Steelers Locker Room Lost Respect for George Pickens as Cowboys WR Throws Mike Tomlin’s Team Under the Bus

It’s been brewing for a while now, the stuff around George Pickens. What started as frustration started turning heads for all the wrong reasons. We’re talking his 2024 season. It really bubbled over one Sunday night. Only 26 yards, but all eyes were on his face: “Open F—ing Always” scribbled across his eye black. Then the face mask scuffle with Jourdan Lewis. Then, the slamming of his helmet. That wasn’t swagger anymore. It felt like a statement.

And just when you thought the drama had peaked, Christmas rolled in. Pickens, cleared to play, was suddenly the talk of the locker room—not for routes, but for showing up late. Nothing confirmed, but the buzz was loud. Add that to the string of sideline outbursts and social media drama, and the picture was getting clearer: the wide receiver is gifted, no doubt. But his temperament is something to worry about.

The result? Well, the Steelers were not sugarcoating his behaviour anymore. Ahead of the 2025 NFL draft, trade rumors surfaced. And by the time teams could start their rookie mini-camp, Pittsburgh traded Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys (along with a 2027 sixth-round pick) in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick. But the drama isn’t over yet. Not so soon.

Right after that went down, and Pickens left the Steel City, the Steelers‘ writer, Mark Kaboly, revealed that “the right players were fed up” with Pickens in the Steelers’ locker room. Ain’t that something predictable? Because let’s be real—when you haven’t won a playoff game since 2017, you haven’t won the Super Bowl for over a decade now, and your team’s struggling to find a long-term quarterback option, year-by-year, tackling a young wideout’s behavior is the last thing you’d want.

That’s exactly what the Pittsburgh team was stuck at. And the last time we checked, the head coach, Mike Tomlin, noted that Pickens has to mature. But when Tomlin and Co. didn’t have any choice, the last option was to trade the guy. Plus, they’re in no mood to offer him a contract extension. “I think it needed to be done,” Kaboly said of the Steelers trading Pickens.

“I think it was getting really ugly behind the scenes there. And I think some of the players of veteran leadership weren’t too thrilled with George (Pickens). I don’t know the timeline on that. So I think that pushed it to the edge.” See, Kaboly didn’t elaborate on the Steelers’ players who were fed up with Pickens’ behavior. But he noted that there were a lot of right players who got tired of the WR.

“I think a lot of the players were finally fed up with him, and the right players were fed up with him,” he added. Sure, the exact timeline’s a little fuzzy, but with the trade already in motion, it’s pretty safe to say all the drama started bubbling up sometime during the 2024 season.  Cut to the present, and now that George Pickens is traded to the Cowboys, the guy’s out there taking a jab at the organization.

George Pickens dubbed the Steelers the “Cheapest Organization”

If we say that George Pickens does not think before hitting “Post” while sharing something on social media, then it won’t be wrong. The reason? Well, the 24-year-old wideout has a knack for sharing a few cryptic comments on his social media handles—and for taking them down moments after they go viral. And he’s doing it again and again. Back in 2023, the guy casually wrote “Free me” on Instagram.

Yeah, it caught everyone’s attention. Fans and analysts alike sparked debate that Pickens is frustrated and wants a trade. Fast forward to now, and it looks like his wish was granted—if there was any such thing. It took the Steelers over a year, but Pickens is now in Dallas, ready to play the final season of his contract. But hold on—before the Steelers and the Cowboys could start their 2025 campaign, the wideout has something to get off his chest first.

Right after that trade went down, Pickens jumped to his IG handle and shared a cryptic post. Once again. This time, it was probably for the Steelers as well. “They the cheapest organization. Ain’t no stacking year after year they gone let them n—s go too soon as it’s time Lmaoo. 😂😂,” he wrote. Now, stay with us for a moment. Because, right after his post went viral—yeah, the fourth-year wideout took the post down. Just like that.

He didn’t reveal the organization’s name. But let’s not kid ourselves—George Pickens spent three years in Pittsburgh, and his cryptic jabs are well-documented on the team. So if he’s taking a dig at Mike Tomlin and Co., it wasn’t the first time he had put himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. And here comes the justification. Right after all that drama unfolded, Pickens took to his IG handle. One more time. But this time, it felt more like slapping a Band-Aid on a pretty busted-up situation.

“Literally on a plane. No service,” he began. “Just landed and seen straight lies from Pitt fans. Stop with the AI trying to make a story. I’m happy for everything that the steel city did for me.” Well, was it AI or human-written (by Pickens), only the wideout knows. But this drama? Yeah, it doesn’t look like it’s wrapping up anytime soon.