ESPN's Brooke Pryor compares George Pickens trade to Antonio Brown, Chase Claypool moves

The Steelers made a splash trade on Wednesday, shipping George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. It’s far from the first time Pittsburgh has decided to part ways with a talented wide receiver during the Mike Tomlin era.

Antonio Brown and Chase Claypool, among others, were decisions that were questioned at the time, but the Steelers ended up on the right side of history afterwards. During an appearance on Get Up, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor stated her belief that perhaps Pickens will be a similar story, because when Pittsburgh is willing to trade a talented wide out, they usually do so after exhausting each and every avenue.

“I’d like to say that, first of all, you’re telling me a Steelers team is going to have to run the ball well and use their tight ends well? I feel like they’ve done that before. Certainly, Arthur Smith has. By the way, when you talk about Mike Tomlin being done with a wide receiver and trading a wide receiver, the last big splashy trade I can remember, they shipped Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears for that second round pick. He is not in the league, as far as I know,” Pryor stated.

“So I think that, to me, that’s the precedent I’m looking at. As far as when they let go of a wide receiver, they’ve tried everything they can, and it has not worked out well in the long run for that receiver.”

As you can tell, Pryor understands why some will question his decision, but the Steelers have earned trust for their past decisions that have worked out when it comes to wide receivers. History tells us they might be right about willing to part with Pickens, but it’ll be up to the freshly-minted Cowboys wide receiver to prove the theory wrong.

All told, Pickens is a former second round pick out of Georgia from the 2022 NFL Draft. He’s played for the Steelers for the entirety of his career to this point. The wide receiver has accumulated 2,841 yards and 12 touchdowns during his three years in Pittsburgh. The highlight of his career so far was his second year with the Steelers, where he caught 63 passes for 1,140 yards and five touchdowns.

As for the Cowboys, they’re coming off a brutal 7-10 season in which they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Dallas parted ways with head coach Mike McCarthy after five seasons in charge, hiring Brian Schottenheimer to lead the way moving forward. Schottenheimer spent the past three seasons with the Cowboys as both an analyst and the team’s offensive coordinator. 

Time will tell if it works out for Dallas. George Pickens will be must-see in Big D, if only to see whether or not the Steelers were right about this wide receiver as well.