The months long saga surrounding the future of wide receiver George Pickens is finally over.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are sending him to the Dallas Cowboys in a deal that is expected to net the Steelers draft picks in return. The Steelers are getting a 2026 third round pick and a 2027 fifth round pick, while the Steelers are sending Pickens and a 2027 sixth round pick to Dallas.

Pickens played his first three NFL seasons in Pittsburgh with the Steelers, averaging just under 1,000 receiving yards a season. He racked up 2,841 receiving yards in the regular season to go with 174 catches and 12 touchdowns.

In two playoff games, Pickens has 137 yards on ten catches, with one touchdown. His last game of the 2024 season saw him record 87 yards on five catches, netting his first playoff touchdown in Pittsburgh’s 28-14 loss in Baltimore to the Ravens.

Although few knew it for sure at the time, that would mark his final game in a Steelers uniform.

I’ve been on the record being against the idea of trading Pickens for months now. Back in February I penned a column that the Steelers should not trade this guy. Now that this day is here, I’m even more opposed to it.

This trade an incredibly dumb for the Steelers.

After they traded Diontae Johnson to Carolina, ironically for similar reasons as to why they are trading Pickens, Steelers’ wide receiver room was one of the weakest in football.

It featured a solid headliner in Pickens, but the depth just was not there. Van Jefferson was penciled in as the team’s WR2, but let’s be honest, that role was actually directed to Calvin Austin.

Now I like Austin, I think he’s got a unique skill set, but the Steelers absolutely pigeonholed him into a spot on this roster that does not best suit him or the team.

Pittsburgh’s weak wide receiver construction was further exposed when Pickens suffered a hamstring injury during the team’s Week 13 game in Cincinnati. Pickens missed the team’s next three games, where quarterback Russell Wilson was only able to manage 167.7 passing yards per game.

Wilson was forced to pivot from his one down-field threat to a group of unestablished wide receivers and alternative options.

It was clear as day to anyone who watched this team last year that the Steelers desperately needed someone opposite Pickens on the field to bring the offense together.

The Steelers seemed to understand that and acted accordingly back in March, when the Steelers swung a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to bring in DK Metcalf for a second round pick. They immediately extended Metcalf for five years at $150 million dollars, locking him up long-term.

Having a duo of Pickens and Metcalf was incredibly enticing, and while the Steelers still do not officially know who their quarterback will be for 2025, they had more than enough wide receiver talent to help whoever that is succeed.

Now, the Steelers have gone and screwed themselves. By trading Pickens, they are right back in the same situation they were last year: having only one star wide receiver and a bunch of depth guys beneath him.

It was a scenario that literally every Steelers fan watched last season and knew was unacceptable.

Look, if you’re anti-Pickens, I get it. There’s a pretty strong track record on this site of me being in this guy’s corner, but I certainly understand if you’re tired of this guy.

The on-the-field antics, the sideline stuff, the stupid penalties, taking himself out of plays, and reportedly showing up late to the Christmas Day game. There are obviously many things that have piled up over his three years here.

All of that, plus Pickens entering the final year of his rookie deal, certainly made a valid vase for trading him.

There was a time and place to trade Pickens. Unfortunately for the Steelers, they missed it. Trading Pickens, for all of his flaws, would have made sense if the Steelers took a wide receiver high or semi-high in the draft.

It’s less about Pickens as a person or a player and more about his role on the team. A team with a legit chance at a Super Bowl needs two wideouts they can count on.

If they moved a few picks up and/or targeted someone like Emeka Ekbuka (who went two picks before the Steelers) or Matthew Golden (who went two picks after), then a subsequent trade of Pickens would have made sense.

The Steelers, who haven’t taken a wide receiver in the first round since Santonio Holmes in 2006, would have been sending a clear message on their future and therefore would have felt comfortable moving Pickens.

Instead, the Steelers opted for Derrick Harmon, continuing to build in the trenches. That’s fine. But the Steelers took no wide receivers in this draft, and only one offensive player who projects to have a real impact next season.

When they didn’t address that position at the draft, it locked them into keeping Pickens, or putting themselves right back in the awful position they were in last year.

The team that has been in purgatory for years opted for the latter, and if the goal is still to win in 2025, I don’t understand that one bit.