The Pittsburgh Steelers upgraded their receiver room by acquiring DK Metcalf, but Metcalf’s acquisition and subsequent contract extension led to questions about the future of WR George Pickens. Pickens is entering the last year of his contract, and the Steelers almost surely won’t extend him ahead of 2025. That would lead to him playing out his contract year, and the risk that he’ll leave next offseason for nothing more than a potential comp pick in return.
With Pickens’ production as a No. 1 receiver for the Steelers and just one year remaining on his contract, [he was named as the team’s best trade asset](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-best-trade-asset-every-team-2025-nfl-draft) by PFF’s Bradley Locker.
“Pickens rose to the occasion in 2024, earning a career-high 79.7 PFF receiving grade with 2.11 yards per route run. But drop issues (12.3% drop rate) and lingering concerns about maturity overshadow his on-field production. In an offseason with few signature perimeter receiver stars available, a team might get aggressive in trading for the pending free agent,” Locker wrote.
If the Steelers do trade Pickens, it would likely happen before the 2025 NFL Draft. The Steelers gave up their second-round pick in the trade for Metcalf, and trading Pickens would likely recoup them another Day 2 pick. With the Steelers only having six draft picks in a draft class that’s deep at a few positions of need, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to try and get some value now for Pickens rather than letting him play out his contract.
But the Steelers have been trying to meaningfully upgrade their receiver room over the past few years, and they’ve given themselves one of the better duos in the league with Pickens and Metcalf. Trading Pickens still leaves a hole at receiver, and even if the Steelers drafted a rookie, the room wouldn’t be as good as it could be with Pickens and Metcalf.
The fact that the Steelers still haven’t figured out their quarterback situation also makes it harder to commit to making a big move and trading away one of their best offensive weapons. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, and Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said [things are “up in the air” regarding Pickens’ future](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/03/fittipaldo-totally-up-in-the-air-if-george-pickens-is-with-steelers-week-1/) with the team right now.
I’d probably bet on George Pickens at least beginning the season in Pittsburgh, unless he winds up requesting a trade. At that point, the Steelers would work to move him, but I don’t think the team is going to move on from Pickens before seeing how the offense looks with Pickens and Metcalf together.