The Pittsburgh Steelers recently made a very controversial decision by trading wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys in the final year of his rookie contract.
This has led to one of the most controversial members of the Pittsburgh media to speak about his frustrations with the entire organization.
Is George Pickens a Symptom of a Bigger Problem?
Pittsburgh’s most polarizing “shock jock” Mark Madden recently went on one of his Steelers rants on his “Madden Monday Podcast” on May 12. Madden, who works for TribLive and 105.9 The X, had big feelings about the team’s trade of Pickens, according to his co-worker Tim Benz, who wrote about it for TribLive.
Pickens is nearly as polarizing as Madden, with fans applauding his talent but getting increasingly frustrated with his antics. In the past, Madden has called Pickens “a nut job” and “a ticking time bomb.” He doubled down on these feelings but blamed the franchise more than Pickens himself.
“It makes you wonder all the more why they drafted (Pickens) in the first place. This is a horrible organization run haphazardly. Troy Fautanu? Injury prone. They took him. What happened? He got injured. George Pickens. Head case. They took him. What happened? He became a head case. Kenny Pickett. No team had him rated in the first round besides the Steelers. They took him anyway. What happened? He stiffed,” said Madden on his Madden Monday podcast with Benz.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has ever listened to Madden. He has been a critic of the team for years, calling it a “soft, weak organization.” Madden doesn’t believe owner Art Rooney II, general manager Omar Khan, and head coach Mike Tomlin have what it takes to compete and win in today’s NFL.
Madden continued with his disdain for the front office and coaching staff, “These guys don’t know what they are doing. They think every decision is right because they make it. And when it turns out to be wrong, they are more convinced it is right. Maybe they think they are fine with what they have got. They thought that last year. They are clueless. And they are really steadfast in the belief that they are right, even when they are clueless. That makes them being clueless even more dangerous.”
While some fans agree with Madden and feel the same frustrations, others think that part of football is luck. Like all teams, the Steelers sometimes miss when they swing, and other times find some diamonds in the rough.
Those same fans point out that the injuries to last year’s picks, Troy Fautanu and Roman Wilson, were flukes. Fautanu had zero issues with his knees for the past two years while in college and wasn’t wearing a knee brace.
Admittedly, there were concerns about Pickens’ character coming out of Georgia. Still, the Steelers had gotten the best out of Antonio Brown early in his career and likely felt they could contain him.
Only time will tell whether the Steelers made the right move in moving away from Pickens before the start of the season.