Going back to his time as a Georgia Bulldog, no one has ever doubted George Pickens’ footballing ability or talent. He’s 6’3″ and 200 pounds with 4.4 speed. And despite the fact that he has smaller hands than the average wideout, he has been the author of a litany of insane OBJ-level one-handed grabs through just three years in the league.
Advertisement
Pickens put up at least 50+ receptions and 800+ receiving yards in each of his first three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. That may not seem like much, but when you consider the group of QBs he was catching passes from, it’s pretty darn impressive.
He also led the league with an 18.1 yards per reception mark in 2023. His 16.3 overall yards per reception mark is tops since he entered the league in 2022, and by nearly a full yard as well. However, Pickens’ attitude issues have also been well-documented since his time in college.
Pickens is known as a very mercurial personality who’s tough to satisfy, which spilled over onto the field a couple of times. But could it be the case that Pickens’ frustration was simply due to the fact that he did not have a quality QB?
Now that he’s been traded to the Dallas Cowboys, everything changes for George Pickens as he teams up with Dak Prescott. NBC Sports’ Mike Florio believes Prescott will be the key to making Pickens work in Big D.
“Dak Prescott is going to be the key person in the relationship between George Pickens and the Dallas Cowboys. And when you think about it, Pickens has never had a high-end quarterback. He arrived the year after Ben Roethlisberger retired. So he had Kenny Pickett for two years—and we know how that went—and last year he had the Justin Fields-Russell Wilson adequate but not great combination,” Florio said via Pro Football Talk.
Florio didn’t even mention the other mediocre QBs that got significant run under center for the Steelers in 2023: Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph. Yeah, not ideal.
But now, he’s got a proven Dak Prescott. While some may scoff at the Cowboys QB’s playoff record, there’s no debating he’s better than that ugly list above. And it has Florio believing that Pickens could very well break the long-standing departed Steelers WR curse.
“Pickens has shown that he’s got high-end skills. And when you see what Dak Prescott is saying about Pickens, it really makes me wonder, have we finally reached the point where a Steelers receiver who was disgruntled in Pittsburgh, who goes elsewhere, actually does better elsewhere than he did in Pittsburgh?” Florio added.
“The usual approach is: guy that was pretty good, if not great in Pittsburgh, once it ends and he goes elsewhere, it really doesn’t pan out.”
Prescott has already said that he’s “excited as hell” to play with arguably the best big-play threat in the league in George Pickens. And with All-Pro CeeDee Lamb on the other side, Pickens could definitely feast on one-on-ones this year.
