Steelers fans are freaking out over George Pickens’ latest Instagram activity

We've reached the morning of the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and that can only mean one thing: The league's silly season is about to kick into maximum overdrive. Rumors are going to be flying fast and furious over the next few days as teams look to reshape their rosters ahead of next season; in one of the most wide-open draft classes in recent memory, just about everything under the sun seems possible.

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, most of the recent speculation has revolved around the quarterback position: specifically, whether the team is content to wait out Aaron Rodgers or whether they'll look to aggressively target a prospect like Shedeur Sanders or Jaxson Dart on Thursday night. But that's not the only thing that fans are worried about just hours until their team is on the clock. The football gods have ordained that we can only go so long without a round of George Pickens discourse — and lo and behold, the receiver is (maybe? potentially?) stirring the pot once again.

George Pickens raises some eyebrows by (apparently) unfollowing Steelers on Instagram

Pickens' future is seemingly always up in the air, but the offseason trade for fellow wideout DK Metcalf lit a whole new fire under that speculation. The 2022 first-round pick is entering the final year of his rookie; was the Metcalf move a sign that Pittsburgh doesn't intend to keep him around?

Pickens decided to throw a canister of gasoline on that fire on Wednesday night ... or so it seems. The drama began when Steelers fans noticed that the wideout wasn't following Pittsburgh's official Instagram account. What followed was some seriously high-level sleuthing, which appears to have revealed that Pickens was following the account on March 9 — the day news of the Metcalf trade broke.

So it seems as though Pickens decided to unfollow the team at some point over the last few weeks, which sure would be a curious thing to do. Is this a sign that he wants out? A leverage play to get a contract extension? Or, maybe, it's just George being George: According to Alan Saunders of Steelers Now, Pickens has pulled this stunt before, unfollowing and then refollowing the team at various points in each of the last two seasons.

Of course, doing it in the middle of a season is one thing; doing it on the eve of a crucial day for the Steelers' future is quite another, especially as rumors swirl regarding a potential draft-day trade involving Pickens. It's possible that the former Georgia star just likes the attention and is messing with everybody's heads. It's also possible that he's decided that he doesn't feel like catching passes from either a 40-something Rodgers or an unknown rookie.

Whatever the case may be, this doesn't figure to make Pittsburgh more amenable to making Pickens a part of its future plans.