Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens will receive a bonus as part of the NFL’s proven performance escalator. Pickens will receive a $250,000 pay raise as part of that program, meaning his 2025 salary will now be $3.656 million.

The PPE program has three levels corresponding to performance levels and snap counts. For Pickens, he is in the tier of a second-level escalator for playing over 55 percent of the snaps for the Steelers’ offense over his first three seasons in the league.

The lowest amount Pickens has played in his entire career for the Steelers was around 68 percent, so he is a constant that earns this raise. He is the fourth Steelers player to earn such a raise.

This does not affect the salary cap space much, as it just adds a bit to Pickens’ cap hit. In other words, the Steelers still have nearly $64 million in cap space without doing anything drastic to their situation, and that gives them the flexibility to make a lot of big moves as they wish.