• George Pickens could make even more big plays in 2024: Regardless of whether Russell Wilson or Justin Fields starts for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pickens will have a quarterback who is much more willing to throw deep passes than Kenny Pickett was.
• Pickens needs to become more consistent: The Steelers wide receiver has produced one of the league's best yards per route run averages on open targets, but he doesn’t get open nearly as often as other wide receivers.
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The PFF player profile series gives the most in-depth view of a player possible. The profiles use the best data points at PFF’s disposal to examine how well the player has performed, what competition the player has for touches and how other teammates and coaches will impact each player's performance.
Last updated: 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 16
Player Performance
Pickens was a Day 1 starter for the Steelers after getting drafted in the second round of the 2022 draft. He played at least 63% of his team's snaps in every game of his rookie season and at least 75% of snaps in every game last season.
To this point, he’s been one of the league's least consistent big-play wide receivers. He’s earned a raw PFF grade of +1 or better — find out more about our grading system here — on 19.7% of his targets over the last two seasons, the second-highest rate among all wide receivers, thanks to several spectacular downfield catches. This has propelled him to an above-average yards per route run average, but he's been average in terms of target rate and the rate of catches that have gone for 5-plus yards.
Pickens has put up good numbers on both his open targets and his targets against tight coverage. He gets open less frequently than other receivers, so he tends to make big plays when he does get open. And even when he's covered, he can still make impressive plays more often than most at the position.
If he can get open more consistently, he has the potential to be an excellent receiver, but that's a big if.
Competition for Touches
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