In 2022, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell ranked the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive playmakers as 12th-best in the NFL. In 2023, they were 13th. Barnwell put out his 2024 rankings and we hate to break it to you but the Steelers have tanked and dropped all the way down to No. 27.
Barnwell notes in his breakdown that Pickens is essentially the only real playmaker the Steelers have and in 2023 the most consistent threat was probably backup running back Jaylen Warren.
I’m still optimistic about Pickens — even amid the real-life specter of coordinator Arthur Smith deciding to build the offense around Cordarrelle Patterson and MyCole Pruitt — but I’m wondering how he will evolve. We know he can run away from defensive backs, but is his game going to continue to revolve around low-probability contested catches on the sideline? Can his route-running command more than 10 targets in a game, something he failed to do in Year 2 with Roman Wilson and Van Jefferson as the primary wideouts behind him and Pat Freiermuth topping 50 yards in a game just once last season, it sure looks and feels like Pickens-or-bust for the Pittsburgh passing game.
Barnwell paints a fairly gloomy picture about the Steelers offense this season. There’s no doubt this offense will be plodding and methodical but we are hopeful that Freiermuth and Warren can provide a little bit of punch to the offense outside of Pickens.
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