George Pickens reveals biggest strengths, role with Steelers

George Pickens missed most of the 2021 college football season, but he returned in time to help the Georgia Bulldogs win a national championship. Now, the 6-foot-3, former five-star high school recruit will bring his dynamic skillset to a Pittsburgh Steelers offense going through a rebuild.

In a recent interview with Steelers’ reporter Missi Mathews, Pickens was asked specifically about what makes his game “dynamic,” as that was the adjective selected by Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Matt Canada to describe the former Georgia star.

“Really everything I’d probably say,” George Pickens responded. “My catch radius, I’m tall, my arms are long, like we were just talking about, I’m fast too. Strong, physical, I can block. I can really do everything, and I think when they said explosive, that’s more of an overall aspect of my game.”

Pickens went No. 52 overall in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. It was a great slot for the wideout after suffering an ACL injury ahead of the 2021 season. Even though he didn’t score a touchdown for Georgia on their journey to the national title, he had 14 in the previous two seasons, along with 1,200+ receiving yards.

Why George Pickens impressed Steelers’ staff

The Pittsburgh Steelers were high on Pickens heading into the draft. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada shared that he especially appreciated the toughness the Bulldog showed in making a return to the field late in the year.

“Coming out of last year as we started early draft prep, we thought he was maybe the best wide out coming out,” Canada said after the draft. “He had a tough injury there in the spring, showed great battle to come back and play late in the year for them. We were able to go to his Pro Day. He was impressive beyond belief at his Pro Day, showed no signs of injury or anything that way.”

The Steelers OC then identified one intangible that stood about about George Pickens.

“The one intangible that you’ve got to give a lot of credit for is coming back and playing,” Canada added. “I don’t have the exact time, but eight and a half months from an injury to coming back and playing. He didn’t have a huge role, but he came back and played late, had some significant plays and fought to get back out there and play. To me, that’s a great show of his character right there. He easily could have said, ‘Hey, I’m going to get healthy and wait.’ We’ve all seen those things happen. They had a great team, obviously they had an exceptional season, but I think that shows a lot about him right there.”