The Pittsburgh Steelers have enough reason to be reminded of George Pickens trade; they didn't need another. Since trading their young star receiver to the Dallas Cowboys on May 7, 2025, things have spiraled for Pittsburgh.
DK Metcalf had a disappointing season in his first year with the Steelers (850 yards and six touchdowns), while Pickens exploded for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns in Dallas. Now we just got another reminder of how bad the trade looks one year later.
On Thursday, CBS Sports analyst Pete Prisco released his top-100 NFL players list ahead of the 2026 season. Prisco ranked Pickens as the 66th-best player in the league.
"In his first season with the Cowboys in 2025, he showed he has the tools to be a star player on the outside. He had 93 catches and nine touchdowns. He also averaged 15.4 yards per catch," Prisco wrote.
Pickens was unranked on Prisco's list last summer. Meanwhile, the Steelers' highest-ranked player from last year, T.J. Watt, dropped from No. 11 in 2025 all the way down to No. 88 on Prisco's 2026 rankings.
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't get the value they deserved in the George Pickens trade
This goes without saying, but the Steelers were robbed in the Pickens trade last year. A third-round pick for an uber-talented receiver who was arguably the best jump-ball wideout in the league just wasn't enough.
The reason Pickens went so cheap is that he was coming off a down season that included 59 receptions for 900 yards and three touchdowns. But it wasn't the lack of elite production that got him in trouble with the team; it was his egregious lack of effort on the field at times and his distasteful comments to the media.
In his final regular-season game in Pittsburgh—one that had playoff seeding on the line—Pickens caught just one pass on six targets for zero yards. He failed to show up when the Steelers needed him most.
But in Dallas, everything changed—including his attitude. After his first season with the Cowboys, Pickens has solidified himself as a top-100 player in the NFL. And considering there are over 700 starters and nearly 1,700 players on in-season rosters, this is elite company.
The Steelers ultimately used the third-round pick acquired by the Cowboys in the George Pickens trade (No. 76 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft) to select Penn State quarterback Drew Allar. Now the only way Pittsburgh can salvage the deal is if Allar becomes a quality starting quarterback for the Steelers in the near future.
It's been over a year since the trade, but Steelers fans are still left wondering what could have been if Pickens had stayed in Pittsburgh. Would he have shaped up with a new coaching staff? It's hard to say.
Either way, there's no question a third-round pick simply wasn't enough capital for the Pittsburgh Steelers to part with a star wide receiver who is now just 25 years old and considered a top-100 player in the NFL.
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