Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers traded star wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday, getting just a third-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and a swap of Day Three draft selections for their former second-round pick.
The return was underwhelming, especially after Steelers general manager Omar Khan had managed to net an early second-round pick for Chase Claypool in similar circumstances a few years ago.
But the word has gotten out that teams don’t want to be the one digging through the Steelers’ garbage at the wide receiver position, and Pickens’ violations have been much more public. It was against the Dallas Cowboys last year, after all, that he wore a profane eye black message and then was benched for part of the game.
The Steelers were also clearly not interested in signing Pickens to a long-term contract extension, which was setting up a potentially contentious offseason between the player and the team.
There wasn’t much hiding the Steelers problems with Pickens, and so the Cowboys were able to get the talented wideout at quite a discount.
The Steelers, on the other hand, barely got more for Pickens than they could have if he left via free agency. The third-round pick will be higher than a third-round compensatory pick, but potentially only by a few slots if Dallas has a good season in 2025.
However, it would have been foolish of the Steelers to count on compensatory pick return for Pickens.
First of all, Pickens had already become a distraction in the Steelers’ locker room, and could easily have become an even bigger one in 2025 if frustrations over a lack of a contract and a reduced role after the trade of DK Metcalf bubbled to the surface. Not having to deal with an unhappy ne’er-do-well on your roster provides its own benefit.
Even if the Steelers found a way to keep Pickens in line (for the first time) over the course of the 2025 season, they would have needed him to produce at such a level as to net a massive free agent contract. For all the reasons that Pickens is only worth a third-round pick in a trade, teams have equal reason to be wary about handing him a big-money deal. There’s no guarantee that if Pickens hit the market, he’d be rewarded in a way that would bring the Steelers back the maximum return of a third-round pick in compensation.
The Steelers also don’t have the world’s most dynamic passing offense, and right now Mason Rudolph is their starting quarterback. It’s hard to imagine the Steelers’ second wide receiver having a strong statistical season in that environment.
If Pickens did sign for a big contract, he’d also have to follow through on that investment at least for the first season. Compensatory picks are tied not just to contract amounts, but playing time. If Pickens caused problems with a new team and lost reps as a result — as he did in Pittsburgh — that could...
