The Pittsburgh Steelers have plenty of issues to address in the upcoming offseason. Chief among them is figuring out what do about their George Pickens problem. Pickens is about to enter the last year of his rookie contract. Omar Khan and company have a big decision to make on their talented, but troubled wide receiver. Basically the Steelers have three options. They can look to re-sign him, trade him, or let Pickens play out his contract. All of these options have significant drawbacks. Let’s go over each option in more detail:
The re-signing option:
In a vacuum, securing your best offensive weapon for the next 4 to 5 years makes all the sense in the world. The Steelers have zero depth behind Pickens at wide receiver. Moving on from him would put the team in a very unenviable position. They would be basically starting over at the position. Omar Khan has no one to blame but himself for this issue having ignored the position the entire tenure as this team’s general manager. His free agent signings are borderline embarrassing. Acquiring names like Allen Robinson, Van Jefferson, and Scotty Miller are failures at an epic level. Steelers wide receiver room: The worst in the Mike Tomlin era
So it’s decided, the Steelers need to get George Pickens signed asap right? Not so fast. George Pickens has not exactly been the model citizen in his time in Pittsburgh. Pickens at best is extremely immature, at worst he could turn into a major nightmare with a guaranteed contract. It has already come out that Pickens showed up late for the Kansas City game a few weeks ago. Some have reported he is consistently late for meetings. Signing this man to a long term deal is fraught with danger. George Pickens is giving off serious Antonio Brown vibes at this point in his career. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/report-george-pickens-showed-up-late-to-steelers-christmas-game-vs-chiefs
The trade option:
Unfortunately due to all the George Pickens antics his trade value is probably nowhere near where it should be. This is a supremely talented receiver who is still only 23 years old. That kind of talent would ordinarily bring back a major haul. Teams will almost certainly use all Pickens issues to lowball the Steelers. At this point even getting a second round pick may be a stretch. Pittsburgh would have to be patient hoping there is a team out there willing to get desperate, and ignore all Pickens shortcomings. At the end of the day, the compensation will disappoint most people expecting a big return.
The do nothing option:
George Pickens is under contract for 2025. The Steelers could theoretically do nothing, and let him play out the last year of the deal. Pittsburgh always has the option to use the franchise tag after the season if Pickens were to have a monster season. That all sounds great until you take into consideration who we’re dealing with. George Pickens does not appear to be the type of player to got quietly into 2025 without a new deal. Players in general hate not having the security of a long term contract. Given all we know about Pickens, he’s sure to make it extremely uncomfortable for the Steelers in that scenario. He could hold out, hold, in, or act out in ways the Steelers would loath. This would end up being a major distraction the entire 2025 season.
To sum up:
There’s no question the Steelers have a major George Pickens problem on their hands. Of all the options mentioned above, the “do nothing” one seems the most unlikely. There’s no way the team can go full season with an unhappy George Pickens. That leaves the team with two options, trade him or re-sign him. It will be fascinating to see how Oamr Khan handles the situation. This will be by far the biggest problem he’s had to tackle in his time as GM. How he resolves this issue will go a long way in determining the Steelers success going forward.