Analyst explains potential 'downside' of George Pickens, Cowboys marriage

Multiple reporters and analysts have suggested that wide receiver George Pickens will thrive with the Dallas Cowboys after the team acquired the 2022 second-round draft pick from the Pittsburgh Steelers in May. 

For an article published on Tuesday, ESPN NFL analyst Bill Barnwell offered one reason why Pickens could become an unsettled talent with the Cowboys before the end of the 2025 season. 

"For all the positives of Pickens moving to Dallas, the downside has to be a reduction in target share," Barnwell explained. "He drew targets on more than 25% of the routes he ran a year ago, which ranked 25th among all wideouts. Brandin Cooks, whose role in the lineup is nominally going to Pickens, drew targets on just under 19% of his routes in 2024. That might not sound like a big difference, but over a full season, that gap could amount to 40 extra targets."

Pickens is now a member of the Cowboys after the Steelers reportedly grew tired of dealing with the headaches he caused across his first three NFL seasons. He appeared annoyed about a perceived lack of targets during games on multiple occasions, and he was fined last fall for writing the phrase "Open (Expletive) Always" in white letters across his eye black for a contest. 

Steelers reporter Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette openly wondered during a chat with London sports radio station TalkSport how Pickens will react if his statistics aren't where he wants them to be by December. Pickens is in the final year of his rookie contract and presumably will look to prove with Dallas that he deserves to be paid like a top-of-the-market receiver in March 2026.

"Pickens is moving from one of the league's least pass-happy offenses to one of its most," Barnwell added. "The Cowboys threw at the third-highest rate in neutral game scripts on early downs before Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending hamstring injury in Week 9. The Steelers ranked 25th by the same metric over that span. Dallas also plays at a faster pace than Pittsburgh, something likely to continue with Brian Schottenheimer taking over as coach."

Schottenheimer noted in May that Pickens and fellow Dallas receiver CeeDee Lamb have a "really cool" relationship. One wonders how that relationship will be tested if it becomes clear by October that Pickens is Dallas' No. 2 target behind Lamb.