After spending the first three years of his NFL career averaging 1,006 receiving yards per season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, George Pickens was asked to pack his bags and head for the nearest airport in exchange for a 2026 third-round draft pick. The 24-year-old finds himself going to a rather favorable destination in the Dallas Cowboys, where he’ll presumably look to mature under the wing of the team’s star receiver, CeeDee Lamb.
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For the Pittsburgh faithful, the trade brings an official end to what was once considered to be a promising era. Given that the team initially invested the 52nd overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft into Pickens, only for them to cut and run for a third-rounder just three seasons later, the Steelers’ former quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, couldn’t help but imagine how difficult Pickens must have been to deal with.
On the latest episode of the Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger podcast, the retired signal caller noted that, while the Steelers have managed to get out of harm’s way, the deal doesn’t necessarily leave Dallas with a ton of leverage.
“I wonder, is he a bigger headache than we even know? Obviously, we saw last year that there were some issues. Coach Tomlin, kind of for the first time, came out and publicly criticized a player, saying he needs to grow up publicly… He had this year left on his contract, they can franchise him next year. But, after this year, you have no leverage to get anything for him,” Big Ben outlined.
It is worth noting that, should Pickens attitude problems manage to persist throughout the upcoming 2025, it’s unlikely that the team would be interested in signing him to massive contract anyways. If the goal was to avoid having to pay Pickens, then Roethlisberger insists that the Steelers got out at the perfect time.
“If you know you’re moving on from him, now’s the time do it and it’s the only chance that you’re going to get something for him… And if we keep him, you’re going to have to pay him a lot of money, or someone else is going to grab him, and we’re going to have to pay two of our receivers a ton of money. We’re just not going to do that,” he added.
While the deal itself is a remedy for the Steelers’ Pickens-induced headaches, it could also prove to be the first winning trade for the Cowboys in recent memory. For all of the drama that comes with the wide receiver’s anger manager issues, the dog-like mentality of Pickens could provide Dallas’ offense with some much needed testosterone.
No longer forced to shoulder the majority of his team’s receiving work, the former Georgia Bulldog could see a resurgence in his career by having Lamb on the opposite side of the field from him. However, the Cowboys provide players with a platform unlike any other, meaning that, should his personality problems continue, they will likely be amplified by the perennial media storm surrounding Dallas.
