The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a long list of wide receivers in recent years. One of those includes now-retired Miles Boykin, who spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons in Pittsburgh. During those years, he helped round out a receiving corps that was certainly chaotic at times with Chase Claypool and George Pickens.
Heading into 2026, all three have long been away from the organization. But Boykin shed some light on the relationships he had with Claypool and Pickens and had good things to say about the players who were perceived as malcontents while with the Steelers.
“In Pittsburgh with Chase, you know obviously there’s things that went wrong. In terms of whether it’s getting along with coaches or whatever things may be,” Boykin said Thursday on the Chipped Ham and Football podcast. “I think he’s very misunderstood as a person, and I think he gets a bad rap. But if you truly met him, sat down and had a conversation with him, you would think he’s one of the nicest people in the world. Because he really is.”
Of all receivers to grace the NFL in recent years, Claypool has one of the more interesting career paths. He started with two terrific seasons in Pittsburgh, racking up over 800 receiving yards in both 2020 and 2021. However, things started to sour after that.
Perhaps the most notable moment leading to Claypool’s eventual exit came in 2021 against the Minnesota Vikings. Late in the game, he caught a pass to convert on 4th and 1 with time running down and celebrated a first down instead of trying to set the ball so it could be spiked. Afterwards, he deflected blame onto teammate Trai Turner for knocking the ball out of his hands. The Steelers wound up losing, 36-28
Low IQ play. Claypool celebrates instead of giving the ball to the official, ball rolls away, and time is wasted. Then he gets mad at his teammate for some reason.
Pittsburg needed those seconds. pic.twitter.com/2dMIVMkw4a
— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) December 10, 2021
Unfortunately, things haven’t gone well for Claypool since leaving Pittsburgh. He bounced around the league a bit and hasn’t played since 2023.
Boykin also praised for George Pickens.
“The thing about George is like, man, he’s another guy that has a bad rap. Because of some of the things he’s done on TV, or some of the things that’s been reported on. At the end of the day, George from the most part, from what I can remember, every practice he was practicing like he was gonna be out there,” Boykin said. “I never had any issues with him, and honestly most people never had any issues with him.”
For what it’s worth, Boykin wasn’t in Pittsburgh for the 2024 season, Pickens’ final year with the Steelers. There were a few incidents that season, which contributed to Pittsburgh eventually trading him. Two notable ones are Pickens pulling Jourdan Lewis’ facemask late in the loss to Dallas and being late to the Christmas Day game against Kansas City, his first one back from injury.
It’s worth mentioning that plenty of Pickens’ former teammates have said similar to Boykin. The Steelers had their reasons to move on from him, but the players who shared a locker room with Pickens have consistently defended him, with Boykin being the latest.
It’s been a while since either of these two were on the Steelers. And Pittsburgh will hope this offseason brings a receiving group with a little more stability. But to Boykin, both Claypool and George Pickens are a bit misunderstood.
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