Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has been known for his leadership and respect of players for years, with an innate ability to keep emotions from clashing. He has had a few cocky, hot-headed players rostered, but it usually wasn't a problem in the locker room. Antonio Brown, Chase Claypool, and Le'Veon Bell found their names in that category, but Tomlin was able to ease most of the issues.
With George Pickens this year, it has been a different response from Tomlin, one which PFT's Mike Florio believes is going to cause an issue down the line.
The Steelers' George Pickens problem
Pickens has been seen on the sideline noticeably angry on multiple occasions and has even taken to social media with a couple of cryptic messages like “free me,” which he then explained had nothing to do with football. He has been quite the character from the moment he was drafted by the Steelers, starting with the viral meme of him in the ski mask standing in front of the television on draft night.
These guys are professional athletes, so it's normal for them to want the attention and every target they can get, but it's not practical. The talented wide receiver has seen ups and downs this season, with a couple of games notching over 100 yards, but others with little production.
Tomlin needs to make sure that the wide receiver room isn't in a frenzy, so an issue like the one Brown displayed doesn't happen again. The Steelers are a class-A organization and regularly find the solution to locker room issues, but Tomlin should be a bit more stern if he wants to keep this offense intact.