The Dallas Cowboys made a big gamble when they traded for George Pickens. As talented as he was, he also had a long history of temper tantrums, antics on and off the field, and had gotten into multiple physical altercations with his opposition.
Mike Tomlin already had plenty of experience with high-maintenance offensive players, and the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers chose to give up on him that early in his career was a major red flag. That, however, didn’t scare Jerry Jones away.
Fast forward to today, and the Cowboys’ general manager must feel thrilled about the move he made. Pickens has emerged as one of the best pass catchers in the game, helping the Cowboys have one of the most explosive passing games this season.
The Steelers, on the other hand, continue to show the same issues they had last season, so it’s pretty clear that he wasn’t the problem.
George Pickens' stats are a big blow to Steelers fans
As things stand now, Pickens’ 73 receptions are tied for the seventh-most in the league. He’s second in receiving yards (1,142) and third in receiving touchdowns (8).
The Steelers’ entire wide receivers corps has combined for 87 receptions, 1,114 receiving yards, and ten receiving touchdowns.
First-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer has Dak Prescott playing at an MVP level, and the Cowboys are averaging 29.1 points per game, the fourth-most in the league. They rank first in both passing yards per game (271.2) and total yards per game (401.8).
In the meantime, the Steelers average the third-fewest yards per game (293.5), rank 24th in passing yards per game (187.8), and are just in the middle of the pack in points per game (23.4).
With all the speculation surrounding Mike Tomlin’s future with the Steelers, it’s becoming pretty clear that this might not be a personnel issue.
Granted, replacing a younger and up-and-coming player like George Pickens with DK Metcalf may not have been the wisest decision, and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith also deserves plenty of the blame, but the Steelers have struggled to move the chains for years now, regardless of the coordinator and the quarterback.
It’s easy to understand why they would be worried about paying Pickens, given the way he handled himself in the early days of his career. But after watching him blossom somewhere else while they continue to deal with the same issues, Steelers fans might not be happy at all.