Blogging The Boys
The George Pickens trade is a very interesting one for the Cowboys.
The Dallas Cowboys struck a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday to trade for wide receiver George Pickens. Dallas is sending a third-round pick in 2026 and a seventh-rounder in 2027 in exchange for Pickens and a 2027 sixth-rounder.
Initial reactions to this were all over the place from Cowboys fans. The team has a sore need at wide receiver and Pickens is a very talented one. In that sense the trade is fantastic.
But the trade obviously comes at a cost. While the third-round pick (all due respect to the other change involved, it isn’t substantial) is a bit of a premium commodity, Pickens is in a contract year. He may leave in free agency and get a big deal from someone else (the Cowboys don’t exactly get ahead of situations like this, another factor). That could net the team a compensatory pick in 2027. There are a number of variables involved.
Beyond the variables from a cost acquisition standpoint there is also the matter of Pickens in the locker room. He seemed to wear out his welcome with the Steelers and a head coach who can handle a lot of those situations in Mike Tomlin. Can Dallas really be different?
If it isn’t obvious there are a number of pros and cons here. Let’s lay them out.
First and foremost, Pickens is a fantastically talented player in the NFL. Adding him to this offense brings some serious juice and helps players like Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson, etc etc, all be better. The floor has been raised.
We can also offer some hindsight pros and note that the Cowboys obviously did take a receiver in the NFL Draft a few weeks ago. The Pickens conversation has been heating up for a while so perhaps (it would stand to reason) they knew this was a move they could execute all along and the freedom of knowing they could pull this lever allowed them to go in other directions. There is an argument to be made that having Shavon Revel and George Pickens with no third-round pick next year is better than Receiver X from this year’s third and no Revel or Pickens with next seasons’ third still in tow.
Pickens has averaged over 15 yards per reception throughout his short career to date. There are doubters to Dak Prescott here and I say this with no intention of igniting any debate about him, but we know that he can succeed at throwing deep down the field. In the past players like Michael Gallup have shined in that role, but Pickens seems particularly suited to take advantage of that element of his new quarterback’s game.
There is also the compensation involved and while our immediate instinct may be to associate this as a con, there are pro elements. The Cowboys may play their usual game...
