George Pickens

In his second season, George Pickens posted 63-1140-5 on 106 targets, and was the fantasy WR20. He was the WR27 on a per-game basis. This was with Diontae Johnson garnering 87 targets in 13 games, and now Johnson has moved on to Carolina. Pittsburgh quarterbacks offered 1.15 (half-PPR) fantasy points per target to their receiving corps in 2023. Both Russell Wilson (1.37 fantasy points per target, +19%) and Justin Fields (1.26, +10%) exceeded that number, so Pickens should enjoy improved quarterback play this season whoever starts for the Steelers. Simply applying those increased efficiency numbers to Pickens’ 2023 production yields a finish in the WR9-WR14 range, so there is some optimism that the improved quarterback play could result in a low-end WR1 finish for the third-year receiver. Of course, this assumes that he and Wilson/Fields have a good rapport and that he sees a similar number of targets (106). The latter shouldn’t be a concern, but it is thanks to the arrival of new OC Arthur Smith, who has a history of using his star players in frustrating ways. The good news is that Drake London (6.9 targets per game in both 2022 and 2023), Kyle Pitts (6.5 per game in 2021), and A.J. Brown (7.6 per game in 2020) all saw a similar workload under Smith as Pickens did last season. Unfortunately, London (WR40, WR38) and Pitts (TE5/WR32) failed to deliver WR1/WR2-type numbers, though Brown managed a WR12 finish in Smith’s last season running the Tennessee offense. Matt Harmon of Reception Perception wrote, “I like him as a player and recognize his improvement but his film leaves you with questions about whether he can be a guy a healthy NFL offense can funnel 25 to 30% of the passing targets through.”