George Pickens\u2019 time in Pittsburgh was eventful, to say the least. Pickens was shipped to the Dallas Cowboys earlier this week, marking the end of his era in Pittsburgh. He becomes another temperamental receiver the Steelers have now moved on from.<\/p>\n
Despite some of the issues he had in Pittsburgh, ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler reports that Pickens didn\u2019t want to leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issues in Pittsburgh were very clear,\u201d Fowler said on NFL Live on Friday<\/a>. \u201cThe maturity and the accountability, or lack thereof. He can go to Dallas and try to show that. From what I was told, he didn\u2019t want to leave Pittsburgh. He was loyal to Mike Tomlin, wanted to see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n One thing that stands out from Fowler\u2019s report is Pickens being \u201cloyal\u201d to Mike Tomlin. It\u2019s not surprising, but it goes to show just how much Tomlin had his star receiver\u2019s back.<\/p>\n Back in 2023 during a Steelers victory over the Tennessee Titans, some of the first issues with Pickens came to light. He was coming off a poor stretch of play before that game. Then, he showed frustration on the field during their win. Even after positing \u201cfree me\u201d on his Instagram story, which he would say had nothing to do with the Steelers, Tomlin didn\u2019t criticize Pickens, calling the situation a \u2018pebble\u2019 in his shoe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Throughout George Pickens\u2019 tenure as a Steeler, Tomlin did his best to defend him. The most Tomlin ever really said about Pickens was that he needed to \u201cgrow up\u201d <\/a>and that statement even came later in the 2024 season, a season in which Pickens put himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons consistently.<\/p>\n The Steelers didn\u2019t give Pickens a ton of help on the field, admittedly. Playing with Dak Prescott in 2025, Pickens will have a quarterback significantly better than anyone who was throwing him the ball over the past three years.<\/p>\n It makes sense why Pickens would feel loyal to Tomlin. He\u2019s a players\u2019 coach and has done well with players even more disruptive than Pickens. Tomlin also used the media to deflect blame away from Pickens as much as possible. Fowler\u2019s comments about Pickens wanting to stay in Pittsburgh also align with what Pickens himself said on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n