SHOCKING NEW DETAILS: Steelers Traded George Pickens Over Repeated Tardiness Issues

PITTSBURGH -- Despite being a top option for nearly his entire career with the Pittsburgh Steelers to this point, George Pickens was dealt to the Dallas Cowboys for a third round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and a Day 3 pick swap in the same draft.

At face value, it seems unfathomable that the Steelers would deal away one of their best receivers since Antonio Brown for a Day 2 pick. That being said, it was clear that issues that Pickens had off the field had begun to outweigh his production whilst on the field.

According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, there was a serious reason that added to the list of reasons that Pickens was dealt. In an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Pelissero spoke on Pickens lack of timeliness that irked many of his colleagues, a detail not known until this point.

“This was not a snap decision. This was not he overreacted to them paying and trading for DK Metcalf. It was everything over the past several years,” Pelissero said. “Again, unbelievably talented football player, but there were a variety of different issues. There was tardiness to meetings, there were a couple of games where he showed up late to the locker room. You know, you always want guys there before you turn in your inactives 90 minutes before the game. There were multiple occasions George Pickens wasn’t in the locker room yet.”

With his tardiness combined with a large number of fines, it seems the Steelers saw that they could get compensation for trading him away rather than risk his antics for another season and let him test free agency without compensatin for them.

Now, the Cowboys will hope to turn Pickens' fortune around, as his surrounds himself with a new team in Dallas.