On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys.
While there is no way to prove it, you would have to think Aaron Rodgers wasn’t losing sleep over this move.
While he hasn’t signed yet, there is a good chance Rodgers is going to be the Steelers’ QB this year.
Pickens, who perhaps needs some work on his route-running and maturity, doesn’t seem like a good fit with Rodgers. The veteran QB is a stickler for wanting receivers to run the right route and always be where they are supposed to be based on the play call.
After Pittsburgh lost 29-10 to Kansas City Chiefs on December 25, 2024, Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward, said about the team’s defense in that game: “When 10 guys do their job, and one doesn’t, we are screwed.”
Former NFL receiver Terrell Owens tweeted in response to this quote, “Same on offense as well when you got #14 (Pickens) not running his routes causing INTs.”
In this Steelers’ loss to KC, Pittsburgh QB Russell Wilson threw a pass into the end zone into heavy coverage to tight end Pat Freiermuth that was picked off. After the game, Wilson said he thought Pickens was running a vertical route to the end zone that would draw the safety away, allowing him to make an easier throw to Freiermuth, but Pickens didn’t.
We saw what happened last year when Rodgers was accused of throwing WR Mike Williams under the bus on a late pick by Buffalo nickelback Taron Johnson to ice a Bills win over the Jets.
“There’s two verticals, Allen’s down the seam and Mike’s down the redline… so I’m throwing a no-look to the redline. When I peak my eyes back there, Mike’s running an ‘in-breaker’ … it’s gotta be down the redline,” Rodgers said.
Look, we can’t prove Rodgers said something to coach Mike Tomlin or some other Steelers official nudging them to move on from Pickens, or the Pittsburgh brass knew that relationship would likely be a disaster and acted on their own.
But Rodgers and Pickens could have been oil and water if forced to play together.
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