Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Analyst believes Steelers WR is 'much more talented' than All-Pro Justin Jefferson

There is optimism surrounding the Steelers' young offense and a lot of it is because of one second-year player, who one analyst believes is better than the 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

"George Pickens is much more talented than Justin Jefferson," ESPN's Ryan Clark said. "Justin Jefferson understands everything about playing the position, stems, leverage, he can catch the football in all kind of awkward positions. He's a savant. Coach Tomlin told me something that I thought was great. They didn't even work to tolerate him, and they certainly didn't work to raise him at Georgia. They didn't embrace who George Pickens is."

Pickens is a very talented receiver, bursting onto the scene with 52 catches for 801 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie. But it's quite the bold take by Clark for saying he is already better than Jefferson, who many would say is the best in the league.

Although Clark may be onto something with Pickens' development. Georgia had some much talent the last couple of years that they didn't need to develop him that much and just play to his strength of contested catches.

We've already seen several highlight-reel catches, but his lone catch in Pittsburgh's first preseason game is a sign he is developing into an all-around player. 

He catches the football, makes a man miss and scores a touchdown. It's nothing flashy and shows he's been working on improving his yards after the catch.

Of course, this isn't to say Pickens can't be better than Jefferson in due time, so don't be surprised if he is viewed as a top-10 receiver by season's end. But for now, the nod must go to Jefferson.

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