Steelers’ George Pickens is tired of overblown narrative
The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted George Pickens in large part due to his size and speed combination. At 6'3" nearly 200 pounds and with a 40-yard dash that is in the 4.4's, he's a special athlete. But there is one area of his game that seemingly gets overlooked, or even criticized, and Pickens is looking to […]
The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted George Pickens in large part due to his size and speed combination.
At 6'3" nearly 200 pounds and with a 40-yard dash that is in the 4.4's, he's a special athlete.
But there is one area of his game that seemingly gets overlooked, or even criticized, and Pickens is looking to clear that up:
George Pickens: "I can run every route already"
In case you had not heard, the prevailing narrative around George Pickens is that he can't run routes, or at least not to the nuanced level that many across the league can. But that's just not true:
"I feel like I can run every route already. It’s just about putting me in more opportunities to get there," answered Pickens when asked about his offseason work.
If this clip doesn't elude nuanced route running then I don't know what does…
First, Pickens wins before the rep even starts, getting off the line of scrimmage with a clean release off a foot-fire pattern. He then dips his shoulder and gets on top of Joey Porter Jr., otherwise known as "stacking" the corner.
From there, he's now got a three-way go. The corner is out leveraged and behind Pickens, meaning he can break out, break in, or step on the gas vertically and he will be open.
But just to show he's gotten even better at the apex of his route, Pickens makes sure not to show his cards, settling into his route with balanced body positioning and breaking across the grain on an in-cut.
As far as the ball getting there late, Pickens was on the backside of the formation, a place where typical boundary X or #1 WRs play. That means that Pickett had to get across the field since his primary read is situated on the strong side of the formation or the opposite of where Pickens aligned.
And this is just one rep of many, both in the early parts of camp this year, and dating back to his rookie season. That's why when Pickens says; "It's about putting me in more opportunities to get there" that's the truth.
Most of his route tree in 2022 was on what we call the vertical plane. Meaning he ran a lot of posts, corners, and fade routes.
But that was last year. We're on to a new season, and I expect Pickens to show the rest of the league what has been obvious since college.
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Featured image via: © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
