Pittsburgh Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger believes the team had to move on from George Pickens because he was a ‘headache’ and they were ‘over’ Pickens’ antics.
Roethlisberger, who watched the situation play out from afar, was a bit surprised the team moved him when they did, but it became obvious, it was their preference to trade him given the roller coaster ride of the last three years.
“Is he a bigger headache than we even know? Obviously, we saw last year there were some issues,” Roethlisberger said on “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger.” “To me, it just seems like the Steelers were over it. At the end of the day, it feels like that’s the biggest thing. They were over it. They weren’t willing to go one more year and see what he could do on the field, with those two receivers on the field, and take our chances with all the headaches we could potentially get this year.”
The Athletic reported that Pickens was 40 minutes late to the team’s Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs, which was after the inactives were released. Pickens was returning from a hamstring injury and was supposed to test the injury pregame.
The Steelers’ second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, he and Kenny Pickett, the team’s first two picks from that draft, never finished their rookie contracts with the team.
Pickens missed three games with a hamstring injury, dampening what looked to be a second-straight 1000-yard season with the third-year wide receiver.