Open Nav
Show Navigation
Show Menu
Player Profile

George Pickens Injury History & Updates

Basic StatsGeorge Pickens's Basic Stats

George Pickens
ADP: N/A
Bye: 9
Experience: 3
Age: 23.6
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 200
40 Time: 4.47

Burst Score (Rank): 121.20 (49%)
Catch Radius (Rank): 10.11 (70%)

Injury PredictorGeorge Pickens's Injury Guide

Low Risk

Chance of Injury in 2024

34.7%

% chance misses at least 2 quarters

Chance of Injury per Game

2.5%

1- 17√1-% Inj/Season

Projected Games Missed 2024

1.60

Durability

3.70

Ability to produce despire relatively minor injuries. 5 being most durable

Injury analysis powered by Draft Sharks Injury Guide, formerly SIP Logo

Injury History

Date League Injury Details
Oct 17, 2020 Non-NFL Shoulder During the UGA's October 17 loss to Alabama, Pickens suffered an upper-body injury. He missed two games
Mar 23, 2021 Non-NFL Knee ACL Tear Grade 3 Pickens suffered a torn ACL during spring practice.

Basic StatsGeorge Pickens's Preseason Player Analysis

View WR Fantasy Rankings »

Bottom Line

Pickens probably won’t be in a great spot for passing volume or high-level yardage and scoring efficiency. But he’s well set up to continue improving his own efficiency. Diontae Johnson’s departure should mean more target share. The new OC and QB should improve his routes and the number of catchable targets. Overall, Pickens looks like a fantasy WR3 with upside into WR2 range.

What We Learned Last Year

  • Pickens showed improvement in his second season, even while dealing with poor QB play and a lackluster offensive scheme.
  • His 1.38 yards per route in 2022 tied for just 57th among 97 WRs who drew at least 40 targets, according to Pro Football Focus. That rate jumped to 2.05 last season, tied for 21st among 96 WRs with 40+ targets.
  • Pickens saw his average target depth shorten while growing his yards after catch even more. His 6.1 YAC per reception tied for eighth among those 96 WRs. And that came with Pickens still ranking among the top 25% in aDOT (T-24th).
  • Pickens’ target share improved significantly. He went from just 14.7% as a rookie (64th among WRs) to 21.5% in 2023, including the playoffs. He climbed to 30th among WRs in target share for the regular season.
    • Pickens got 28% of targets in the four games Diontae Johnson missed. That dipped to 19.7% in 13 games with Johnson.
    • Even that number climbed late in the year, though. Pickens garnered 24.3% target share over the final five games, including the playoff loss. He topped 26% in three of those contests but also mixed in a weird 0-target Week 18 (despite normal playing time).
    • Johnson still led the team in target share (adjusted for games missed). But his 23.5% marked a second straight dip – from 25.7% in 2022 and 27.9% in 2021.
  • Pickens beat Johnson in yards per target (10.8 to 8.2) and yards per route (2.05 to 1.90). He beat Johnson YPT the previous year as well but trailed him in YPRR

What to Expect in 2024

  • Pittsburgh’s offensive changes for this season stop short of being exciting. But they could all help Pickens’ 2024 outlook.
  • Hiring OC Arthur Smith brings another run-leaning play caller. His Atlanta offenses ranked 30th in the league in neutral-situation pass rate over the past three years. His 2019-20 Titans ranked 31st.
  • Smith, however, will likely help Pickens’ routes. According to Reception Perception, 2022 (the last full season of OC Matt Canada) found Pickens running dig routes just 7.7% of the time and Johnson doing so on 9.4% of his routes. Falcons WR Drake London, meanwhile, did so on 16.6% of his routes that year.
    • A “dig” is a shorter, inbreaking route that has the WR working the middle of the field and getting set up to gain yards after the catch.
    • Canada drew criticism for failing to work the middle of the field in the passing game. That area typically increases per-play efficiency vs. outside, deeper routes.
  • Diontae Johnson, of course, has now moved on to Carolina. Third-round rookie Roman Wilson looks like the best bet for the No. 2 WR role. That combo should boost the target-share ceiling for Pickens.
  • QB Russell Wilson remains not nearly as good as the early-career Seattle version. But he’s almost certainly an upgrade over Kenny Pickett.
    • According to Pro Football Reference, Wilson ranked ninth in the league in on-target rate (77.9%) last year. Pickett finished 30th (71.6%) among 32 qualifiers).
  • Expect Pickens to:
    • Set a new high in target share
    • Likely see shorter targets on average, and
    • Find a higher percentage of those targets “catchable.”

Recent Injury Bites View All Shark Bites »

Kenny Pickett, QB PHI

8:21pm EST 12/3/23

Kenny Pickett to miss "extended period" with ankle injury

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett will miss an "extended period" with his ankle injury, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac. We'll look for a more detailed diagnosis and timetable for Pickett's return, but it sounds like it'll be QB Mitchell Trubisky under center for the Steelers for the foreseeable future. He's completed 63.8% of his passes at 6.7 yards per attempt over the past two seasons in Pittsburgh. Trubisky will be a bottom-barrel QB2 in fantasy football but probably won't be a significant downgrade from Pickett for the offense.

View all Kenny Pickett Shark Bites »

Steelers WR George Pickens (shin) is not listed on the final Week 12 injury report. He went from no practice on Wednesday to limited participation on Thursday to full participation on Friday. The shin shouldn’t be an issue in this weekend’s game vs. the Bengals.

View all George Pickens Shark Bites »

Steelers WR George Pickens (shin) returned to a limited practice on Thursday after being sidelined on Wednesday. We'll see what he does tomorrow and how he's listed on the final injury report for this weekend's game vs. the Bengals.

View all George Pickens Shark Bites »

Steelers WR George Pickens (shin) did not practice on Wednesday. We don't have any other details on the shin injury. We'll see if Pickens is able to get back on the practice field tomorrow, ahead of Sunday's game vs. the Bengals.

View all George Pickens Shark Bites »

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth (hamstring) is officially out for Sunday's game vs. the Rams. He reinjured his hamstring on Thursday and is expected to miss more time beyond Week 7, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward have tag-teamed TE duties with Freiermuth out. Neither is a viable fantasy play. WRs Diontae Johnson and George Pickens should pick up more volume with Freiermuth out.

View all Pat Freiermuth Shark Bites »

How do Injuries impact your draft strategy?

For us, it's 1/17th of the equation. Hear us out.

The Draft War Room is the only live-sync draft tool that monitors 17 crucial in-draft indicators, including injury likelihood… and adapts to show you which players to pick throughout your draft.

See how we built the 17 indicators into our Draft War Room »
Compare Plans » Compare Plans »
THE 2024 ROOKIE GUIDE IS HERE! UPDATED POST-DRAFT
Trade Values • Model Scores • Analytics • Sleepers • Busts & More