The Dallas Cowboys agreed with the Pittsburgh Steelers on a trade for Wide Receiver George Pickens. Even if this move solves a big problem for both teams, it also harbors a certain danger to the Texans.
Larger NFL trades after the NFL draft are not necessarily common. Actually, the squads are now up to the training camp, but exceptions confirm the rule and as soon as the Dallas Cowboys are involved in something like that, the clocks are more common.
George Pickens’ trade from the Steelers to the Cowboys raises some questions about the immediate future of both teams. sport.de-Trakteur Marcus Blumberg tries to answer them.
What does the Pickens Trade mean for the Steelers?
The Steelers and their wide receivers are an issue in themselves. For some years now, they have always been struggling with problems in this position that go far beyond the sporty. Problems that usually don’t even have much to do with sport!
From a purely sporting manner, the Steelers still managed to pull top people ashore for this position. It only became difficult when the players’ personalities came into focus. Think of Antonio Brown. He was beyond any doubt and must be seen as one of the best receivers of his generation. But human?
It was a miracle that the quarrels, who threw his career out of the track far too early after his time in the Steel City, did not appear earlier. Head Coach Mike Tomlin has done outstanding work to keep this difficult character in checking until it was separated.
Since then, the Steelers have not found any receivers of this format, but still very good players who convinced in terms of sport. The latest examples from the draft were people like Diontae Johnson (3rd round 2019) or George Pickens (2nd round 2022). Both were regulars, but both were ultimately handed over because they caused unrest.
Johnson went to Carolina Panthers before last season, where he was quickly passed on to the Ravens, who released him after a memorable ego trip after only four games. Ultimately, it went to Houston again. In the meantime he has signed at the Browns.
Pickens: Traders before the draft
Pickens, in turn, has long been the object of trade rumors that became louder and louder in the run-up to the draft. Especially after securing the Seattle Seahawks via Trade DK Metcalf and equipping him with a new highly doped contract, it was actually clear that a coexistence of these two alpha animals would hardly go smoothly.
The only idea that Pickens would accept a number 2 role behind Metcalf always seemed unbelievable. Pickens noticed more in the field last season with extremely listlessness when he wasn’t the primary receiver in a play. Not only did the opponent telegraph where the ball would not go, it was also simply unprofessional.
Accordingly, a departure of picke was always a conceivable option, although maybe only after the coming season. Now you prefer this separation, get a fairly high draft pick in the upcoming draft (3rd round) and avoid possible quarrels with picke because of Metcalf’s role.
It is now open whether you will go into the season with the existing staff. Stand now the next options are after Pickens Veteran Robert Woods and Roman Wilson, who disappointed as a rookie in the previous year. Maybe you will have to add again in the receiving corps. And who will actually play quarterback is still in the stars anyway.
A side effect not to be contained? Pickens will not have to be paid short after Metcalf has already been paid. This may be free for a lucrative continued employment of Edge Rusher TJ Watt, who goes to his last contract year and is certainly also expecting a payment at the market price.
What does the Pickens Trade for the Cowboys mean?
The best wide receiver of the cowboys alongside superstar Ceedee Lamb was so far Jonathan Mingo, for whom Jerry Jones had sent a four -round pick in Draft 2025 to the Carolina Panthers for some reason. The arrival of George Pickens will now noticeably improve this situation and give DAK Prescott a real number 2 option. At least on paper and at first glance.
In addition, the player is initially in the earnings, because his contract is still running out at the end of the season and not even his salary of $ 3.656 million for 2025. This means that Pickens stood in advance and would have to play for his future. A very favorable situation for the cowboys.
On closer inspection, the cowboys also take a certain risk. For the moment this is not financial. But you now have to hope that he will actually bring the hoped -for performance and just pay for yourself. A third round pick is a proud price that you would like to see justified. And apart from that, you urgently need a second useful wide receiver to set up the offense a little more diverse.
And accordingly, they also have to do something to keep picke in a good mood. This will probably only be done with a new contract that of all things Agent David Mulugheta would have to be negotiated, about which Jerry Jones had recently spoken publicly when it came to the importance of negotiations with Micah Parsons. Persons verbally struck back and now there is radio silence. This will not have become more favorable.
It is now difficult to imagine that pickens will appear in this constellation – regardless of Parsons, of course – without a new deal for training (camp). Incidentally, a scenario that would also have been conceivable for the Steelers. And they kept ahead with this deal. The cowboys, on the other hand, could now be forced to pay expensive in addition to Parsons as well as Pickens this summer. Not an easy undertaking for the stingy cowboys.
And that’s not all: Even if you pay picke, it does not guarantee that he will not lose the lust again demonstratively again if he only plays the second violin behind Lamb. On the contrary: Since Lamb is clearly the top target of Prescott, this could lead to permanent frustration with picke after he was de facto number 1 in Pittsburgh. And even there he was not always full of the matter despite his upscale role.
What does the trade mean for George Pickens?
For George Pickens, the change from Pittsburgh to Dallas means a change of wallpaper. It remains to be seen whether he needed him. However, he will hardly like the fact that he will now only be the second option in the receiving corps after he was already threatening Metcalf in Pittsburgh. His self -image is different.
And that he is still waiting for a new contract will probably not contribute to the fact that he will be full right from the start – not even physically if you are realistic.
So before he will put one foot on the site in Frisco, there are already two possible conflicts that are meant above the star – the training complex of the cowboys – such as Damocles swords could hang: Pickens’ contractual situation and the fact that he has to make friends with a role behind Lamb. Both seem to be difficult to solve.
For pickens themselves, it is now important to show professionalism. He is a year away from Free Agency – shouldn’t he extend in Dallas in the long term. After he is teased in Pittsburgh through his attitude, other teams will now take a closer look at how he will give himself in this new environment for him. He focuses on the essentials and takes a professional attitude to the day, then his future should be secured in the NFL – whether in Dallas or elsewhere.
But if he became similarly conspicuous there as in Pittsburgh, his undoubtedly existing talent for most NFL teams could not be big enough in the end to classify him as a serious player. In 2025, George Pickens will be pioneering in every way.