The Steelers traded George Pickens to the Cowboys, and the talented wideout's presence in the locker room may have been the chief reason.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have made a handful of moves that have changed the landscape in the NFL this offseason, and they made yet another one just after the NFL Draft concluded. The Steelers decided to move on from their best wide receiver over the last three seasons, trading George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys for draft compensation.
It was a curious move by the Steelers, who had already bumped Pickens to the No. 2 wideout position after adding DK Metcalf in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks earlier in the offseason. Now, the former Georgia star will fill that role in Dallas with Dak Prescott throwing him the football.
Pickens is one of the most talented players in the world, but now more is coming to light about why the Steelers wanted to move on from him, and a lot of it has to do with his presence in the locker room, according to Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboly.
“Significant locker room guys got fed up with Pickens' antics and quickly got turned off by him for multiple reasons, I was told,” Kaboly wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Some felt that it would be counterproductive to keep him around, even with his unique talent. They felt the locker room could turn toxic.”
Kaboly also added that “not many were broken up” in the Steelers organization about trading Pickens.
The 24-year-old's antics, both on the field and off of it, had become just as big of a story in his career as the spectacular plays between the whistles. While he was very productive during his time in Pittsburgh especially considering the quarterback situation there — he approached 3,000 yards over three seasons — the Steelers clearly decided that the juice was not worth the squeeze.
This is also a bet on the other wideouts on the Steelers roster. In addition to Metcalf, Pittsburgh also has a pair of young, talented pass catchers in Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin III, and both will be asked to step into much bigger roles this season without Pickens on the team.
