If the Steelers wanted to take a shot in the NFL Draft on a player who could end up being a star receiver for their offense, they did a good job of finding a way to get George Pickens in the second round. Pickens' combined skillset with in his route-running, ball skills, aggressiveness and athleticism made him a dangerous receiver in college with a lot of upside heading into his NFL career.
Pickens fell to the second round for a combination of reasons between his limited availability because of injuries and a reputation marred with multiple suspensions because of a fight in 2019 and violating team rules in 2020. Pickens suffered multiple injuries in his collegiate career, his most recent being an ACL tear in the spring practices of 2021 that made him miss all but four games during the season and only play 65 pass plays.
But on those 65 pass plays, Pickens still managed to make two of the biggest catches against Alabama's defense on the season; one for 37 yards in the SEC Championship, and another for 52 yards in the National Championship. Pickens' ability to make his mark on a game even with limited opportunities and still recovering from an ACL tear is a major sign of what he could have in store for the NFL.
Here's the biggest play you might've seen from Pickens this season, when he caught a 52-yard bomb against Alabama in the National Championship. You can see Pickens get easy separation and go all out for the pass by diving and plucking the ball out of the air before it hit the ground:
That's a quick look at what might be Pickens' most exciting trait: his ball skills.
When you watch Pickens' efforts as a receiver, you notice immediately how routinely he made his receptions with his hands away from his body. Pickens may have the best hands of the 2022 NFL Draft class when you watch how consistently he brought in passes with just his hands and how strong he controlled the ball even while dealing with defenders on combat catches.
Watch this jump ball he won over a Missouri cornerback back in his freshman 2019 season. You can see him reach out with his hands to snag the ball over the defender and pull it into his body all while the cornerback battles for the ball and a safety comes to help tackle him.
You can see how casual Pickens looked on that reception and how natural he looked when he pulled the pass in and started to work towards the end zone.
Combine that with Pickens' athletic profile and you have a very talented player. At 6-foot-3, 195 lbs. with a 4.47-second 40-yard dash and a 125-inch broad jump, he's got the size, speed and explosiveness to be a dangerous playmaker. Pickens never caught less than 55.6 percent of his targets in a season, which is an example of how much he took advantage of his opportunities.
In addition to his ability to make big plays downfield for long grabs, Pickens also demonstrates impressive body control along with his ball skills. Watch this sideline catch against Arkansas State, when the back-shoulder pass was thrown and he had to snag it with just his hands while spinning backwards against his route and stay in bounds. You can see him focus to stay upright, track the ball and pluck it out of the air, all while keeping both his feet in bounds to ensure the catch even by NFL standards:
Pickens' ability to finish routes with late separation and his impressive ball skills are the aspects that are obvious and attractive about him as a prospect.
But what didn't help his profile as a prospect was the combination of him not being fully healthy in his last season in 2020 or 2021 and being a raw freshman in 2019. His freshman season was the only year he played a full season with 12 games, as he only played eight games in 2020 and four games in 2021. That year, Pickens' dominance at the catch point and as a talented receiver who just needed to polish his game was obvious and made him a player many projected to be the first receiver off the board when he would first be eligible for the NFL Draft in 2022.
As a freshman, Pickens still needed to develop more polished skills as a receiver in his breaks, routes and sharpening his craft. Because of his limited availability as a player, Pickens didn't get to fully show his growth in those areas. But there were still flashes of improvement. Here's a great example of a touchdown catch he made against Auburn cornerback Roger McCreary, who went 17 picks before Pickens in the second round to the Titans in the draft. Notice how McCreary tries to suppress Pickens at the start of his route by sticking close and limiting his separation.
Watch how Pickens used a quick jab step towards McCreary's inside shoulder to get him to bite just enough away from the sideline, and then how quickly Pickens accelerated past McCreary to get behind the defense and present a good passing window for his quarterback to lead him to the end zone:
If Pickens makes that kind of route running a routine of his game in the NFL and is back to where he was athletically before his ACL tear, he's going to be a major problem for cornerbacks in the receiving game.
Not only does Pickens have the skillset, the talent and the athleticism, but he has the will and tenacity to win in those moments and fight past opponents. You don't see moments of fear in Pickens game as he's willing to sacrifice his body for big catches and on dives for the end zone when he has the ball in his hands. That willingness to battle throughout plays is a major positive and something Mike Tomlin will love in his offense.
That kind of fight isn't just limited to Pickens' receiving skills either. There's more than a few examples on tape of Pickens being a bully, both legally within the rules of the game and without. You can pull up his fight against Georgia Tech in 2019 on Youtube for the latter. But his examples of strength in his run blocking are shown against several teams. Watch him lined up against Michigan safety Daxton Hill, who was a first round pick for the Bengals this year, and how easily he bullied him off the line. You can also see Pickens' demeanor as he signalled a shush over to Michigan's sideline before he made the block:
Pickens was never afraid to be the bully, nor to let his opponents know he was coming to bully them or when he had victimized them on a play.
That kind of toughness and success shows the potential for Pickens to be the complete package as an NFL wide receiver who could become the Steelers' top receiver sooner rather than later, and maybe even a top receiver in the NFL. Whether he achieves it will be a major storyline for the Steelers' season, but he truly has the potential to be the last great receiver in a long line of talented wideouts picked by the Steelers under Kevin Colbert's management.
