The Pittsburgh Steelers have long been masters at spotting and nurturing elite wide receiver talent, only to watch those stars fade once they leave the black and gold. But George Pickens? He’s flipping the script in spectacular fashion. This offseason, the Steelers shipped him off to the Dallas Cowboys in a deal that boiled down to little more than a third-round pick—right after snagging DK Metcalf in a separate trade. Now, NFL analyst Chris Simms is calling it a colossal blunder, and he’s not mincing words.
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“DK Metcalf is not George Pickens,” Simms declared on Wednesday’s episode of the Pro Football Talk podcast. “DK Metcalf is really good. He is not George Pickens. George Pickens is special, and he’s showing that on a weekly basis right now. It’s like, ‘Whoa, holy crap is he good. Holy crap, maybe he is one of the three or four best receivers in football.'”
Pickens was no slouch during his three-year stint in Pittsburgh. He racked up over 800 receiving yards and at least three touchdowns each season, often pulling off jaw-dropping catches amid an offense that could charitably be described as grinding and inconsistent. Watching the Steelers try to march downfield sometimes felt like an exercise in frustration, yet Pickens consistently delivered highlight-reel magic.
Fast-forward to Dallas, and it’s like someone’s flipped a switch. In just 10 games with the Cowboys, Pickens has hauled in 58 receptions for 908 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s shattering his personal bests and sits second in the NFL in receiving yards, proving he’s not just surviving a new environment—he’s thriving in it.
Contrast that with Metcalf’s output in Pittsburgh: a solid but unspectacular 37 catches for 551 yards and five scores. As Simms pointed out, it’s decent, but it pales next to Pickens’ explosive campaign.
Mike Florio, Simms’ co-host, piled on the criticism, zeroing in on how the Steelers botched the whole situation. “They really mishandled George Pickens, and that’s a bad look for Pittsburgh by comparison,” Florio said. “Because the guy they paid the money to isn’t as good as the guy they traded away to the Cowboys.”
But let’s pump the brakes on the full-on roast. The Steelers didn’t ditch Pickens because they doubted his raw talent—it was his off-field antics and on-field meltdowns that sealed the deal. Reports of tardiness to games and emotional outbursts that cost the team dearly painted a picture of a player whose attitude clashed with Pittsburgh’s no-nonsense culture. With Pickens entering a contract year, the front office decided it was time to cut ties.
This isn’t a cut-and-dried fiasco, though. Sure, Pickens is outshining Metcalf this season, but would he be posting these monster numbers if he’d stayed put? The Steelers’ offense has struggled to integrate even one star receiver like Metcalf consistently—imagine trying to feed two alpha targets in a scheme that’s more ground-and-pound than aerial assault.
At the end of the day, sometimes a fresh start is the ultimate game-changer. Pickens is looking every bit the superstar in Dallas, though his behavioral hiccups haven’t vanished entirely. And with only 10 games in the books, it’s premature to bury the Steelers for this move. Simms and Florio make compelling cases, but football’s full of twists—Pittsburgh might yet have the last laugh.