The Steelers have had their fair share of issues dealing with wide receivers. Despite the talents on the field, Pittsburgh has a history of dealing with offensive stars that create unnecessary headaches, including Antonio Brown, Martavius Bryant, Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson — the list goes on.
The wide receiver currently owning that role in Pittsburgh is George Pickens.
The third-year pro out of Georgia comes with a hot head and a knack for picking up penalties and fines, much to the chagrin of Mike Tomlin and the Steelers organization. Pickens has been involved in multiple incidents throughout his player career, dating back to his days as a Bulldog in college.
Teams have begun targeting Pickens specifically, trying to get under his skin to draw a flag. While he’s not the only wide receiver in the league known for his antics (looking at you D.K. Metcalf), Pickens is one of the most frequent offenders.
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Here is a full timeline of trouble for Pickens.
George Pickens timeline of trouble
Georgia-Georgia Tech fight, suspension
Pickens’ collegiate career got out to a hot start. He joined Georgia’s football program for the 2019 season, playing for three years under head coach Kirby Smart, winning a national title in 2021. However, one of his most memorable highlights stemmed from a fight in a rivalry game.
The wide receiver was involved in a scuffle with Georgia Tech cornerback Tre Swilling during the blowout win for Georgia. On a play that resulted in a touchdown for the Bulldogs, what started as pushing and shoving escalated to Pickens and Swilling exchanging punches in the end zone. The Bulldogs wide receiver even tried to throw the Yellow Jackets secondary member into the wall at the back of the end zone.
Pickens and Swilling were both ejected from the regular season finale. As a result, Pickens was suspended for the first half of Georgia’s SEC Championship against LSU.
“I mean, don’t be stupid,” Smart said about the incident. “It’s just silly, it’s selfish, it’s undisciplined. It’s, ‘Why?’ You ask yourself why. Why would I give up an opportunity over what we have next week? Over what? I always ask guys, ‘Was it worth it?’ That’s what I always say. ‘Was it worth it?’ It’s not worth it to me when you hurt the team.”
Pickens later apologized for his actions to the team. He finished his college career without any more suspensions, but he was known to show his emotions on the field.
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Blindside hit, taunting fines after 2023 win vs. Rams
Pickens broke into the NFL in 2022 when the Steelers drafted him in the second round. While he stayed mostly disciplined as a rookie, the fines began racking up in 2023.
The wide receiver was hit with a pair of fines following a win over the Rams in late October. He was dinged $8,525 for unnecessary roughness after a flag was thrown for an illegal blindside block on Los Angeles safety Russ Yeast in the first quarter. He was also fined an equal amount for unsportsmanlike conduct as a result of taunting Yeast in the fourth quarter after an 18-yard catch.
Pickens admitted after the game that he felt as though the Rams were specifically targeting him to “get under” his skin.
“I felt like, personally, a game like this showed me they’re kind of looking for me to kind of mess up and guys are antagonizing me more because today is the first time I’d seen anything like that,” Pickens said. “Guys really trying to get me out of the game or get under my skin deliberately.”
Unsportsmanlike conduct fine after 2023 win vs. Bengals
Two months later, Pickens was hit with another fine for unsportsmanlike conduct. He lost out on $16,391 due to the fact that he waved at Bengals defenders on his way to one of his two touchdowns of the game. There was no flag on the play, but the league elected to step in and fine the wide receiver for taunting.
Total fines revealed for 2023 season
While three of his fines from the 2023 season were made public, those weren’t the only ones that were handed to Pickens.
According to CBS Sports, Pickens has “fined at or above $200,000 this year by the NFL and the Steelers combined, a larger-than-average figure for any player regardless of contract status. The NFL has fined Pickens a total of $33,441 in publicly available fines for unnecessary roughness and unnecessary conduct. Team fines and other league fines are not usually public knowledge.”
It’s not clear what led to that amount of money being fined to Pickens. However, six figures is a large amount, especially since Pickens was earning a base salary of $1.318 million with the Steelers that season as a part of his rookie contract.
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Facemask, eye black fines after 2024 loss vs. Cowboys
Pickens picked up not one but two fines during a loss to the Cowboys in the 2024 season. He first was fined $10,230 after grabbing the facemask of Dallas cornerback Jourdain Lewis after the final play. Lewis appeared to say something to Pickens as he got up with the ball following the Steelers’ last-chance play, and that resulted in the Steelers star yanking Lewis down to the ground by his facemask.
The NFL fined Steelers WR George Pickens $10,230 for this move at the end of last week’s game against the Cowboys pic.twitter.com/1fYrgZjcmN
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) October 12, 2024
He also received a $10,231 fine for his explicit eye black message he wore during the game. Pickens wrote “Open F***ing Always” on his eye black under his eyes, unaware of the league rules that prohibit any personal message being worn without prior approval from the NFL.
“Open fucking always”
George Pickens’s eye black looks like the sign in front of IHop pic.twitter.com/41MBNOBLpz
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 7, 2024
George Pickens said he wasn’t aware of the league’s uniform policy prohibiting unapproved personal messages.
It was pointed out that Cam Heyward was previously fined for writing his dad’s name in his eye black, Pickens said:
“Years ago? When I wasn’t in the league? So nah.” pic.twitter.com/8RpCzZw37f
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) October 10, 2024
According to the NFL rulebook, players are banned from “wearing, displaying or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.”
In total, he was fined $20,463 from the Cowboys game.
Facemask fine after 2024 win vs. Commanders
Pickens was fined for a facemask penalty during the team’s win over the Commanders in early November. After catching a screen pass, the wide receiver tried to stiff-arm Washington cornerback Benjamin St. Juste, but he got his hands interlocked with the cage of the Commanders defender.
George Pickens was fined $16,883 for his facemask penalty on this play
— Rob Gregson (@NFL_Rob) November 16, 2024
He was penalized on the play and later hit with a $16,883 fine.
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2024 fight with Browns CB Greg Newsome II
Five years after getting into a fight in college at Georgia, Pickens engaged in another on-field scuffle at the NFL level. During a snowy “Thursday Night Football” loss to the Browns, Pickens took out his frustrations on Cleveland cornerback Greg Newsome II during Pittsburgh’s Hail Mary attempt to end the game.
As QB Russell Wilson was airing the ball downfield in hopes of a receiver catching it in the end zone, Pickens was busy getting tangled up with Newsome II. It appears the Browns defender pushed the wide receiver out of the end zone, but the pair continued to engage after getting onto the ground.
Another angle of the Hail Mary with whatever was happening with George Pickens: pic.twitter.com/pxfkPGWjSJ https://t.co/P1wsUx7w3o
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 22, 2024
Pickens was not hit with any discipline by the NFL, but it was yet another example of the receiver losing his cool and electing to engage in fisticuffs rather than play the game on the field.
Newsome II appeared to take a shot at Pickens online after the skirmish, calling the Steelers member a “fake tough guy.”
Fake tough guy 😂😂😂
— Greg Newsome II (@gnewsii) November 22, 2024
Taunting, unsportsmanlike conduct fines after 2024 win vs. Bengals
Pickens was once again fined during an early December win to the Bengals. He was hit with two fines totaling $20,462.
His first stemmed from a taunting call he received in the first quarter. After a 21-yard first down play by Pickens, he was penalized after he appeared to drop the football on the defender, then say something to the Cincinnati bench.
In the third quarter, Pickens was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a touchdown catch. After finding his way to the end zone, the receiver appeared to make a gun-like gesture to the crowd, resulting in the flag and the subsequent fine.
Russ to Pickens! Steelers answer back.
📺: #PITvsCIN on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/nr4Othdv1A— NFL (@NFL) December 1, 2024
George Pickens called for another unsportsmanlike conduct for this celebration. #steelers pic.twitter.com/G8yBc6yYZe
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) December 1, 2024
Pickens claimed that the referees misinterpreted his gesture, as his alleged intent was to a first-down signal (despite the play resulting in a touchdown).
“Yeah, they said they got the gesture wrong,” Pickens said. “You know what I mean? [The refs] thought it was something else. You know, you can’t hurt the team. I never intend to hurt the team. But he just thought the gesture was different. I’m not sure [why] I was doing the first down. He said he thought [it was] something else.”
Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin called Pickens out after the game, saying he needs to “grow up” and avoid the unnecessary penalties.
“He’s just gotta grow up,” Tomlin said about Pickens. “This is an emotional game man. “These divisional games are big. He’s got a target on his back because he’s George. He understands that, but he’s got to grow up. He’s got to grow up in a hurry.”
