Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens recently declared on FS1’s The Facility that he’s definitely a top-5 wide receiver in the NFL. Chase Claypool said on the I Am Athlete podcast two years ago that he was a top-3 wide receiver in the NFL and that statement certainly didn’t age well.
Pickens has a better case than Claypool, but he’s still pretty far off from being an elite wide receiver in the NFL. The last two games have showcased that.
“I definitely feel like, you know, me averaging 18.1 (yards per reception) last season, most definitely, what is it, year three? Yeah, not five, six, seven eight, or nine. So I definitely feel like I’m top five, top three just off of, I just got here,” Pickens said. “I definitely think I’m top five, if not better. Some guys, certain situations are better for certain receivers. That’s really the most I can say.”
Despite dogging it against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5, Pickens rejected the notion that he runs lazy routes.
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“Yeah, I’ll probably just say I wouldn’t be here that long. Like I said, career high over a band, five touchdowns. It’s only three years, I’ve only been here three years. So I couldn’t be too lazy, you know what I mean,” Pickens said. “For people saying, ‘Oh he’s running lazy routes,’ I wouldn’t be able to be here. I wouldn’t be able to get past defensive backs running go balls if I was actually lazy as they say, based off one game. You know, schematics is a lot of it too.”
Pickens was the fifth-most open receiver in the NFL after four games into the 2024 season. Additionally, Pickens ranked 10th in catch rate and 12th overall in receiver metrics. The area were Pickens ranked the lowest was is in YAC (yards-after-catch) where he placed 74th.
He’s definitely a talented receiver, but elite wideouts show up every week. He’s taken a step back in the last two games. He also had a crucial fumble in the Steelers’ Week 4 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Say what you want about Antonio Brown, but his work ethic and effort could never be questioned.
In order to prove that he’s an elite wide receiver, Pickens feels like the schematics need to be improved drastically. Without saying it, he basically threw offensive coordinator Arthur Smith under the bus.
“I probably say schematically is the big thing in football,” Pickens said. “That’s how you get Amon-Ra St. Brown, slot merchants, that’s that’s schematically getting fed the ball. When it comes to that, I ain’t playing QB, O-line, and defense all at once. So schematically, that’s probably the biggest thing in that way for me to really show the world a bigger platform over my game style.”