Dallas actually did something.
The Dallas Cowboys have apparently awakened from their coma.
After eschewing wide receiver in last week’s draft, the Cowboys traded a 2026 third-round pick to Pittsburgh for Steelers star wide receiver George Pickens. It gives new head coach Brian Schottenheimer another top flight wideout to pair with Pro Bowler Cee Dee Lamb.
Somewhere, Dak Prescott is dancing a little jig.
The need for a No. 2 wide receiver in Dallas was obvious. While Lamb piled up 101 catches and 1,194 receiving yards in 15 games a season ago, he lacked a true running buddy. Jalen Tolbert had a fine season, piling up 610 receiving yards on 49 catches with seven touchdowns, but he profiles more as a No. 3 than a No. 2. KaVontae Turpin and Brandin Cooks also couldn’t provide the type of production needed in the passing game a season ago.
Dallas had to find someone to take attention off of Lamb, who was the seventh-most targeted player in the NFL a season ago.
There’s no doubt Pickens, the Steelers’ second-round selection in the 2022 draft, can play. He led the NFL in yards per reception (18.1) in 2022, when he had 1,140 yards and 63 catches. He wasn’t quite as effective last year, with 59 catches and 900 yards, although he did miss three games and didn’t exactly have prime Russell Wilson throwing to him. On sheer talent alone, giving up a 3rd round pick for a potential 24-year-old Pro Bowler is a no-brainer.
The combination of Lamb and Pickens, with Tolbert in the slot, could provide a lot of headaches for opposing defenses, even one with strong secondaries like the Eagles’. More than that, it shows the Cowboys at least have a pulse.
The Cowboys did something. They’re alive. pic.twitter.com/UqZs0FKr5A
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) May 7, 2025
That said, there is risk on Dallas’ side.
To be blunt, Pickens has the reputation of being a knucklehead who wore out his welcome in Pittsburgh, which is pretty hard to do when you’re playing for a highly successful players-coach like Mike Tomlin. There have been reports Pickens’ attitude was wearing thin on his teammates last year.
Pickens has been a non-stop topic of conversation since the Steelers’ Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
In that game, Pickens wrote an expletive on his eye black, saw a huge drop in snaps, appeared to not give full effort on some of his routes and had an ugly exchange with Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis at the end of the game.
His now former head coach declared Pickens needed to “grow up in a hurry.”
Steelers wide receiver George Pickens caught three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s win over the Bengals, but his negative plays were a bigger topic of conversation at head coach Mike Tomlin’s postgame press conference.
Pickens committed two personal fouls — one for taunting and one for making finger guns after a catch — that could have cost the Steelers a lot more than 30 yards in a different game. Pickens told reporters that officials misinterpreted his hand gesture, but Tomlin said the onus is on Pickens to mature.
“He’s just got to grow up, man,” Tomlin said. “This is an emotional game, man. These divisional games are big. He’s got a target on his back because he’s George, he understands that. But he’s got to grow up. He’s got to grow up in a hurry.”
And there are reports his teammates had to restrain him on the sidelines during games.
This isn’t to say Pickens is a bad guy. He’s no Antonio Brown, that’s for sure. But he has been a problem in Pittsburgh. And, again, a problem the Steelers couldn’t solve. Most of what Pickens has done revolved around him being immature and selfish. These are traits that, well, can be part of the wide receiver genome likely going back to football’s beginning, and Pickens has demonstrated these qualities in abundance.
Pickens’ Steelers teammates had to restrain him on the sideline during games on multiple occasions. He’s had shouting altercations with fans.
He’s been fined multiple times by the NFL for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties including after the Steelers’ game last year against the Cincinnati Bengals. He allegedly arrived late to the Steelers’ Week 17 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
All that being said, if I was Jerry Jones and I just went 7-10 and watched their bitter rivals, your Philadelphia Eagles, advance to their second Super Bowl in three years and win it, I’d be rolling the dice on his immense talent, too.
Will it work? Will it blow up in their faces? Given the history of the last quarter century of Cowboys football, one couldn’t be blamed for thinking the latter, but however it turns out, it’s worth the risk of losing a third round pick to see if a change of scenery helps Pickens fulfill his immense talent.
