When DK Metcalf was acquired, it seemed like George Pickens’ time in Pittsburgh was nearing an end. The Steelers looked outside the organization to pay a long-term receiver before doing anything with Pickens’ own contract, which he was entering the last year of. The draft seemed like a logical time to move him. But the Steelers waited for the Dallas Cowboys to be desperate enough to send a third-round pick in exchange for him afterward.
A little over halfway into his first season as a Cowboy, that move doesn’t look desperate at all. Really, if Pickens keeps playing at the rate he currently is, that might be a bargain even if it’s just for one year. He’s doing well enough in his new home to convince Kay Adams it was one of the worst trades ever.
“I think that trading George Pickens is going to go down as one of the worst deals in NFL history. And I mean that, and I’m sorry to the Steelers. I just think it’s true. And you know, the best from a Dallas perspective, what a haul. It is so clear, it is so glaringly obvious watching George Pickens last night, a day after Kenneth Gainwell led Pittsburgh in receiving against the Bengals, it is clearly a bad call by the Steelers. They’re trying to find any semblance of consistency in the passing game outside of DK Metcalf,” Adams said Tuesday on her Up and Adams show.
Adams tries to imagine the problems that might be fixed if Pickens were still in Pittsburgh. And the problems the Steelers are dealing with are undoubtedly real. They’re utilizing a committee approach, and a lot of mouths are being fed. However, DK Metcalf still isn’t being fed enough as it is. And the Steelers don’t have a second receiver to take attention away from Metcalf on third downs and red zone situations.
However, we don’t have to imagine what Pickens might look like in a Steelers uniform. He spent the last three years here, and while he had a lot of talent, there were plenty of issues that came along with him, despite the good relationship between him and Mike Tomlin. Pickens had over 1,100 receiving yards in his second year, but recorded just 900 in 2024.
Through 10 games in Dallas, he’s already got 908 yards with an average of 90.8 per game. If he played all 17 games at that pace, he’d finish with 1,543 yards and likely well over 10 touchdowns.
For a third-round pick, that’s a hell of a return for Dallas. However, it feels a bit unrealistic to call this one of the worst deals ever. There are more than a few worse trades in the last few years alone that NFL fans could name off the top of their head. If Pickens were to sign a long-term contract in Dallas, maybe things would look different. But if it’s just one year before he leaves in free agency, it won’t make the deal look quite as bad.
Losing George Pickens’ talent does hurt the Steelers. But both parties feel like the move was the right one. The Steelers haven’t been explosive without him, but they felt they had to move on. And Pickens is now in the midst of a career year in Dallas. The Steelers will need to make that third-round pick worth it. Yet, there’s quite a way to go before this honestly gets considered one of the worst deals ever.