Some members of the football community remain surprised that the Pittsburgh Steelers held onto wide receiver George Pickens through the completion of the 2025 NFL Draft, in part because he seemingly isn’t close to signing any type of contract extension while in the final year of his rookie deal.
NFL insider James Palmer of Bleacher Report recently offered an update regarding Pickens’ status with the Steelers at this stage of the offseason program.
“His time in Pittsburgh, in a lot of people’s minds, is limited,” Palmer said about Pickens via a video shared by Bleacher Report, per Ross McCorkle of Steelers Depot. “…It has not gone well behind the scenes at all between George Pickens and the Pittsburgh Steelers and everybody involved. And this is leading up to, could he play for them in 2025? Certainly could. Would he be departing after the season? Yes, in a lot of people’s minds.”
From early December through late January, both Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and team owner/president Art Rooney II publicly said that they’d like to see Pickens grow/grow up. The 2022 second-round draft pick had a history of causing headaches for Tomlin before he allegedly showed up late for Pittsburgh’s Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs and before he hinted following the Steelers’ wild-card playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens that he wasn’t optimistic about the future of Pittsburgh’s offense.
The Steelers subsequently acquired DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks and then handed him a five-year contract worth $150M this offseason. While it’s thought neither Rooney nor Tomlin will want to meet Pickens’ asking price for an extension, the Steelers could hold onto the 24-year-old if they go all-in on trying to win this coming season by signing 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Some reporters and analysts have openly theorized that Rodgers hasn’t yet joined the Steelers because he either doesn’t want to play for Pittsburgh or is seriously considering retirement. Even if Pickens stays with the Steelers through their final game of the 2025 campaign, Palmer seems to believe a divorce is inevitable.
“All signs point to a departure of George Pickens at some point before the 2026 season,” Palmer added. “Whether that’s some point between now and the start of the season. I don’t see a trade happening right now. We’ll see…But I think his time is limited there.”
Steelers coaches and players reportedly would be just fine if longtime backup Mason Rudolph entered September as the club’s QB1 if Rodgers doesn’t sign with Pittsburgh. It’s possible the Steelers would make Pickens available to other teams if Rodgers declines to play for the AFC North side this year.
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