Participant: WR George Pickens
Inventory Worth: Down
Reasoning: George Pickens caught one move on six targets for zero yards on Saturday. Of his 5 incompletions, he had no less than three of them in his arms for catchable balls. He had, fairly merely, a dismal sport, to the purpose that it’s given rise to conspiracy theories. And you realize you performed badly when it requires a conspiracy to make sense of it.
George Pickens put up one of the crucial confounding stat traces you’re prone to see shortly. Within the Steelers’ regular-season finale, he caught one move for zero yards—one six targets. Simply to make issues abundantly clear, the fault lies within the star. At the very least three of his incompletions featured him having the ball in his arms.
Positive, in a single case, a defender made an excellent play to dislodge the ball, nevertheless it’s nonetheless on George Pickens to keep up possession. The early miss on a deep ball was additionally a killer, however his ultimate drop was probably the most egregious. The one factor I can say is I believed he composed himself higher than he may.
Sadly, he additionally missed his one shot at redemption. Russell Wilson tried to hit Pickens deep on their ultimate drive, however missed the mark. I’m not going to faux to know precisely what occurred on the play and what number of the blame lies the place. I simply know the ball wasn’t the place Pickens was, a becoming finish to his evening.
Barring a stupefyingly spectacular postseason run, George Pickens is in for an attention-grabbing offseason. Beneath regular circumstances, he could be in for a brand new contract extension after his third season. However he by no means put up high receiver numbers, and he was occasionally on his greatest habits.
Did the Steelers see sufficient from Pickens to really feel comfy giving him cash hand over fist? And what number of handfuls of cash wouldn’t it take for Pickens to signal? Are the Steelers desirous about making an attempt to commerce him—and would he need the staff to commerce him? Some followers discovered his poor sport so suspiciously dangerous that they’re satisfied it was part of his need to encourage the Steelers to do exactly that and ship him out of city.
Because the season progresses, Steelers gamers’ shares rise and fall. The character of the analysis differs with the time of yr, with in-season concerns being extra typically short-term. Issues within the offseason typically have broader implications, notably when gamers lose their jobs, or the staff indicators somebody. This time of yr is stuffed with transactions, whether or not minor or main.
A foul sport, a brand new contract, an damage, a promotion—any variety of issues have an effect on a participant’s worth. Consider it as a inventory available on the market, based mostly on hypothesis. You’ll really feel higher a few participant after an excellent sport, or worse after a nasty one. Some inventory updates are minor, whereas others are prone to be fairly drastic, so keep in mind the diploma. I’ll do my greatest to elucidate the character of that within the reasoning part of every column.
