If you aren't worried about George Pickens' lackluster performance against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, you should be worried about how he's carried himself since he's been under the microscope. Steelers fans could forgive the talented wide receiver if he owned up to his mistakes.
But that's not what happened. Not even close.
Pickens came under fire from the media after earning just 34 offensive snaps on SNF in Week 5. With those snaps, the talented receiver caught 3 passes for 26 yards on 7 targets. A bad game happens to all receivers, but this one was one hundred percent on Pickens.
When you put on the All-22 tape, you could see Pickens going half-speed on most of the 20 routes he ran against Dallas. His blocking effort was even more egregious.
The utter lack of effort caused fans to lash out against Pittsburgh's top receiver. Pickens had a chance to make amends when he finally spoke to the media ahead of Week 6... but things only got worse.
Media members drilled Pickens with questions we all want answers to, but his responses were as bad as you could have possibly drawn them up. When asked if he 'could earn those reps back', Pickens said, 'It's not up to me; It's all up to Art,' referring to offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
To make matters worse, Pickens blamed the refs when asked about dealing with adversity and didn't have any remorse for the profane message on his eye black. Unsurprisingly, he also doesn't think the Steelers should trade for a wide receiver.
Here's a video montage of Pickens' undesirable responses to the media from Alan Saunders of Steelers Now:
George Pickens doesn't feel that it's on him to earn back any of the reps he lost last Sunday, claims ignorance of NFL rule on personal messages, and does not expect any blowback. pic.twitter.com/udrjjY2WZ0
— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) October 10, 2024
Steelers have a serious George Pickens problem
I understand that George Pickens is only 23 years old, but this man is in the third year of his NFL career, and enough is enough. Media outlets across 'X' have been drilling Pickens for his despicable comments and complete lack of accountability.
While Tomlin claims that his young receiver has matured, we haven't seen any signs of that. If anything, it's been the opposite.
When guys in the locker room (like Pat Freiermuth) are calling out teammates for a lack of effort, we know there's a serious problem. Unfortunately, it may not be salvageable at this point.
With the trade deadline looming, the Pittsburgh Steelers need to seriously consider trading their top wide receiver to save the morale of the team. We are reaching the point of no return, and if Omar Khan wants to get any value out of Pickens at all, he needs to pull the trigger before he sabotages what's left of it.