{"id":46708,"date":"2025-05-08T02:26:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T02:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=46708"},"modified":"2025-05-08T02:26:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T02:26:48","slug":"breaking-steelers-make-final-decision-with-wr-george-pickens-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=46708","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Steelers Make Final Decision With WR George Pickens: Report.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1935653857.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1935653857.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1935653857.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1935653857.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"George Pickens\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"609\" data-dom-ready-time=\"626\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">NFL Network&#8217;s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported the Pittsburgh Steelers traded wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The tenure of wide receiver\u00a0George Pickens\u00a0with the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0is officially finished.<\/p>\n<p>NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero\u00a0reported\u00a0the Steelers agreed to trade Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick to the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys. In exchange, the Steelers received a 2026 third-rounder selection and a 2027 fifth-round choice.<\/p>\n<p>This ends a three-year controversial Pickens tenure with the Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh drafted Pickens at No. 52 overall in the second round of\u00a0the 2022 NFL Draft. He only made five catches in his first three games. However, Pickens made a name for himself with a one-handed catch in Week 3 of his rookie season on\u00a0<em>Thursday Night Football<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The following week, which was fellow 2022 draft pick\u00a0Kenny Pickett\u2019s debut, Pickens posted his first 100-yard receiving game.<\/p>\n<p>In three seasons with Pittsburgh,\u00a0Pickens posted\u00a0174 catches for 2,841 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. He averaged 16.3 yards per reception and led the NFL in the category with 18.1 yards per catch during 2023.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Steelers Trade WR George Pickens to Dallas Cowboys<\/h2>\n<p>Pickens\u2019 time with the Steelers was filled with highlight-reel plays and controversial moments. Over his three NFL seasons in Pittsburgh, Pickens was a polarizing figure both on and off the field.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2023,\u00a0the receiver caused waves in the media when he suggested he didn\u2019t block downfield on a Steelers running play so he could avoid injury. Last year, Pickens gained a reputation as an often-penalized player.<\/p>\n<p>Over three seasons with the Steelers,\u00a0Pickens earned\u00a0three offensive pass interference penalties and six other fouls that warranted a 15-yard flag.\u00a0The 24-year-old received\u00a0two 15-yard penalties in the first matchup against the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n<p>After the 2024 Christmas Day game against the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs,\u00a0Pickens caused another stir\u00a0in the media when he congratulated\u00a0Patrick Mahomes\u00a0and\u00a0Travis Kelce during a postgame interview with Netflix.<\/p>\n<p>A few days after the game,\u00a0Pickens engaged in a contentious interview\u00a0with Steelers Now\u2019s Alan Saunders in which they debated over quarterback\u00a0Russell Wilson\u2019s\u00a0word choice.<\/p>\n<p>Saunders paraphrased Wilson when he told Pickens the quarterback said the two weren\u2019t on the same page on a play that resulted in an interception against the Chiefs. The word choice sit well with Pickens, and he made Saunders aware of that.<\/p>\n<p>Despite all of the controversy, though, Pickens was Pittsburgh\u2019s top receiver the past two seasons. He assumed that role in 2023 with\u00a0Diontae Johnson\u00a0injured early in the season. During 2023,\u00a0Pickens posted 63 catches for 1,140 receiving yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Pickens had 59 receptions and 900 receiving yards with three scores. Pickens experienced the statistical setback in 2024 in part because he missed three games because of a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, he still had 352 more receiving yards than any other Steelers wideout.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Why Steelers Traded Pickens<\/h2>\n<p>Pittsburgh moving on from Pickens wasn\u2019t shocking. There were rumblings in the media for weeks prior to the trade that Pickens could not play 2025 with the Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the trade was surprising for a couple reasons. First, the timing of it. Trading Pickens during\u00a0the 2025 NFL Draft\u00a0would have made more sense because then the Steelers would have had an opportunity to draft his replacement with the compensation they received in return.<\/p>\n<p>Because the Steelers traded Pickens after the NFL Draft, they won\u2019t reap the benefits of the trade until next year.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, the Steelers also didn\u2019t draft a receiver with the 2025 picks they already had. Yes, general manager Omar Khan acquired\u00a0D.K. Metcalf\u00a0for the team\u2019s 2025 second-round pick. But the Steelers had been trying to trade for a veteran receiver for more than a year.<\/p>\n<p>Metcalf will replace Pickens in Pittsburgh\u2019s offense. That\u2019s the good news. But the bad news is the Steelers, once again, only have one capable outside receiver.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers may end up using the extra 2026 draft capital to trade up for a quarterback in next year\u2019s draft. But for 2025, Khan may need to make another move to pair Metcalf with a more capable outside threat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty NFL Network&#8217;s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported the Pittsburgh Steelers traded wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. The tenure of wide receiver\u00a0George Pickens\u00a0with&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Steelers Make Final Decision With WR George Pickens: Report.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=46708\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Steelers Make Final Decision With WR George Pickens: Report.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty NFL Network&#8217;s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported the Pittsburgh Steelers traded wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. 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