PHOTO BY JARED WICKERHAM/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

There are often layers to trades that go well beyond stats and contract status. There are subsequent moves made that provide context and clarity in the wake of trades.

And so it is, presumably, with George Pickens, who was just shipped off to Dallas.

But no matter how much of a problem Pickens’ often-cited immaturity had become and no matter who the Steelers eventually acquire to help fill the massive void at wide receiver left, this much is undeniable:

The Steelers are worse for having eliminated Pickens from the roster.

And it’s going to be a lot harder to win in 2025 without him.

The vision of what might have been possible with Pickens, who, because of his attitude and his anticipated contract demands, was never going to be in the picture for 2026, was just that, a vision.

But it was nonetheless intriguing.

It included:

• Pickens lining up on one side of the field and fellow monster wide-receiver DK Metcalf lining up on the other, which would have presented opposing defenses with the tough-to-solve conundrum of which monster wide receiver to double cover.
• The Steelers’ offense being confronted with a heavy diet of “Cover 2” from opponents, because of the necessity to keep two safeties deep in the defensive formation as a hedge against one of the two monster wideouts getting deep. This would provide ample opportunities to run the ball against defenses deployed first and foremost to stop the pass, not the run.
• Taking full advantage of the much-talked-about and much-sought-after explosive component added to the offense via the trade for Metcalf and the drafting of running back Kaleb Johnson. Those two could have worked in concert to provide explosion with Pickens.

All of that had a chance to work whether the starting quarterback winds up being Aaron Rodgers or Mason Rudolph.

Not now.

The offense will have to pivot from that vision because whoever ends up being added at wide receiver isn’t going to match what Pickens would have brought. When Pickens was feeling good about the quarterback and the offense in terms of what was possible, he was much more inclined to be part of the solution than he was part of the problem.

Nobody’s perfect, right?

As for the imperfections, those should seemingly be much easier to tolerate when circus catches are being made, points are being scored and games are being won, particularly for a team that doesn’t have enough options to be particular.

The Steelers’ much-publicized insufficiencies at wide receiver last season were amplified when Pickens was lost for a few weeks late in the season. The team realized almost instantly what might happen if Pickens were to be unavailable for any length of time. The offense came to a sudden and catastrophic halt.

The way-too-little-way-too-late, in-season acquisition of wide receiver Mike Williams didn’t do nearly enough to prevent that.

The Steelers are suddenly just as vulnerable at the position, and living every bit as dangerously if anything might happen to Metcalf.

The assumed wide-receiver-to-be-named might assuage those fears a bit.

So might last season’s third-round wide receiver, Roman Wilson, who actually may be able to play this season.

But it’s difficult if not impossible to envision the Steelers’ wide receiver room having an option capable of assuming Metcalf’s role.

Get ready for another season of slogging it out the hard way.

Here we go — again.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.