Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke sent a message to the organization, saying that he would not pay wide receiver George Pickens this offseason after his repeated antics over the last few seasons.
Pickens has been in the news this week for various reasons coming out of the Dallas Cowboys loss, including a lack of effort on some routes, throwing Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis down by his facemask, and an eye-black message written across his nose that read ‘open (expletive) always.’
Hoke pointed to this and past blowups from Pickens as the reason he would not pay Pickens this offseason.
“Omar [Khan] and [Tomlin] got to think long and hard,” Hoke said, “because they’re putting money in a guy who right now has proven to this point that he is not a Pittsburgh Steeler-type player in terms of effort and playing with a sense of urgency.”
Given his on-field play, Pickens has ascended into the next tier of wide receiver and will certainly ask for north of $20 million per year. That is the next thing looming for the Steelers at this position, and they will have to decide if paying Pickens is the correct move.
They are shopping around for top wide receiver talent already to pair with Pickens, so if they get someone like Davante Adams, that changes the calculus on how they can approach their next steps with Pickens.
However, the first step is getting Pickens back on track after his statistically worst game of the season against the Cowboys.
