The Pittsburgh Steelers will rely upon George Pickens to be the top target in the team’s passing offense. With a bunch of unproven names behind him on the wide receiver depth chart, Pickens needs to step up and become a true No. 1 target for the Steelers to have a successful passing game.

New Steelers safety DeShon Elliott has seen a lot of great wide receivers in his time around the NFL. He played with Tyreek Hill in Miami in 2023, so he knows what top wide receivers look like daily. Elliott says that he has never seen someone like Pickens, though, who makes alien-like catches every single day.

“I had Tyreek Hill on my team,” Elliott said on The Sick Podcast — Steelers Crazy. “I have never seen a freak of nature like George Pickens.”

Pickens looked like he had another gear in his game this training camp. He put up an excellent performance, catching passes all over the football field, including as an intermediate route runner. Over the last few seasons, Pickens has largely only been a deep ball player with occasional flashes on underneath balls. Yet, suppose he can put it all together and become a dynamic route runner and separator. In that case, the Steelers will have something serious to work with in this offense, even if the pieces around Pickens in the wide receiver room are suboptimal.

Pickens has great body control and hands. That will carry with him no matter what routes he runs. The Steelers can scheme up significant mismatches even with the rest of the wide receiver room just by using Pickens in innovative ways.