchdowns, per ESPN stats. He did all of this while running the blandest route tree in the NFL this past season. However, Pickens was so dominant when the ball was in the air that it didn’t seem to matter.

Not only was he able to manage an impressive 9.5 yards per target (13th-best in the NFL), but he also had an electrifying 109.3 passer rating when targeted, as Pickens wasn’t letting any cornerback get the best of him when the ball was in the air.

Obviously, much of this statistic does fall on the QB throwing the football, but Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett weren’t the most impressive signal-callers last season. Pickens was also working with an uncreate offensive coordinator in Matt Canada. Here’s a look at how Pickens’ stats compare to the Offensive Rookie of the Year:

I do want to be fair to Garrett Wilson. His quarterback situation consisting of Zach Wilson, Mike White, and Joe Flacco was certainly worse than what Pickens had to deal with. However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Wilson was peppered with targets… and wasn’t very efficient either.

While his 7.5 yards per reception was respectable, Jets quarterbacks had just a 39.6 passer rating when throwing his direction, so the results didn’t often favor New York when looking his way. It’s also worth noting that it took Wilson a whopping 63 more targets than Pickens to earn a mere 302 more receiving yards.

To put this into perspective, If Pickens received an additional 63 targets last year, he would have needed to average a dismal 4.8 yards per target with these additional looks to have more receiving yards than Garrett Wilson. Considering Pickens averaged 9.5 yards per target on the year, it’s reasonable to believe that the Steelers rookie would have blown Wilson completely out of the water if they had been given the same opportunities in the passing game in 2022.

As I said, I’m not upset that Wilson won the award. He was still a bright spot on an otherwise despicable Jets offense and we know that volume stats trump efficiency in these awards. However, you can make a strong argument that George Pickens was actually better than the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2022.