20/20: George Pickens, WR Georgia
Welcome to the 20/20 series. As part of our continued Dynasty Scouts coverage and in preparation for the NFL Combine, we profile 20 of the top incoming rookies of the class of 2022 by giving you 20 facts you must know.
1.) Player Name: George Pickens
2.) College: Georgia Bulldogs
3.) Height/Weight: 6’3’’, 200 pounds
4.) Birthdate: March 3, 2001 (20)
5.) Class: Junior
6.) Basic college stats:
Courtesy of Sports Reference.
During his freshman season, Pickens led the team with 49 receptions for 727 yards and eight touchdowns. He also led the team with a 12.56 percent target share. Pickens caught five or more passes in four of the 12 games he played. His best performance came against Baylor in the Sugar Bowl when he caught 12 balls for 175 yards and one touchdown.
Everyone was expecting him to take a massive step forward during his sophomore season. He flashed a lot of his talent as a freshman and now it was time for him to churn out some major production. However in ten games, the Bulldogs averaged just 249.9 passing yards per game. Pickens played in just eight of those games, catching 36 balls for 513 yards and six touchdowns. He missed two games due to an undisclosed upper-body injury that he suffered during the middle of the season. Pickens finished his sophomore season with two straight 100-yard games against Missouri and Cincinnati in the Peach Bowl.
In March of 2021, Pickens tore his ACL in practice while participating in a non-contact drill. The injury caused him to miss the majority of the season. He came back to catch one pass for five yards against Georgia Tech. In the playoffs, he managed to catch four passes for 102 yards. He made his presence felt when he made a big catch downfield for 52 yards in the National Championship game against Alabama.
7.) NFL Draft round projection:
Courtesy of Mock Draft Database.
On average, in mock drafts, Pickens is falling to the middle of the second round. Considering this year’s draft is very heavy with defensive and offensive line talent, this makes a lot of sense. His limited production, on top of a lost 2021 season, would cause a talent like Pickens to be drafted at a discount. The odds of him falling past day two is highly unlikely. He’s too talented of a player to fall down the draft board. It would take an off-the-field issue or something medical to cause him to slip.
8.) Current NFL comp: Comparisons are hard to make for Pickens because there aren’t many receivers in the league with his frame. Coming out of high school, 247Sports compared him to Mike Williams. I don’t believe that comp currently sticks with Pickens.
George Pickens shushed the Michigan sideline, tossed their DB, then shushed them again 😳 @ESPNCFB @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/1CLf4rXczT
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 4, 2022
When I think about Pickens’ assertiveness on the field and how he isn’t afraid to push defenders to the ground, I can’t help but think about AJ Brown. Both players are very assertive when the ball is in the air. Pickens plays the game with a mentality compared to the rest of the wide receivers in this class and it’s a swagger that we see in Brown’s game. Another player who is also very aggressive is Deebo Samuel. The players are not direct comparisons, but assertiveness and the my-ball mentality are very important characteristics to a wide receiver attributes.
9.) Best possible destination: The Chargers might be the best destination for Pickens and most wide receivers in this year’s draft. He could take over Mike Williams’ role in the offense. Keenan Allen isn’t getting younger. There’s a chance Allen would pass the torch of the WR1 duties to Pickens sooner than later.
10.) Worst possible destination: Cleveland and Houston are the worst possible destinations for rookie wide receivers right now. The Browns have a low-volume passing offense and they currently have issues at quarterback. The Texans have issues from the top of the organization all the way down to the bottom. Pickens would, however, get the opportunity to be the WR1 for both franchises which would present plenty of opportunities to develop into a tremendous fantasy asset.
11.) Best current skill: His balls skills set him apart from the rest of the wide receivers in this year’s class. Pickens has the ability to read the ball while it’s in the air and time his jump to make the catch. He is very strong at the catch point and opposing defensive backs have to really work to get in between him and the football.
12.) Skill that needs to be improved:
Personal foul for unsportsmanlike hydration on George Pickens pic.twitter.com/hBkFshArlU
— Max Olson (@max_olson) October 10, 2020
There aren’t any glaring weaknesses to his game. One thing that stands out from watching him over the years is his maturity. There have been a few on-field instances that could be a red flag. Earlier in his career, he would get caught taking plays “off” or displaying the lack of urgency when he wasn’t the first or second read.
13.) Current rookie value: In the mock draft that I’ve conducted over the last few weeks, Pickens tends to get selected anywhere from the back half of the first round to the middle of the second round. The highest I’ve seen him selected as the 1.10 spot in superflex. Ironically, even with the quarterbacks baked into the first round of superflex drafts, Pickens is falling no further than the early portion of the second round of 1QB leagues.
It’s almost like dynasty gamers are drawing a line in the sand and the community will not let him fall too far in the second round. Or he’s a very good wide receiver prospect who missed almost all of his junior season to an ACL injury.
14.) Projected dynasty value: According to Sleeper, Pickens has a 108.2 average draft position in startup drafts. In some of my recent mock drafts, he has fallen to around the middle of the seventh round. His startup draft value should only increase from this point. We should expect him slowly creep up the draft board in ADP as we get closer to the draft.
15.) As a recruit: Out of high school Pickens was a five-star recruit and according to 247 Sports, he was ranked as the fourth-best wide receiver in their 2019 composite rankings. The receiver ranked ahead of him were Theo Wease, Garrett Wilson, and Jadon Haselwood. Since he’s an Alabama native, pretty much the entire SEC was trying to recruit him. He also received offers from Miami, Michigan, Florida State, and Oregon.
16.) Advanced Metrics: Per Pro Football Focus, during his freshman season in 2019, he averaged 2.27 yards per route run while also averaging 3.2 yards after the catch per reception. He also had a 125.3 quarterback rating when targeted. The following year, as a sophomore, we saw a decline in his advanced metrics as he averaged 1.68 yards per route while averaging 3.4 yards after the catch per reception.
17.) Market Share By Year: Pickens broke out during his freshman years with a 23.89 percent market share of Georgia’s passing production. He was one of only three wide receivers in this year’s class to post a 20 percent market share or higher during their age-18 season. The other two wide receivers were David Bell and Justyn Ross. He also posted a 1.75 yards per team pass attempt.
The following season in 2020, he managed to own a 20.53 percent market share of his team’s passing production. He was one out of five receivers in this year’s draft class to post at least a 20 percent target share in each of his first two seasons. We also saw him achieve 1.71 yards per team pass attempt during his sophomore season.
His 2021 season was interrupted by his ACL injury. The sample of games is not large enough to get an appropriate read on his sole ownership of the offense. On top of that, he came back to the team during the later part of the season and was slowly baked back into the team’s offensive game plan.
18.) High School Stats: He finished his senior season in 2018 catching 69 passes for 1,368 yards and 16 touchdowns. The year prior, during his junior season, he caught 46 passes for 735 yards and five touchdowns while also scoring on two punt returns.
19.) Outside The Top Ten? Todd McShay currently has Pickens ranked outside of the top ten wide receivers. He currently has him ranked as the 100th player overall in this year’s draft. In fact, McShay has Pickens currently ranked as the WR16.
20.) Almost A Tiger: During the recruiting process, Pickens was considered a lock to sign with Auburn. He was a verbal commit up until the second National Signing Day when Pickens had a change of heart and signed with Georgia.
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