Steelers take Georgia WR George Pickens with 2nd-round pick

The Pittsburgh Steelers have developed a pattern for building their wide receiver corps. They stuck to that script Friday.

The Steelers chose Georgia’s George Pickens with their second-round pick, marking the fifth time over the past six drafts the Steelers took a wide receiver between the Nos. 49-66 selections. One of those picks, 2020 second-rounder Chase Claypool, announced the selection from the NFL’s stage in Las Vegas.

Claypool was taken with a No. 49 overall pick last year, and in 2019 the Steelers took Diontae Johnson at No. 66. It was James Washington at No. 60 by the Steelers the year before that, and in 2017, the Steelers took JuJu Smith-Schuster with the 62nd pick.

Those four (along with Ray-Ray McCloud) formed the Steelers’ receiving corps last season, but Smith-Schuster (to the Kansas City Chiefs), Washington (Dallas Cowboys) and McCloud (San Francisco 49ers) departed via free agency this spring.

We got a good one ????@GeorgiaFootball | ???? #NFLDraft on NFLN/ESPN/ABC pic.twitter.com/EijbGYr0cG

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 30, 2022

After five Georgia players — all on defense — were taken in Thursday’s first round, Pickens was the first Bulldogs offensive player selected in this draft. Pickens was the 11th wide receiver taken, the fifth in the second round. Two other receivers immediately followed him.

Some analysts have said the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Pickens has first-round talent — he was one of the nation’s top recruits coming out of high school in 2019 — but a torn ACL last season along with inconsistent production in college contributed to his modest slide.

His abilities, though, shined at times, including on a 52-yard reception during Georgia’s victory in the national championship game.

That was one of only five catches during a 2021 season in which he played only four games: the rivalry matchup with Georgia Tech, SEC championship game against Alabama, College Football Playoff semifinals against Michigan and CFP title game against Alabama again.

Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said the Steelers were impressed that Pickens chose to return to the field eight months after knee surgery in an era when many draft prospects chose to skip games.

“I wanted to finish the season with the guys I started with,” Pickens said, “so coming back (in 2021) was already on my agenda. Immediately, as soon as I knew I was injury, that was on my agenda.”

Pickens had 49 catches and eight touchdowns over 12 games as a true freshman in making the SEC’s all-freshman team in 2019. He had 36 receptions and six touchdowns during eight 2020 games. He averaged 15.0 yards per catch over his college career.

“We’re really, really excited to get him at any point in the draft,” Canada said. “Really fired up to have him on our team.”

Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said last year they saw George Pickens as the best WR in the 2022 draft - and Pickens torn ACL in spring ‘21 probably changed things for Pickens’ leaguewide outlook pic.twitter.com/kP4OhgXpy7

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) April 30, 2022

Pickens was in an auto accident last week. Though the NFL Network reported Pickens was cited for not wearing a seatbelt and his head hit the windshield, Pickens on Friday downplayed the incident and said it “was not scary at all.

“It was only 20 mph,” he said. “Wasn’t going fast at all.”

For a car, that’s not fast – but Pickens has been clocked at about that speed on the field (he has run the 40-yard dash in less than 4.5 seconds). Pickens is also lauded for his ball skills and ability to make so-called “combat catches.”

“He was beyond impressive beyond belief at his pro day,” Canada said.

Canada said that in early 2021 the Steelers had already begun pegging Pickens as “maybe the best wideout coming out” in 2022 until the injury struck. But while Canada lauded the intangible Pickens showed in not only fighting back from major injury but choosing to play with his teammates, whispers around NFL circles were that it indeed was intangibles that contributed to a fall from the early-first to late-second round.

Pickens was saying all the right things Friday, repeatedly calling it “an honor” to join the Steelers and join with Johnson and Claypool as teammates.

“I just wanna go on another championship run,” Pickens said, “just like I did with Georgia.”

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