Steelers WR George Pickens played just 34 of the team's 58 offensive snaps in Sunday night's loss to the Cowboys. HC Mike Tomlin said afterward that it was merely a load-management move.
Tomlin after the game: "We just wanted to kind of minimize his reps in an effort to get more productivity. We're just trying to manage in terms of the totality of the big picture. ... It's no different than we minimized some of the snaps of D-linemen like Cam Heyward and so forth, man. It is just about snap management. It is no underlying story to be quite honest with you."
Well, Coach. Even if that's the full truth, it's an underlying story.
Pickens played a season-low 59% of the snaps in a game Pittsburgh lost by 3. He trailed Van Jefferson (81%) and Calvin Austin III (76%).
According to Pro Football Focus, the biggest difference was Pickens largely being left out of "12" personnel (2-WR) sets.
Pickens' snap shares varied a bit through the first four games:
But his 34 snaps vs. Dallas came in 12 shy of his previous low for this season. His total snaps and snap share Sunday night also both fell well below any of his 2023 outings.
One game of this kind of usage shouldn't be enough to alter the rest-of-season outlook for Pickens. But we'll certainly be watching for any further signals of decreased playing time.
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