The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys made a splash in this NFL offseason. On May 7, 2025, ESPN reported the trade sending wide receiver George Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick to Dallas in exchange for a 2026 third-round and 2027 fifth-round pick. For those Steelers fans underwhelmed by the return, here are five examples to show trust in the team.
The Steelers drafted wide receiver Antonio Brown with the 195th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. After getting just 19 targets that year, he averaged 1,380 yards over eight seasons with the team. It was time to discuss a raise, but Pittsburgh had no interest in paying him market value.
Pittsburgh traded Brown to the Oakland Raiders for a third-round and fifth-round draft pick. Sports Illustrated reports his short stay in Oakland. – After numerous negative interactions, including cursing out general manager Mike Mayock and ghosting training camp, the team was happy to grant his wish of release on September 7, 2019.
The New England Patriots signed Brown the same day as his release from Oakland, only for the NFL to report his release just 11 days later. The wide receiver faced allegations of sexual assault and focused on his legal issues. The rest of the 2019 season and halfway through the next one were without the veteran.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offered him a chance back into the league halfway through the 2020 season. Playing just seven games into the following season, Brown was released following further drama. Sports Illustrated reports him storming off in a game against the Jets, claiming he was promised more targets and forced to play through an injury.
After being released with 62 targets over seven games, the NFL saw the last of the Steelers’ second all-time receiving yards leader. Once traded to Oakland, he played 16 games over three seasons around the league. Brown is still keeping fans entertained via X, often with shocking material.
After spending his first five seasons in the league with the Steelers, the team let JuJu Smith-Schuster walk to free agency. He had one respectable season with the Kansas City Chiefs in which he achieved 944 receiving yards over 16 games, before falling from fantasy relevance altogether, totalling just 491 receiving yards over two years. After squeezing the New England Patriots for a three-year deal, he’s shown why the Steelers and Chiefs only trusted him one year at a time.
In a move that rocked Steelers fans, their top receiver, Diontae Johnson, was traded to the Carolina Panthers for cornerback Donte Jackson. The veteran struggled to find snaps playing for three teams over the next three seasons, totalling just 355 receiving yards. Johnson looks to add another team to his list when he starts the 2025-26 season with the Cleveland Browns.
The Steelers saw the writing on the wall with wide receiver Chase Claypool, trading him to the Chicago Bears in the 2022-23 season for a second-round pick. After getting 311 receiving yards over eight games that year, he earned just 140 over the next seven games with his new team. Getting only 21 targets over the two following seasons, the NFL never saw him again. Pittsburgh turned that pick into cornerback Joey Porter Jr.
Drafted by the Steelers in 2014, wide receiver Martavis Bryant averaged an impressive 15.1 yards per catch but struggled to stay on the field. Despite numerous opportunities to stay in the NFL, he put no work into passing tests. Per the NFL, “Effective immediately, Martavis Bryant has been returned to the Reserve/Commissioner Suspended list indefinitely for violating the terms of his April 2017 conditional reinstatement under the Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.”
The Steelers received plenty of criticism for the Pickens trade, but that’s nothing new for the team. If Pittsburgh hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt by now, it’s either an ignorant take or from a hater. The trade leaves a hole at receiver, and fans eagerly await further moves this offseason.
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