Former Steelers Executive Believes George Pickens Is Incapable Of Being A Number One Wide Receiver

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off of a tremendous weekend where by all accounts they absolutely crushed the 2024 NFL Draft. Just about every outlet, and all of Steeler Nation, believe that they had one of the top draft classes around the NFL and got tremendous value from top to bottom. Omar Khan has appeared to have done it again by putting together back to back tremendous draft classes. 

While the team did extremely well drafting, they obviously left some holes that will need filled later since you can't fill every hole with only seven draft picks. With the first of their third round picks, the Steelers selected wide receiver Roman Wilson out of the University of Michigan to help round out their receiver room. However, that didn't appear to be enough to please everyone. 

Former Steelers Pro Personnel Coordinator and Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley believes that the team should've looked to address the position earlier in order to give third-year wide receiver George Pickens a highly talented running mate. 

Whaley joined Ed Codi on The Coaches Round Table hosted by Armstrong and discussed the Steelers' draft in depth, and he doubled down on his comment that the Steelers should've looked to take a wide receiver earlier in the draft by saying he doesn't believe Pickens is a number one receiver.

"I wish they would've gotten a complementary receiver to George [Pickens], because I still think George is a number two, I don't see him as a number one. He doesn't run a complete route tree. He does have big plays, but it is always vertically cutting routes. Its not comeback routes, routes where you break it off, choice routes, stuff like that. To me, they need a number one, and possibly a number two because I think George is a number two."

Well, this is certainly not what Steelers fans want to hear. Many would agree that the wide receiver room needs some work still as the group as a whole looks a little questionable, but if Pickens isn't a number one for them, then this room starts looking really ugly really fast. 

Whaley is correct in the fact that Pickens hasn't ran a full route tree, and he does run a large number of vertical routes as he excels at them by making contested catches with his plus athleticism and ball skills. However, how much of that is the Steelers maximizing his athletic skill set when they had a wide receiver on the roster who was a very technical route runner in Diontae Johnson, as opposed to his inability to run those other routes effectively?

With the team waiting until the 84th pick to take a wide receiver, there could be concern that the room behind Pickens is going to struggle this season as well, even if Pickens proves he can be a top option. What needs taken into consideration however, is that Wilson was a great value in the third round, and many had him pegged to go sometime in round two of the draft due to his quickness and play-making ability. 

Steelers Could Address Concerns At Receiver By Trading For Another Playmaker

The Steelers have been linked to many wide receivers recently in the media as Whaley isn't the only person who is questioning the makeup of the Steelers' wide receiver room as it sits today. That list of names has been pretty wide spread, and there have been several hints including former Steelers posting that they are close to landing another playmaker and to keep their eyes open waiting for news to break. 

The two most common names thrown around have been San Fransisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. Aiyuk is in a contract year and wanting a new contract, which at this point has only continued to climb in value as more and more wide receivers get big paydays. Sutton has been rumored to be on the block for the rebuilding Broncos, and would be a reunion with quarterback Russell Wilson after the two spent the last two seasons playing together. 

Whether they end up landing one of those players is yet to be seen, but where there is smoke, there is usually fire.