Behind the Steel Curtain
George Pickens is a Dallas Cowboy — did the Steelers handle their latest wide receiver saga correctly?
It’s time for an emergency Steelers Read & React – we’ll be publishing this column once every two weeks instead of every week over this part of the offseason, but sometimes the news is too big to ignore.
Early Wednesday, the Steelers traded wide receiver George Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and 2027 fifth-round pick.
The trade majorly impacts the upcoming season. Was it the right move for the Steelers?
RB: I wasn't all that shocked by the Pickens trade, but the timing was a bit surprising. After the Steelers’ 2025 NFL Draft concluded with no wide receiver selected and Pickens still on the roster, I figured the team was content with its receiver room entering the new season.
As a result, the Steelers are more or less at the same place they were a year ago when it comes to wide receiver following the Pickens trade. D.K. Metcalf, unlike Pickens, is signed long term at least, and he’s been a slightly more productive receiver over his career. But the Steelers are once again left with a good-not-elite WR1 and no clear WR2.
Ultimately, I think this was a good long-term move for the Steelers. The writing has been on the wall for a while that Pickens wouldn’t be signing a second contract with the Steelers, and the team didn’t look poised to make a Super Bowl run on the last year of his rookie deal. Trading Pickens gives the Steelers a better and earlier return than a compensatory pick would (it also can’t get erased by a free agent signing).
Beyond that, while Pickens’ talent has never been in question, he never quite took the leap the Steelers needed him to in 2024. His season was loud, but ended with just 900 yards and three touchdowns. His second contract would’ve been more about potential than past production, which is a risk considering Pickens’ hot and cold on-field effort. Omar Khan deserves credit for getting a 2026 Day 2 pick in return.
On paper, the trade makes perfect sense even if I personally feel robbed of the Metcalf/Pickens wide receiver combination that would’ve been insanely entertaining in 2025. Oh well.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Steelers’ strategy works out, though. Tanking is a strong word, but the team’s stockpiling of 2026 draft picks makes it clear that their main focus is on future seasons rather than the present.
It’s a reasonable strategy, but it also calls into question why the team has dabbled with a “win now” approach this offseason with their interest in Aaron Rodgers and signing a 34-year-old CB2 in Darius Slay.
Or maybe the Steelers organization has finally moved on from Rodgers, which greenlit the Pickens trade — there’s a theory.
While Metcalf is a long-term replacement...
