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Dallas Cowboys’ George Pickens runs a drill during practice at minicamp at the Cowboys’ facility on June 11, 2025, in Frisco, Texas.
Wednesday’s “First Call” has early praise for former Steeler George Pickens thanks to his new quarterback. We look at soft spots on the Steelers’ depth chart. The odds of Pittsburgh getting an NBA team are dubious.
And Duquesne’s top receiver is getting some national run.
Pumped up for Pickens
For now, Dak Prescott is doing jumping jacks about the prospect of throwing the ball to former Steeler George Pickens.
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback told the team’s website that he is “excited as hell” to have Pickens added to the receiver room along with established star pass catcher CeeDee Lamb.
“Go turn on that guy’s tape,” Prescott said Tuesday. “He’s getting separation. He’s got separation even when he’s not getting the ball at times, and when he doesn’t have separation, he’s still making the catches. It’s not going to be hard. For me, it’s about getting the ball near that guy, and he will be George Pickens.”
Prescott may not have gotten to the portions of the tape when Pickens was taking plays off in the run game, or during his blocking assignments, or fighting defensive backs while the ball was still in the air.
Or a video of the sideline cutaways when Pickens was pouting or throwing hissy fits over not getting enough targets.
Or even the security footage from Acrisure Stadium that showed him coming in late for the Christmas Day game against Kansas City.
Let’s see if Prescott is “excited as hell” to be working with Pickens by December.
Either, or
As training camps approach, CBSSports.com published a list of every AFC team’s greatest need. For the Steelers, they identified safety.
“Pittsburgh recently acquired cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith, but lost safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in the process. The Steelers signed veteran Juan Thornhill, who was not playing his best football in Cleveland, and DeShon Elliott,” writer Josh Edwards posted Tuesday. “If they had identified Fitzpatrick as a problem area for them last season, then the loss is probably not as significant as it may outwardly appear. The offensive line suffered significant injury last season, and Dan Moore Jr. is no longer there to bail them out at left tackle, so that could develop into a problem.”
First of all, referring to Dan Moore Jr. as “bailing them out” is a bit generous, but I digress.
Back to the safety conversation, yes, I agree. If DeShon Elliott suffers a significant injury at any point this season, the Steelers are in deep trouble there — if they aren’t already.
I’m skeptical that Juan Thornhill is definitely going to be an upgrade on Damontae Kazee, let alone a suitable replacement for Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Not to mention, special-teams ace Miles Killebrew might be the next-best safety on the roster after him. So they need depth as well as another potential starting caliber player.
If Jalen Ramsey or Darius Slay end up playing a lot of safety, so be it. That could solve the problem. But, for now, that’s sort of like counting Jonnu Smith as the No. 2 wide receiver. And, honestly, if safety isn’t the weakest position on the roster, then (after DK Metcalf) wide receiver certainly is.
We know Joe
Duquesne wide receiver Joey Isabella is returning to the Bluff for a sixth year. He’ll do so with preseason accolades.
HERO Sports FCS lists Isabella as one of the top 30 receivers in FCS for the 2025 season, and Duquesne sent out a social media post celebrating that.
Joey Isabella is BACK and on HERO Sports' Top Returning Wide Receivers list for 2025 ???? https://t.co/6lriD4Z06G pic.twitter.com/5s6qnB1dUT
— Duquesne Football (@DuqFB) July 8, 2025
The product of Mayfield, Ohio, posted a career-high 43 receptions, 11 touchdowns and 782 receiving yards last year.
First play of the second half ... ⚡️TOUCHDOWN⚡️
64 yards from Darius Perrantes to Joey Isabella and we take the lead ‼️ pic.twitter.com/3tlgQVVmtm
— Duquesne Football (@DuqFB) November 2, 2024
Those stats led the Dukes in touchdowns and yards. Jermaine Johnson is the club’s next-highest returning pass catcher with 17 catches, 188 yards and three scores.
Odds against the NBA
For those holding out hope that an NBA team could come to Pittsburgh, just keep hoping.
You don’t have much else.
Sportsbetting.ag just released its list of cities that are most likely to get an expansion franchise. Pittsburgh is in 11th place at 25/1.
Just 25/1? Did they leave off a zero? Are they sure they didn’t mean 250/1?
Other cities the website lists as more likely to land a team than Pittsburgh include:
Seattle 1/1
Las Vegas 2/1
Mexico City 10/1
Kansas City 12/1
Vancouver 14/1
San Diego 16/1
Louisville 18/1
Nashville 20/1
Tampa Bay 20/1
St. Louis 22/1
So, to be clear, five of those cities have lost an NBA franchise already, and two of them are in foreign countries. Yet, they are all listed as having a better chance of getting an expansion team than Pittsburgh.
And I can’t argue with any of them.
By the way, Sportsbetting.ag also lists the expansion fee over/under entry price at $4.5 billion.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.