George Pickens Is ‘Much More Talented’ Than Justin Jefferson

Ryan Clark, former Pittsburgh Steeler, was on NFL Live yesterday and showed a lot of love to second-year Steelers wideout George Pickens. Perhaps too much love. While talking about Pickens’ potential for his sophomore season Clark made the declaration that Pickens is “much more talented” than… Justin Jefferson.

Not just more talented, but much more talented. Than Justin Jefferson.

No one else on set pressed Clark on what he really meant by that, so we are left to interpret this on our own. Clark probably meant physically talented. Because there’s no argument to be made that Pickens, on the whole, is more talented than Jefferson. The Minnesota Vikings superstar caught 128 passes last season for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns. It was his second straight year with over 100 catches. He recorded 1,400 yards receiving as a rookie. Whatever the definition of talent is, Jefferson is that. Very few players in football history have been talented enough to do what he has done right off the bat in the NFL.

And it is certainly questionable if Clark is actually right to say Pickens is more physically talented. He is taller and tends to play more physical than Jefferson, who prefers to leave defenders in the dust with sick out-breaks as opposed to out-muscling them at the high point. But Jefferson ran a faster 40-yard dash and has both longer arms and bigger hands. He’s two inches shorter than Pickens but weighs a bit more. NFL.com gave Pickens an “athleticism score” of 63 while Jefferson’s was 82.

A hot take that perhaps should’ve been left in the oven until September, when all eyes are on football and it could’ve stirred up the most controversy.