Steelers Now
Former NFL wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh revealed some key details on why the Pittsburgh Steelers traded George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys earlier this week. It lines up with previous reports. The Steelers quite simply had enough with Pickens’ antics.
“George Pickens had stepped over and crossed the line a bit too many times and I know people that play with the Steelers. He’d be late for the team plane that would be flying out to away games multiple times. He’d be late to get on the team bus and they had enough of it,” Houshmandzadeh said on the Up On Game podcast.
“They didn’t want to pay him 30-plus million dollars and these antics are probably just going to get worse because you’re not even making anywhere near that. You’re doing all this now? What you gonna do when you get the money? And so they said. ‘You know what, we’re gonna get rid of [him]. Dallas, he’s your problem,’ but he’s gonna be a really good problem.”
In 2023, Pickens was fined over $200,000 between the NFL and the Steelers for on- and off-the-field incidents, including reported serial tardiness to team practices and meetings.
In 2024, he received over $80,000 in fines from the NFL for his on-field behavior, including unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct, two fights after the end of a loss, and a profane message on his eye black. He also got into a sideline spat with fans.
Perhaps the most egregious of offenses was that Pickens arrived late to the team’s Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs, missing pregame warmups despite the fact that he was returning to action from a hamstring injury.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Network revealed on the Rich Eisen Show that Pickens was late for multiple games last season, not just the Chiefs game.
“This was not a snap decision. This was not he overreacted to them paying and trading for DK Metcalf. It was everything over the past several years,” Pelissero told Eisen. “Again, unbelievably talented football player, but there were a variety of different issues. There was tardiness to meetings, there were a couple of games where he showed up late to the locker room. You know, you always want guys there before you turn in your inactives 90 minutes before the game. There were multiple occasions George Pickens wasn’t in the locker room yet.”
Steelers general manager Omar Khan took to the podium at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Friday to set the record straight about how Pickens ended up traded to the Cowboys on Wednesday.
The Steelers were not expecting to trade Pickens, and were not actively shopping him, after fielding calls and turning down offers during the 2025 NFL Draft. But when the Cowboys called with an offer this week, they took it seriously.
“The trade sort of happened quickly,” Khan said. “We had some people inquire during the draft. Nothing that really made sense. The Cowboys reached out, I don’t remember what day it...
