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Pickens trade has pros and cons for Cowboys due to non-football concerns

The Dallas Cowboys finally made the big move they’ve been alluding to this offseason, trading for wide receiver George Pickens. The Cowboys acquired Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2026 draft, as well as a swap of Day 3 picks in 2027.

The Cowboys were in a tough position with their WR room and needed to find a good running mate for All-Pro CeeDee Lamb. After being shut out at the position in the draft, it felt like this was one of the best routes to find help. Pickens is a very good WR, but the question is if he’s the right fit in Dallas. The deal, first approached in the lead up to the 2025 draft, is a risky trade the Cowboys hope works out.

The Cowboys were desperate and running out of options for a quality No. 2 WR in 2025, and the team wasn’t likely to find a better receiver than Pickens. It had become clear the organization would rather trade for a young, established WR rather than signing an older free agent like Keenan Allen or Amari Cooper. If all avenues were exhausted, Cooper might have been back, but the Cowboys weren’t ready to go down that road just yet.

What the offense gets with Pickens is a vertical threat, something they haven’t had in a long time, and it can be argued the fourth-year WR is the best deep ball option in the NFL.

In his first three years in the league, Pickens has averaged over 15.3 yards a catch each season, which includes leading the league in 2023 with 18.1 ypc. Lamb has been the best WR in passing game for the Cowboys, and his career-best ypc topped out at 13.9.

Pickens has also topped 800 yards in each of his three campaigns with the Steelers, including a career-best 1,140 yards and five touchdowns in 2023, despite having a major deficiency at quarterback since he arrived. He’ll have no such issues with Dak Prescott.

He’s a WR who wins down the field and makes difficult, contested catches, something the passing game has lacked in recent years. The Cowboys could’ve opted to draft a prospect at WR or signed a veteran, but no one matches what they need like Pickens.

However, there are reasons to be worried.

Since being hired, new head coach Brian Schottenheimer has spent his time talking up high character players and helping the organization acquire leaders for his vision of the team. Schottenheimer has done that for the most part, until now.

As talented as Pickens is, he’s had some problems. The 24-year-old has been criticized for a lack of effort on numerous occasions and his former coach, Mike Tomlin, publicly called out his WR for accountability issues. Pickens was also fined multiple times by the league and the Steelers during the 2023-24 season, while last year against the Cowboys, the receiver responded to the loss by yanking cornerback Jourdan Lewis by the face mask, for which he was fined.

Trading for Pickens is gamble for another reason as well.

He’s on the last year of his rookie contract and his return after 2025 isn’t guaranteed. The Cowboys gave up a third-round pick in 2026 and a fifth-round selection in the 2027 draft for a player they don’t have under contract for more than one season. An extension can be worked out and the compensation indicates the team wants Pickens for more than one campaign, but with how the Cowboys do deals, nothing is certain.

Dallas will get a compensatory pick back for Pickens if he walks away after one year, but it’s a big risk the Cowboys are taking on the talented WR. The organization already has a to-do list, which includes trying to work out aong-term extensions with edge rusher Micah Parsons, CB DaRon Bland, and guard Tyler Smith.

The Cowboys pride themselves on building through the draft but just traded away a Day 2 pick and moved back on Day 3 for a player they aren’t sure will be with the team long-term. And after trading away fourth-round picks in the previous two drafts, it certainly appears they are changing their ways.

Pickens was the best option for the Cowboys at this point in the offseason. They backed themselves into a corner opposite Lamb and came out with the perfect match for the offense. Whether Pickens as a person and in the locker room is an ideal fit, well, that’s debatable.

Jerry Jones considers himself a risk taker, and trading for Pickens is the biggest one he’s taken in a long time. The Cowboys have finally gotten aggressive this offseason, only time will tell if they made the right choice.

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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Pickens trade has pros, cons for Cowboys due to non-football concerns

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