One of many massive issues for the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers is their vast receiver room. George Pickens is a bona fide WR1, however the remainder of the room leaves lots to be desired. That didn’t change in Week 1 with simply eight yards on two receptions for vast receivers not named Pickens.
Regardless of the one-dimensional passing recreation, Pickens excelled in Week 1 at getting open. In response to Professional Soccer Focus, Pickens had the sixth-highest charge within the league at creating separation.
This metric focuses solely on the performs the place a receiver really must work to get open. In different phrases, performs the place the opposing protection had protection designed to cease them from catching the ball.
This exhibits some good enchancment for Pickens, who struggled on quite a few routes at getting separation throughout his rookie season in 2022. Matt Harmon of Reception Notion wrote about that at size main as much as the 2023 season. It improved in 2023, however nonetheless wasn’t on the degree it wanted to be for a real No. 1 WR.
For this passing recreation to achieve success, Pickens completely wanted to take one other step when it comes to creating his personal area and getting open. That’s particularly necessary as defenses will undoubtedly give him additional consideration as the one actual receiving menace exterior TE Pat Freiermuth.
His catch within the last seconds of the primary half was a pleasant route by Pickens. He launched inside off the road of scrimmage, and appeared as if he was going to threaten the deep center of the sector. This pressured the security to cheat and allowed Pickens to interrupt exterior and flatten his path to create a ton of separation.
The one receivers who had a greater charge than Pickens had been Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Chris Olave, and Adonai Mitchell, in addition to TE Mark Andrews.
Pickens completed this recreation with six receptions on seven targets for 85 yards. He would have had one other 36 yards to recover from 100 on the day if not for a questionable move interference name.
It’s a small pattern measurement, however that is an encouraging signal for the man who’s going to want to hold the Steelers’ passing recreation in 2024.
