You never think it can happen to you. Not your team, certainly not the Pittsburgh Steelers. But it is becoming more and more clear that the Steelers are on the wrong end of one of the worst trades in NFL history. The George Pickens trade to the Dallas Cowboys for a third round pick ranks right there with some of the most lopsided deals of the decade, maybe ever. The Steelers are about to be lumped in with the Minnesota Vikings (Herschel Walker), Cleveland Browns (Deshaun Watson), Chicago Bears (Chase Claypool) pantheon of trades gone wrong.
George Pickens is having a season with Dallas. He is currently second in the league in receiving yards with 908, and tied for third in receiving touchdowns with 7. The Cowboys wideout is on a pace for 1,500 yards, and 12 touchdowns, which would put him on par with Justin Jefferson’s stats from 2024. Pickens is still just 24 years old, and still on his rookie contract. Even if he never plays another season in Dallas, the Cowboys got the bargain of the century.
Two things that are consistently brought up to defend the Steelers in this trade. Either it’s George Pickens is a locker room cancer, or that he would have never put these kind of numbers in Pittsburgh. First off, it is true that George Pickens is anything but a locker room asset. His numerous transgressions with the Steelers are well documented. From being late to meetings, to being a distraction on and off the field, this is a legitimate concern. Why then can the Cowboys with a rookie head coach control Pickens enough to squeeze out an All-Pro season, but the Hall of Fame coach Mike Tomlin was unable to do the same? Seems like Dallas is having no problem keeping George Pickens focused enough to be one of the top weapons in the league.
Most of the issues with Pickens were born out of frustration with the Steelers historically bad offenses over his three seasons in Pittsburgh. The Steelers ranked in the bottom third in passing yards all three years during George Pickens time in Pittsburgh. Pickens would go long stretches without even a single target during games. Adding to the frustration was the Steelers abhorrent quarterback play. Picken’s suffered through the likes of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Justin Fields, and Russell Wilson during his tenure. And the worst of it all was the historically bad Matt Canada. Canada was unequivocally one of the worst offensive coordinators of all time. Any top receiver would have acted out under those conditions. In fact, we are seeing the same thing now with Justin Jefferson after just half a season of struggles.
This lead us to the next excuse as to why the Steelers had to trade George Pickens. There’s a belief that Pickens would never have put these kind of numbers in Pittsburgh, so its not a valid argument as to why this trade is so lopsided. That in and of itself is damning for the organization. So we are to believe the Tomlin/Arthur Smith duo is incapable of designing an offense to take advantage of George Pickens considerable skill set? This would seem to be a coaching problem, more than a player problem. Instead of fixing the real problems and building around the little talent they had on offense, the Steelers took the easy way out. They shipped out their best player for pennies on the dollar. Things are calmer in Pittsburgh, but certainly not better.
At the end of the day there is no way to rationally justify the George Pickens trade. It will go down as one of the worst trades in NFL history. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded an All-Pro talent for a bag of beans. They will be living with that mistake for years to come.