The Steelers have long had success drafting talented wide receivers, with Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson among the top 10 wideouts (PPR) they've drafted in the last 15 years. Problem is that George Pickens seems to be melting down like the best of those players even before reaching those heights.
Despite working with mostly lesser quarterbacks, Pickens in his first three seasons averages 58 catches for 947 yards, with 12 touchdowns. His 18.1 yards per catch a year ago led the league.
But despite arguably having his best quarterback this season in Russell Wilson (not what he used to be, but probably still better than Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky or Mason Rudolph), Pickens has had a pretty lousy season. He's gone over 80 receiving yards five times, but has caught just 3 touchdowns all year. Six times (including each of the last three) he's caught only 1-3 passes. With the team needing him most down the stretch, his most noteworthy contributions have been jawing with fans, complaining to officials and dropping passes.
It's the catch rate that has been particularly disappointing. Over the last three years, among all receivers to average at least 50 receptions, no one has a better yards per catch than Pickens (16.3). But only four of those 42 players have caught a lower percentage of the balls thrown their way (59.4 percent).
Poor quarterbacking is certainly an issue, as some of the other players near the bottom (including another Steeler, Diontae, and a couple of players with Jets and Browns ties) have had to deal with lesser passers.
But Pickens' quarterbacking won't necessarily get any better anytime soon, and his recent on-field outbursts suggest he won't be handling it particularly well going forward.
Pickens caught 8 for 89 in his long game against this week's opponent, Baltimore, this season. Maybe on the big stage of the playoffs, he'll come up with another such game (the Ravens were a lot worse defending the pass than the run this year).
But I'm not very confident it will be happening. His better games (including that Week 11 contest) were a little while back. I expect Pickens and the Steelers to go fairly quietly into the offseason this weekend.
Table shows wide receivers to catch at least 150 passes the last three seasons, sorted by catch rate. Data compiled using the search tools at pro-football-reference.com.
WIDE RECEIVER CATCH RATES, 2022-2024 (50 CATCH/SEASON) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Ctch% |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | 49 | 451 | 340 | 3939 | 11.6 | 28 | 75.4 |
DeVonta Smith | 46 | 337 | 244 | 3095 | 12.7 | 22 | 72.4 |
Adam Thielen | 44 | 306 | 221 | 2345 | 10.6 | 15 | 72.2 |
Chris Godwin | 39 | 334 | 237 | 2623 | 11.1 | 10 | 71.0 |
Jaxon Smith-Njigba | 34 | 230 | 163 | 1758 | 10.8 | 10 | 70.9 |
Wan'Dale Robinson | 38 | 249 | 176 | 1451 | 8.2 | 5 | 70.7 |
CeeDee Lamb | 49 | 489 | 343 | 4302 | 12.5 | 27 | 70.1 |
Stefon Diggs | 41 | 378 | 262 | 3108 | 11.9 | 22 | 69.3 |
Ja'Marr Chase | 45 | 454 | 314 | 3970 | 12.6 | 33 | 69.2 |
Puka Nacua | 28 | 266 | 184 | 2476 | 13.5 | 9 | 69.2 |
Tyler Boyd | 49 | 237 | 164 | 1819 | 11.1 | 7 | 69.2 |
Tyreek Hill | 50 | 464 | 319 | 4468 | 14.0 | 26 | 68.8 |
Cooper Kupp | 33 | 293 | 201 | 2259 | 11.2 | 17 | 68.6 |
Curtis Samuel | 47 | 229 | 157 | 1522 | 9.7 | 9 | 68.6 |
Justin Jefferson | 44 | 438 | 299 | 4416 | 14.8 | 23 | 68.3 |
Jakobi Meyers | 45 | 331 | 225 | 2638 | 11.7 | 18 | 68.0 |
Michael Pittman Jr. | 48 | 408 | 277 | 2885 | 10.4 | 11 | 67.9 |
Keenan Allen | 38 | 360 | 244 | 2739 | 11.2 | 18 | 67.8 |
Tyler Lockett | 50 | 313 | 212 | 2527 | 11.9 | 16 | 67.7 |
Nico Collins | 37 | 274 | 185 | 2784 | 15.0 | 17 | 67.5 |
Jaylen Waddle | 46 | 304 | 205 | 3114 | 15.2 | 14 | 67.4 |
Zay Flowers | 33 | 224 | 151 | 1917 | 12.7 | 9 | 67.4 |
Brandon Aiyuk | 40 | 266 | 178 | 2731 | 15.3 | 15 | 66.9 |
A.J. Brown | 47 | 400 | 261 | 4031 | 15.4 | 25 | 65.3 |
D.J. Moore | 51 | 394 | 257 | 3218 | 12.5 | 21 | 65.2 |
Terry McLaurin | 51 | 369 | 238 | 3289 | 13.8 | 22 | 64.5 |
Tee Higgins | 40 | 294 | 189 | 2596 | 13.7 | 22 | 64.3 |
Jerry Jeudy | 48 | 332 | 211 | 2959 | 14.0 | 12 | 63.6 |
Chris Olave | 39 | 301 | 191 | 2565 | 13.4 | 10 | 63.5 |
Christian Kirk | 37 | 265 | 168 | 2274 | 13.5 | 12 | 63.4 |
Deebo Samuel | 43 | 264 | 167 | 2194 | 13.1 | 12 | 63.3 |
Drake London | 50 | 385 | 241 | 3042 | 12.6 | 15 | 62.6 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 42 | 313 | 195 | 2384 | 12.2 | 15 | 62.3 |
Mike Evans | 46 | 373 | 230 | 3383 | 14.7 | 30 | 61.7 |
Courtland Sutton | 48 | 334 | 204 | 2682 | 13.1 | 20 | 61.1 |
D.K. Metcalf | 48 | 368 | 222 | 3154 | 14.2 | 19 | 60.3 |
Garrett Wilson | 51 | 469 | 279 | 3249 | 11.6 | 14 | 59.5 |
George Pickens | 48 | 293 | 174 | 2841 | 16.3 | 12 | 59.4 |
Davante Adams | 48 | 496 | 288 | 3723 | 12.9 | 30 | 58.1 |
Elijah Moore | 50 | 271 | 157 | 1624 | 10.3 | 4 | 57.9 |
Diontae Johnson | 42 | 301 | 170 | 1974 | 11.6 | 8 | 56.5 |
Amari Cooper | 46 | 345 | 194 | 2957 | 15.2 | 18 | 56.2 |
--Andy Richardson