The Pittsburgh Steelers have a big decision to make this offseason when it comes to wide receiver George Pickens . Pickens is entering the final season of his rookie contract, which is typically when the Steelers start the process of negotiating contract extensions with players they want to keep.
A lot of the conversation this offseason has surrounded whether the Steelers will want to extend Pickens, withs some citing his hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines , multiple personal foul penalties, and repeatedly showing up late for meetings, practices and games as reasons the team may want to move on from him.
All of those players were also among the most highly compensated, with Chase setting the non-quarterback record at $40.25 million per year, Metcalf becoming the most expensive player in Steelers history at $33 million per year, and Higgins ($28.75m), Adams and Godwin ($22m) all making more than $20 million per season.
So where does that leave Pickens? According to the sample, his 64.3 yards per game should translate to an average annual value on his contract of just about $25.7 million per season. So that would line up to about a three-year, $77 million contract.
Now, there's obviously going to be some variance. A player like Pickens, who is perceived to have not yet reached his peak, will likely be worth more than a player on the downhill side of his career like Adams.
There's also the question of how other teams will price in the extra curricular issues outlined above. That's a total unknown. But if Pickens gets paid just on the value he provided last season, the Steelers will be looking at shelling out over $75 million for three more seasons of Pickett in black and gold.
Whether he's worth that to them is another part of the process that remains a mystery.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : How Much Will a George Pickens Contract Extension Cost the Steelers?
