Unpopular Opinion: There can be both good and bad with trading George Pickens

When the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the dreaded long offseason, there are plenty of ideas to debate. As part of the triumphant trio on the Steelers Preview podcast, I’ve been known to often give a “Dave answer“ to various things as I often like to argue both sides of an issue. With this in mind, a new weekly segment has been born… Unpopular opinion.

There are plenty of arguments both for and against the Pittsburgh Steelers that might not go along with the majority of fans. Oftentimes I believe in these arguments, while other times I simply like to pose a counter argument for ones that are taking it too much to the extreme. For this reason, I’m going to offer some points about the Pittsburgh Steelers that go against the general fan narrative, or at least how I have heard things.

Next up is how the polar opposite opinions about this week’s biggest Steelers news can both be right.

There can be both good and bad with trading George Pickens

It’s not very often two polar opposites can be true at the same time. When it comes to the opinions of Steeler fans on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to dissecting the trade of George Pickens, I found both of them being correct. Let me explain…

For those fans who think this trade is awful because the Steelers did not get any better, I get it. It’s not very often when a team trades away a player for draft capital and the draft has not occurred yet where they get those selections that the team is better in the meantime. The Steelers weren’t necessarily better when they traded Chase Claypool, although their record could be a valid argument. But there’s no doubting the skill set that George Pickens brought to the Steelers and will now bring to the Dallas Cowboys. There were many times when the coverage was all over him and the ball was simply thrown where it couldn’t be intercepted and Pickens found a way to catch it. He made some crazy catches in that regard. Add in the possibility of seeing him not have to draw the most attention from the defense was really exciting when thinking about the 2025 season. Now it’s gone and the Steelers are back to a similar spot they were last year with wide receiver. I think that people who make this argument are correct.

The other end of the spectrum is fans that had enough. Some fans were livid that the Steelers still had a player like George Pickens as part of their franchise (believe me, I even had emails about it). Others weren’t at that extreme but felt that the lack of effort and Pickens unreliability was too much to worry about going forward and that his time With the Steelers needed to come to an end. I think people who make this argument are also correct.

How can both sides be right? I think it all comes down to the player that’s being discussed.

George Pickens was a wildcard. Were the Steelers going to get “catch anything that’s thrown at him“ George Pickens, or were they going to get the “refusing to block, running lazy routes, and showing up late to games” George Pickens? Would they know which one they were going to get weak-to-week? Would they even know quarter-to-quarter or possession-to-possession?

Because of the uncertainty of which George Pickens was actually going to “please stand up,” I can see why it was frustrating. There’s no denying the talent. There’s also no denying that the talent wasn’t necessarily going to come through.

The Steelers are not better at wide receiver without George Pickens. The Steelers might be better off by not having George Pickens. It’s crazy.

But so was George Pickens.

Because Pickens was such a wildcard, it’s hard to even evaluate if the Steelers did right by trading him even after the 2025 season comes to a close. If Pickens has a monster year in Dallas, there’s no way to know if he would have actually done that in Pittsburgh. Perhaps he would continue to not give much effort. Perhaps he wouldn’t like another player in DK Metcalf playing the same position within the wide receiver group that he plays, taking away his alignments and his routes.

On the other hand, if George Pickens completely implodes in Dallas this year, it can’t also be concluded that he would have done the same in Pittsburgh. Perhaps the familiar settings would have been fine.

Maybe the fact that George Pickens was such a wildcard made the trade even easier to accept. If Pickens was with the Steelers in 2025, I don’t think they would have gotten one version of him or the other. Instead, they were likely to get a hodgepodge of the two. Would Pickens have come through in the big Moments? Would he have flaked out at precisely the wrong time? Either was possible.

This is one of those weird situations where if someone is honestly thinking it through on either end of the spectrum I believe they can be right. Maybe the trade was both a mistake and a necessity after all.

To hear the latest Unpopular Opinion podcast, check it out in the player below. Be sure to check back for this podcast every Sunday morning during the Steelers offseason.