George Pickens comes with a flashing-red-light warning label. The fourth-year receiver has accomplished a bunch in his limited stint in the NFL, but it’s all come with a huge asterisk. It doesn’t take much internet sleuthing to find negative news about the newest member of the Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver corps. “George Pickens’ attitude is wearing thin on Steelers teammates’ patience.” “Steelers’ Pickens must ‘grow up’, Mike Tomlin says.” “Steelers’ Pickens perfectly summarizes attitude of this team.” Readers can certainly gather that last one wasn’t about a kumbaya moment.
The former Georgia product was plucked in the second round of the 2022 draft by Pittsburgh, a team that has struggled to fortify an identity on offense for several years. For all of the homage paid to the Steelers for their consistency as playoff contenders, their wide receiver room has been a revolving door of headaches and unfulfilled promise for years. Antonio Brown. JuJu Smith-Schuster. Chase Claypool. Dionte Johnson. Now Pickens; they’ve all been solid to great, but the diva aura has staked it’s claim to that position group like few others across the league. Now, Dallas is taking on the task of trying to exact a top performance out of the latest castoff from the Black and Yellow soap opera.
And if they don’t make a misstep, they are currently perfectly insulated.
Pickens is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and yes, of course, he’s seeking a new deal. The Cowboys shouldn’t give it to him. The reasons are multiple.
For starters, Pickens ability to make huge money needs to be tied into his performance in 2025. For one, it’s not Jerry Jones’ modus operandi to pay players for performances with another organization. That’s been covered in these pages for years now. The Cowboys don’t pay on speculation, they dole out big contracts as rewards for contributions to their organization.
Pickens has the opportunity to show the maturity issues and his lack of accountability are not just in his past, but were a result of the previous culture. If he avoids issues in Dallas, he and his agent can proclaim he can be an asset if in the right environment. If he acts up with the Cowboys, well that’s two organizations in four years that have grown tired of him; a damaging label that will limit his earning potential and ability to lock in guaranteed money and a long-term deal.
If he is a relatively model citizen with the Cowboys, Dallas will have a lengthy window of exclusive negotiating rights. They can extend him at some point during this regular season, if the mood strikes them, or they can work on an extension during the offseason before the new league year kicks off in March 2026.
And if there’s no extension agreed to, either because they aren’t interested or Pickens wants to test the open market, he’s a prime entrant into the comp pick ledger.
This year’s wide receiver market was thinner than a deli slice during the Great Depression. The three biggest fish were a 33-year old Davante Adams and 32-year old Cooper Kupp and Stefon Diggs. They certainly have more accomplishments than Pickens, but they are a bit long in the tooth. Christian Kirk, who in six years has just one 1,000-yard campaign under his belt, signed for $18 million a year this past offseason.
In other words, a strong Pickens performance likely puts him in the range to bring the Cowboys back at least a fourth-round comp pick in 2027, if they don’t offset him with an equal signing.
So if the Cowboys’ don’t pony up yet, they stand to reap the benefit of an extremely talented, field-stretching wideout who has to be on his best behavior in order to earn the big payday he is looking for. If he doesn’t work out, they’ll receive a solid amount of future compensation to offset some of what they gambled on the acquisition. If he flops, it will be a recoup of the fifth rounder they sent away. If he balls out and doesn’t return, it will offset some portion of the third rounder they gave up. If he balls out and does return, they have one of the league’s strongest wideout rooms.
The worst-case scenario is that Pickens is a one-year distraction; but most observers were predicting the Cowboys to miss the playoffs before the acquisition. In that vein, giving up a top-75 pick in next year’s haul would hurt, but it’s worth the risk.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Why the Cowboys acquisition of mercurial Pickens is a perfect risk-reward addition
Reporting by K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
