Tag: George Pickens fantasy football

Fantasy Football: Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver breakdown

Predicting how the pecking order will shake out for fantasy purposes.

The transition from the Ben Roethlisberger era was a bumpy one as rookie Kenny Pickett and veteran Mitchell Trubisky combined to throw just 11 touchdown passes. The result was that Steelers wide receivers were virtually unplayable in fantasy leagues.

With his first full offseason of work with the coaching staff, Pickett is expected to make a big jump in terms of offensive production, but coming off a brutal first season where he had more interceptions (9) than touchdowns (7), Steelers receivers are going to be devalued when compared to more explosive offenses. Until Pickett’s ascent translates into bigger fantasy production, nobody from Pittsburgh is going to be on a “must-have” list in fantasy leagues.

Is Kenny Pickett ready to ascend into fantasy football relevance?

What can fantasy gamers expect from Pickett in Year 2?

The lead up to the start of NFL training camps is when the projection machine starts winding up and everyone wants to be the smartest person in the room by forecasting players to make a gigantic leap from the previous season to the coming year. Few players are in that crystal ball of hype more than Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett.

The first quarterback taken in the 2022 draft, it only took three games before Pickett replaced Mitchell Trubisky as the starter and the post-Ben Roethlisberger era was underway.

It didn’t come easily or smoothly. In his first four starts, Pickett threw seven interceptions and at times looked like he had bust potential. However, the coaching staff didn’t have a quick hook for him and he ended up repaying that trust, winning five of his last six games to help keep the Steelers streak of finishing .500 or better going for an amazing 19th straight year (finishing 9-8 after a 3-7 start).

Pickett played a role in that strong finish, but it wasn’t because of eye-popping fantasy numbers. While he threw only one interception in his final eight games, he finished the season with more interceptions (9) than touchdown passes (7). He never had more than one TD pass in any game and had twice as many games with fewer than 200 passing yards (8) than more than 200 (4).

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He didn’t offer much as a runner – after scoring two rushing TDs in his first start, he had just one more the rest of the way and had more than 20 rushing yards in just three games. His rushing production dropped as the season went on – in his final five games he had 20 carries for just 42 yards and no touchdowns.

So why all the hype? Many NFL quarterbacks make their biggest leap from Year 1 to Year 2 after a full offseason with the coaching and training staff. Pickett has done all the right things in that regard. The reason for excitement is that he has all requisite weapons to be effective. He has a significantly upgraded left side of the offensive line from a year ago. He has a strong bell-cow runner in Najee Harris who forces defenses to respect the run and makes play-action more effective. He has a trio of solid wide receivers – emerging star George Pickens, leading receiver Diontae Johnson and veteran acquisition Allen Robinson. Throw in playmaking tight end Pat Freiermuth and it’s understandable why people are jumping on the Pickett bandwagon. But I think it’s a year too soon.

Fantasy football outlook

Pickett isn’t going to make the kind of second-year leap Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence did because the AFC North may be the best top-to-bottom division in the NFL. All of them have solid defenses that can’t be exploited twice a year and games in this division tend to be low-scoring bloodbaths.

Pickett has showed flashes of talent but is a middle of the pack fantasy quarterback. Ask yourself would you rather have a veteran like Derek Carr or Kirk Cousins and their numbers or Pickett? While Pickett has a higher ceiling, for 2023 he’s a low-end QB2. Fantasy owners should hope he won’t have to play more than to cover a bye week.

Is George Pickens’ rising fantasy football stock justified?

A torrid offseason has the rookie’s draft stock pointing due north.

For whatever reason, some teams around the NFL consistently do a better job than others at identifying (and cultivating) talent at certain position groups. When it comes to receivers, few, if any, do it better than the Pittsburgh Steelers. In recent years, that includes selecting Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and JuJu Smith-Schuster (now with the Kansas City Chiefs). Before that, Antonio Brown was the gold standard for the position.

While the transition from college to the pros can often be difficult for wideouts, the Steelers have seen consistently solid Year 1 production from their recent early-round selections: Johnson caught 59 passes for 680 yards and five TDs as a rookie, Claypool posted a 62-873-9 line in his first season, and Smith-Schuster accounted for 917 yards and seven scores on 58 receptions.

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With Smith-Schuster (and now-Dallas Cowboys receiver James Washington) both gone from last year’s roster, the door is open for another rookie to step into a significant role in the person of George Pickens, who was selected with the 52nd overall pick. Pickens has good size, checking in at 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, and he should start on the outside opposite Johnson while Claypool handles the slot.

Pickens is a tough cover, showing the ability to fight through press coverage and the speed to separate downfield with the ball in flight. He has some juice with the ball in his hands as well. Pickens has drawn positive reviews in camp and caught three passes for 43 yards and a touchdown in the preseason opener against the Seattle Seahawks; he followed that up with two grabs for six yards in the team’s most recent outing.

Of course, there’s more to producing in the NFL than talent, and Pittsburgh’s still-unsettled quarterback situation will factor into Pickens’ outlook for 2022. Veteran Mitch Trubisky and rookie Kenny Pickett are the primary candidates, though it’s important to note that the Week 1 starter won’t necessarily be the season-long starter, and you have to think Pickett will take the job at some point. While the combo of Trubisky and Pickett is suspect, is it any worse than whatever was left of Ben Roethlisberger last year?

Fantasy football outlook

Although there’s quite a bit to like about Pickens the player, his situation is suboptimal, both with the uncertainty at quarterback, and the presence of three established options in Johnson, Claypool, and tight end Pat Freiermuth. Can the rookie really step into that offense and leapfrog anyone in that group in the pecking order?

Looking back at the Steelers recent history of young wideouts, while all three players mentioned above had good debuts, none of them posted the kind of numbers that demanded weekly attention in fantasy leagues. While injuries can always change the equation, for now Pickens looks like a WR4/WR5 type that could push for WR3 output. Expecting more than that feels optimistic.

Fantasy football sleepers: 5 rookie receivers to consider

Late-round rookie receivers to consider in fantasy football drafts.

Does anything get fantasy football owners’ blood pumping more than rookie wideouts and running backs? Those whose perceptions haven’t been stained by a year or two of underwhelming production while learning the intricacies of the NFL game.

We all know the first-round wideouts with find homes in fantasy drafts, but where will we find this year’s version of Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown? Here are five names to consider in the later rounds.

2022 NFL Draft Scouting Report: WR George Pickens, Georgia

How early can this vertical threat go in the upcoming NFL draft?

Former Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver George Pickens appeared destined for a first-round draft placement after his SEC All-Freshman Team breakout in 2019. The road since hasn’t been entirely smooth, however, for the Hoover, Ala., native.

In 2020, Pickens started all eight contests in the pandemic-abbreviated season, scoring six times. Inconsistencies in his game started to show, and the shortened year cost him four games of learning experience.

Height: 6-foot-3 1/4
Weight: 195 pounds
40 time: 4.47 seconds

Then came the spring of 2021 when Pickens tore an anterior cruciate ligament in spring practice. Surprisingly, he returned for the final four games of the season, but he was barely utilized as the team had effectively moved on, which made his decision to declare more understandable.

Table: George Pickens NCAA stats (2019-21)

Year School Class Gm Receiving Rushing
Rec Yds Avg TD Att Yds TD
*2019 Georgia FR 12 49 727 14.8 8 0 0 0
*2020 Georgia SO 8 36 513 14.3 6 0 0 0
*2021 Georgia JR 4 5 107 21.4 0 0 0 0

*includes postseason/bowl games

Even though his four-game return saw just a handful of plays go Pickens’ way, he made his presence felt in the national championship game by snagging a 52-yarder on a diving effort.

Pros

  • Reliable catcher with late hands who routinely snatches the ball away from his body
  • Among the strongest hands in the draft class, despite being really small mitts at 8 3/4 inches — by far the lowest pinkie-to-thumb spread of all receivers in contention for going in the first round
  • Quality downfield speed and above-average quickness for his size
  • Rather bendy for 6-foot-3 and change — able to save passes from hitting the turf
  • Large catch radius and vertical leaping ability make for a dangerous weapon in the red zone
  • Body control in the air and spatial awareness near the boundary demand tough coverage by smaller corners
  • Does an excellent job driving for comeback routes and adjusting to back-shoulder throws
  • Recovered from a torn ACL suffered in the spring of 2021 to play the final four games of the season
  • Proved to be a quick learner as he burst onto the scene as a true freshman

Also see: 2022 NFL Draft Central

Cons

  • Fairly inexperienced — only 12 games played the last two seasons due to COVID shortening the 2020 campaign and the torn ACL last year
  • Lacks versatility — unlikely to play much from the slot
  • Lean frame with below-average functional strength — gets jammed easily at the line by large cornerbacks and gets knocked off his route too much
  • Struggles as a blocker in the running game — questionable as to whether he can add muscle and maintain his speed
  • Tends to allow defenders to get too close to the ball in 50/50 situations — needs to improve his technique for boxing out
  • Most of his big plays came with far more separation than he is bound to generate in the pros

Fantasy football outlook

It’s quite unlikely we see Pickens go in the first round, but he should be among the top options in the early second stanza. The height-speed combination will endear him to some team, even if his limitations suggest he should be closer to a Round 3 selection.

The Green Bay Packers may be in play at the end of the first for a Marquez Valdes-Scantling replacement, although Pickens’ leaky blocking skills could work against him as this system requires wideouts to block with regularity.

With the seventh pick in Round 2, Chicago jumps out after losing Allen Robinson in free agency

Other teams that make more sense than not: Detroit, the New York Jets, Houston Texans, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minnesota and Washington. He’ll be a better fit for a team that emphasizes play-action passing, such as the Browns or Lions. Given positional need and familiarity, the Falcons should be a strong contender for selecting Pickens.

His season-long fantasy value shouldn’t be more than depth material as a rook, but there’s far more long-term viability to become a WR3 or even sneak into the No. 2 conversation, depending upon his landing spot.