Steelers WR George Pickens Trains with Former Teammate
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens is getting in extra work this offseason alongside a former teammate who is a free agent.
For at least the second straight offseason, Pickens is training with James Everett, known on social media as the Route God. Everett has been a longtime trainer of former Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson, and in a video he posted to social media on Wednesday, Pickens and Johnson were together in a group of players training.
Everett has become well known for his training on footwork and route-running (hence the nickname). Johnson, the Steelers’ 2019 NFL Draft selection out of Toledo, was one of his proteges, and became one of the NFL’s best route-runners over the course of his career.
Johnson’s career also fell apart in 2024 after being traded by the Steelers. He went to the Carolina Panthers in a March trade for cornerback Donte Jackson. Johnson became unhappy in Carolina and was traded to the Baltimore Ravens at the deadline.
After a few games in Baltimore with a greatly reduced role, Johnson refused to enter a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He was suspended for a week, sat out a week and then was released. The Houston Texans claimed him on waivers, but he lasted just two weeks in Houston before he was released again after another outburst.
It was widely speculated that one of the reasons the Steelers traded Johnson was that they wanted his personality away from Pickens, a budding star that was also reportedly fined $200,000 for on- and off-the-field violations in 2023.
If the idea was that Pickens would clean up his game without Johnson around, that didn’t work, as Pickens was again heavily fined and penalized in 2024, in addition to showing up late for a game.
On the other hand, Pickens developing into the same kind of separator that Johnson was would be a huge benefit for the Steelers, especially after the team acquired DK Metcalf in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks.
Since the start of the 2022 season, according to ESPN Analytics’ open score, Johnson has been one of the most-open wide receivers in the NFL, with an 88 rating in the metric that uses player-tracking software to determine openness. That’s the third in the league in that time frame, behind only Malik Nabers and A.J. Brown.
That level of separation has not been a part of the shown skillset of either Pickens or Metcalf. Metcalf was 31st with a 66 open score from 2022-24. Pickens was tied for 47th with a 61. Tight end Pat Freiermuth, the only other player on the 2025 Steelers with enough targets to qualify, was 117th was a score of 42.
Both Pickens and Metcalf have had most of their success as downfield threats in their career, but head coach Mike Tomlin said last week at NFL owner’s meetings that despite that, they’re actually fairly different players.
“I don’t necessarily view them as similar,” Tomlin said. “They’re both down-field capable, but they’re different people. DK’s a big man. GP is tall. And there’s a difference.”
Pickens has always had the potential to be more than a down-the-sideline threat, but the team’s lack of passing offensive creativity under Matt Canada in the early part of his career, and Russell Wilson’s inability to use the middle of the field last year, created situations where Pickens wasn’t ever really able to show off that part of his game.
With Metcalf now also occupying that role, and especially if Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback, Pickens could grow from a sideline go-ball specialist to a more well-rounded all-around target.
Of course, the Steelers are likely also hoping that Pickens will clean up the other parts of his game, especially with him likely wanting a contract extension this summer, entering the final year of his rookie deal.