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The Pittsburgh Steelers have dealt a couple of notable names during the 2024 NFL offseason.
Kenny Pickett and Diontae Johnson were both traded away since the start of the new league year.
Johnson’s contract situation had the potential to become an issue for the team as his deal was set to expire after the 2024 season.
Meanwhile, Pickett wasn’t taking his benching well after the team traded for Russell Wilson.
Rather than dealing with any potential issues that might arise, the team decided to just move on from both players.
A Steelers insider thinks George Pickens should take note of the moves the team has made this offseason.
During a March 19 fan chat, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo was asked if the Steelers would trade Pickens if he requested one after dealing Johnson and Pickett.
Fittipaldo said the moves should have Pickens on notice about needing to change his behavior if he wants to stick around in Pittsburgh.
“Sure there is. But Pickens is the one who is on notice, not the Steelers. If he wants to play with the team in the long term, he’s going to have [to] improve his behavior.”
Issues With Pickens’ Behavior
Based just on his performance, 2023 should have been a great year for Pickens.
He made big improvements from his rookie year and finished his second season with 65 catches for 1140 yards in spite of some bad quarterback play.
Unfortunately, he didn’t handle the bad quarterback play well on the sidelines. There were multiple instances of him displaying his frustrations with the offense on the sideline.
He was eventually called out publicly by Mike Tomlin over his behavior.
Pickens also had an incident that got some attention where he didn’t block for Jaylen Warren on a touchdown run.
Things got better at the end of the season. Pickens was actually praised by Mason Rudolph for the way that he handled not being targeted against the Ravens in Week 18.
Hopefully he’ll continue in that positive direction during the 2024 season because the Steelers haven’t been shy about moving on from wide receivers in the past.
Steelers’ History With Wide Receivers
The recent trades aren’t the only thing that should have Pickens thinking the Steelers might not hesitate to trade him if they see an issue with his behavior in the future.
The Steelers also have a history of not retaining receivers once their rookie contracts are over.
Plaxico Burress left for the Giants after his rookie deal ended.
The same was true for Mike Wallace, who signed with the Dolphins after his rookie deal was done.
Emmanuel Sanders only got one extra year out of the Steelers
Juju Smith-Schuster also only got a one-year deal from the Steelers after his rookie contract.
Johnson had signed a two-year extension with Pittsburgh, but that only came after a “hold in” during the final year of his rookie contract. Now he has been traded before the second year of the deal.
The Steelers trading Johnson is just a reminder that the team doesn’t get attached to wide receivers, even ones they’ve drafted and had success with.
We’re not far from Pickens being ready for a new contract of his own. How he handles the 2024 season could determine whether he’s the latest in a long line of talented receivers that the Steelers decided not to make a long-term commitment to.
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