NFL fines Steelers WR George Pickens for 'open f***ing always' eye black message

The NFL has fined Pittsburgh Steelers receiver George Pickens an amount of $10,231 for wearing eye black displaying explicit language during Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Pickens was seen during the Sunday Night Football matchup with eye black that read “Open f***ing always.” NFL rules state that players are prohibited from “wearing, displaying or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.”

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The NFL fined #Steelers WR George Pickens $10,231 for displaying a “personal message” on his eye-black last week. pic.twitter.com/00r0mdMftx

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 12, 2024

Pickens defended his decision after the game and said he did not expect to hear blowback from it.

“It’s just eye black,” the receiver said.

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Pickens had one of his worst games of the season Sunday night as he hauled in only 3-of-7 targets for 26 yards. He was on field for just 59% of the offensive plays, a career low.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin comments on George Pickens’ low snap count

After the game, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said Pickens’ low snap count was part of a “snap management” strategy.

“I didn’t have any outlying issue with his effort,” Tomlin said, per ESPN. “As I mentioned after the game … that’s just a snap management thing and an effort to be more productive in today’s game regarding analytics, we do it across a lot of positions, particularly when you look at the totality of a 17-game schedule. I’d imagine Cam Heyward, for example, is playing less snaps than he has just trying to grow and trying to get optimum productivity among some individuals and going about the best means of doing so, and so that’s probably a reflection of the snap totality of last week.”

Pickens is coming off a 2023 season where he caught 63 passes for 1,140 yards and five touchdowns. Through five games this year, Pickens has caught 23 passes for 310 yards and no TDs.

On3’s Brian Jones contributed to this report.