Why did Steelers trade George Pickens? Explaining Pittsburgh's deal with Cowboys

Over the course of last offseason and throughout the 2024 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were desperately seeking an upgrade across from George Pickens.

The team figured to have finally found that when it traded for DK Metcalf earlier this offseason, but now Pittsburgh is back to square one after reportedly dealing Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys for a third-round pick and a swap of 2027 Day 3 selections.

Now, the Steelers are left with a slew of question marks at wide receiver behind DK Metcalf, a group that includes Calvin Austin, Roman Wilson, Scotty Miller, Robert Woods and Ben Skowronek, among others.

Austin, Woods, Miller and Skowronek are all depth pieces and not No. 2 options, and the jury is still out on Wilson, a 2024 third-round pick who played just five snaps during his rookie campaign.

Why did Steelers trade George Pickens?

There are a few reasons to point to for the Steelers unloading Pickens, despite the precarious situation it leaves them in at wide receiver, which is especially notable considering the team is waiting on Aaron Rodgers to make a decision.

For starters, Pickens was entering the final year of his contract and was anything but a sure thing to stick around beyond 2025.

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A huge part of the reason for that was the Steelers simply couldn't trust him with a long-term extension given his volatile behavior.

Pickens has had issues controlling his anger on the football field and would often get into scraps with opposing players, a trait that always put the Steelers at risk of having to take on back-breaking penalties.

On top of that, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo reported that Pickens was late to work on multiple occasions in 2024, and that was thought to be a cause of Pickens seeing reduced snaps in Week 5 against the Cowboys last season.

"A source told the Post-Gazette Pickens has shown up late for work on multiple occasions this season," Fittipaldo wrote. "Antonio Brown was notorious for being late, but Tomlin never reduced his snap counts."

Then, there was the report from The Athletic's Mike DeFabo that Pickens showed up late to to the team's Christmas Day game, arriving after the team announced its inactives.

"When he was finally healthy, how did he respond? By showing up late for the Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs," DeFabo wrote. "Tomlin asks players to report to games at least two hours before kickoff. On Dec. 25, Pickens walked through the media entrance an hour and 25 minutes before kickoff. That was after inactive players were announced."

It's pretty clear the Steelers didn't see a future with Pickens and decided to offload him now instead of running the risk of losing him for nothing in 2026.

But this also leaves the Steelers in a tough spot without a true No. 2 target on the roster. Look for the Steelers to possibly bring in Keenan Allen or Amari Cooper in free agency, with the two veterans being the best options available.

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