BALTIMORE — Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was rather blunt after Saturday night’s Wild Card loss to the Baltimore Ravens when asked if the offensive growth he’s seen from the Steelers makes him optimistic going forward.
He flat-out said, “Nah.”
Pickens is by far the team’s top wide receiver in 2024, with 900 yards on the season despite missing three games, so he is not immediately an obvious trade candidate.
But Pickens is entering the final season of his rookie contract with Steelers in 2025, and it’s unclear if the Steelers will want to commit to signing him to a long-term contract this offseason. By the sound of things, Pickens also might want out.
Given the situation, it sets up an uncertain offseason for George Pickens in Pittsburgh.
Pickens has had numerous on- and off-the-field incidents since joining the Steelers. He has been fined seven times this season, docking his wallet $90,550. He was reportedly fined over $200,000 by the team and league last year.
Pro Football Focus named Pickens one of its 15 top potential trade targets of the 2025 offseason.
The Steelers made a desperate push this past offseason to trade for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, and when that fell through, they went into the season with just Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III behind Pickens in the starting lineup.
Austin had a promising season, finishing with a career-high 548 yards, while Jefferson ended up with just 276. Jefferson, and fellow receivers Mike Williams, Ben Skowronek and Scotty Miller are all pending free agents, leaving the Steelers with just Austin and Pickens under contract for 2025 — a tough situation to make a trade from.
Pickens was the only Steelers player PFF listed in their top 15 trade candidates Deebo Samuel of the San Francisco 49ers, DK Metcalf of the Seattle Seahawks and Garrett Wilson of the New York Jets were the other receivers on the list.
Aaron Becker and Alan Saunders contributed to this story.