wrote<\/a>. \u201cThere will be teams wary of paying anyone Mike Tomlin and the Steelers wanted to let go, but there’s no denying Pickens’ talent and ability to impact games. He doesn’t even turn 25 until March, making him one of the younger free agents this offseason.\u201d<\/p>\nThat line says a lot without saying it outright, as we all know the attitude Pickens had in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Around the league, Tomlin\u2019s reputation matters and is well-respected. When Pittsburgh willingly moved on from a talented player, especially at a premium position, and its offense being that bad, front offices noticed. The Steelers have always been viewed as one of the most stable organizations and wouldn\u2019t trade a star for no reason.<\/p>\n
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If Tomlin reaches a point where he\u2019s comfortable letting a player walk, teams naturally start asking why. That doesn\u2019t mean Pickens can\u2019t play, though, ashe absolutely can.<\/p>\n
At his best, Pickens is a true difference-maker and he proved that with the Dallas Cowboys last year. However, his consistency, maturity, and trust have been questioned, even if he was seemingly in a better space with the Cowboys.<\/p>\n
Wide receiver contracts continue to climb, and teams desperate for playmakers rarely get the opportunity to sign one entering his prime. It\u2019s possible that Dallas looks to tag him, but nothing is guaranteed now.<\/p>\n
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The question isn\u2019t whether Pickens will get paid, but if he\u2019ll get his cash via the tag or in free agency.<\/p>\n
Some teams will talk themselves out of it due to Pittsburgh\u2019s willingness to move on as a warning sign. However, don\u2019t be shocked if another team takes a chance simply due to how good he is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Pickens is now in a position to possibly get paid, but it sounds like his time with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[21637,230,7,467,1255,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-698151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-bill-barnwell","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-george-pickens","12":"tag-mike-tomlin","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-pittsburgh","15":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","16":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","17":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115942765675147792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}