Steelers Insider reveals more dirt on players who wanted George Pickens traded

The George Pickens trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Dallas Cowboys came as a surprise to the public, but as more information comes out, it appears it was not a surprise to the Steelers locker room, and some players even applauded it.

Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers writer Mark Kaboly said that “the right players” were fed up with Pickens’ antics, and this week, he elaborated even more but refused to name names.

Kaboly appeared on 93.7 The Fan, and the hosts mocked him for dancing around, naming Cameron Heyward as one of the big names on the roster who were sick of Pickens. Kaboly admitted he thought Heyward was one of the names but did not know for sure.

“I was not told who. I know who I thought it was, but I was never told that.”

Kaboly added that after the Steelers traded Pickens, Kaboly learned more players were fed up and ready to see him go. “There are a lot of guys in that defense-even the offense,” he said, “who favored the Steelers trading him out of that locker room. There were probably a couple of guys you would be shocked at that I did hear after the fact.

“They were pretty much saying, ‘See ya.’ They didn’t want anything to do with him.”

George Pickens’ antics with Steelers rubbed teammates wrong way

The Steelers traded Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2026 third- and 2027 fifth-round pick. He was a 2022 second-round pick and was in the final year of his contract, but the Steelers decided to cut the cord now and see what they could get for him.

Pickens has talent and helped the Steelers win, but some of his antics rubbed the locker room the wrong way. Even Ben Roethlisberger mentioned on his podcast, Footbahlin, that there was most likely a split among the players when the Steelers traded him.

What makes this even more interesting is that Pickens had players like Donte Jackson, Pat Freiermuth, and Calvin Austin III publicly defend him after the media criticized him for some of his issues with maturity.

The Steelers’ future is still bright, especially with the Aaron Rodgers potentially signing on as quarterback. Losing Pickens is a blow for this offense, but they still have solid pieces if Rodgers signs on for the 2025 season because that fit makes so much sense.