What did Steelers WR George Pickens’ eye black say that could cause a fine from NFL?

During the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, wide receiver George Pickens had an interesting phrase written on his eye black, one that is now potentially earning him a fine from the NFL.

Pickens’ eye-black message

The message Pickens wrote in silver across his eye black read “Open F***ing Always”.

During the game, Pickens played a career-low 34 snaps and made just three catches on seven targets for 26 yards in the Steelers’ 20-17 loss to the Cowboys. For someone who is “open f***ing always”, that’s a pretty low impact.

But it’s not just that the cocky message wasn’t accurate, or even its explicit nature that didn’t sit well with the league. It’s simply a potential violation of their uniform policy, which could earn Pickens a fine.

In the NFL rulebook, Rule 5, Section 4, Article 8 states 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.”

Pickens declined to speak to the media either after the Game on Sunday or during Monday’s open locker room. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, however, said he was completely oblivious to the message.

“I don’t know what messaging you’re talking about regarding his eye black,” Tomlin said. “I didn’t have any outlying issue with his effort.”

Indeed, the league is not opposed to fining players who wear messages that they didn’t pre-approve, even if those messages are nice, rather than vulgar. In 2015, the NFL fined three Steelers players in one week - Cam Heyward for writing “Iron Head” as a tribute to his late father, DeAngelo Williams for writing “Find the Cure” as a tribute to his mother and aunts who had breast cancer, and William Gay for wearing purple cleats for domestic violence awareness.

One thing to note is that Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott also wrote a personal message during that Game. On his wrist tape, he wrote the words “Ask 4 Help”, which is the name of his personal suicide awareness campaign. There has been no word on whether or not he faces a fine or if he had the message pre-approved by the league.