Najee Harris, Diontae Johnson share insights into George Pickens' frustrations
George Pickens, the young and talented Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver, is clearly frustrated with how things are going this season. He recently even scrubbed his social media amid a difficult season for the offense.
Clearly, George Pickens is frustrated with something right now. What that something is, however, is still unclear.
Fellow stars on that Pittsburgh offense, Najee Harris and Diontae Johnson, recently shared some of their thoughts on the situation and offered insights into what might be causing Pickens’ frustrations.
“I was telling GP, it’s OK, there’s nothing wrong with being frustrated, it’s just how you handle things,” Harris said. “Obviously, he’s a talented guy. Teams are going to do things to minimize him. But I was just telling him in the middle of the game too that you got to keep your composure.”
To this point in the season, George Pickens has played in eight games and has 30 receptions for 521 yards and three touchdowns on 58 targets. Those are good numbers but not to the level that many expected Pickens to reach before the season started.
“I had a good talk with him. He understood, and I understood where he was coming from, as well. Nobody’s perfect. You can’t knock him. At the same time, he’s human, so I didn’t think too much about the situation. I know what it was from — frustration from the game, obviously. . . . So, him doing what he did, yeah, there’s a better way to go about certain situations. But he felt like he had to handle it his way, but at the same time, it wasn’t the right time to do all that,” Johnson said.
“I chopped it up with him. Just kind of told him what he should do next time or just to not put that stuff out there. You don’t want people creating a narrative of you. He understands.”
Pickens later went on to admit that he’s frustrated but did add that the decision to scrub his social media had nothing to do with the Steelers.
“Just clearing out my page, scrubbing it, not too crazy,” Pickens said. “It’s got nothing to do with the Steelers at all.”
Mike Tomlin downplays George Pickens’ frustrations
Despite George Pickens’ obvious frustrations with how things are going in Pittsburgh, head coach Mike Tomlin downplayed them as an issue to deal with.
“Like breathing, it’s easy. I know it’s a cute story for you guys, but it is a pebble in my shoe, to be quite honest with you, in terms of the things that I have to do in an effort to get this group ready to play this week,” Tomlin said.
“Our focus is on the Green Bay Packers and what we’re all going to do in this football game. And I can’t state it any plainer than that. It’s like reality television, the way you guys follow social media and write stories about it.”