Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver George Pickens has received a very high comparison following his performance during training camp. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense is going through something of a radical change this offseason as they look to move forward into a new era without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Whilst a lot of the talk will be around who is going to replace him in the long run, whether that be free agent signing Mitch Trubisky or 1st round draft pick Kenny Pickett, there are other positions that need to be looked at as well.

The team lost wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington to the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys respectively, and whilst they do have Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson already on the roster, the latter of which just got signed to a new contract, they still find themselves needing to add a couple more men to the wide receiver room.

One such man looks like it’s going to be George Pickens, the rookie wide receiver out of the University of Georgia, who is making a lot of noise during his first few months on an NFL roster. 

Making a name for himself

Pickens was something of a risk coming out of college, an ACL injury that he suffered somewhat hindered his numbers, which might explain why he was only a second-round pick and the ninth wide receiver taken after six of them went in the first round. 

But he looks to have settled in rather well as he has been making some rather impressive catches during his first training camp: 

He has already landed himself as a starter on the team’s official depth chart alongside the likes of Johnson and Claypool, but rather than just compare him amongst his peers, it seems as though there are some who are trying to compare him with some of the greatest to have played the game.

Lofty comparisons

Taking to Twitter, Steelers reporter Chris Adamski reported that a former player has compared him to a Pro Football Hall of Famer, despite only being part of the roster for a couple of months:

Randy Moss, for comparison, put up over 16,000 receiving yards and 166 touchdowns across the regular and postseason, led the league in touchdowns on five separate occasions. If the Steelers can get even half of that out of Pickens during his time in the NFL, then they’ll certainly take it.

Now it’s just a case of whether or not he can live up to the pressure that’s being placed upon him in this early stage.