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Stephen A. Smith Feels George Pickens’ trade to Cowboys just 'looks good on paper'

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Sumedh Joshi | Last updated May 8, 2025 5:51 PM ET

The Dallas Cowboys often get criticized for making too few moves during the offseason. This time, Jerry Jones has lived up to his promise of going ‘all-in.’ In the first month of free agency alone, the team signed 10 players, with the majority of them being on the defensive side of the ball. Dallas was expected to pick Texas Longhorn Matthew Golden with their draft pick in the first round.

However, Jerry Jones opted for offensive guard Tyler Booker. To make up for this, America’s team has added George Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dallas traded a third-round and a fifth-round pick in exchange for George Pickens. They added a talented receiver, who is physically gifted to play alongside CeeDee Lamb.

The recent addition attracted mixed responses from fans who were not sure if this addition was worthy of a celebration or a cause for concern. After all, despite Pickens’ skills, he has proven to be quite the character to have on an NFL team. This is a man who spent nearly $200,000 towards repaying his fines across three years.

George Pickens is an unpredictable athlete, which is why even the harshest critic of the Dallas Cowboys, Stephen A. Smith, could not help but burst into laughter after hearing of this trade. The ESPN analyst believes that George Pickens in a Cowboys uniform is a great fit, on paper. However, come game time, everything that can go wrong will go wrong for this team again.

Smith is not wrong to be concerned. George Pickens has shown fans that he lets his emotions dictate his actions. At one point, he’d be running a route, and after the play ends, his frustration causes him to enter into an altercation with a defensive back on the field. Pickens has become synonymous with unpredictability. This is the prime reason that led the Steelers to trade him. Smith is expecting similar behavior on his part in Dallas.

This is funny…So, this dude is supposed to be a headache, you got a new Coach that nobody wanted, that you elevated in Brian Schottenheimer, you got Dak Prescott, who is allergic to prosperity come playoff time, right?
Stephen A. Smith on George Pickens

Smith went after the Cowboys’ recent decision to appoint an inexperienced offensive coordinator to the post of HC and Dak Prescott’s terrible record in the playoffs. Rather than solving these persisting issues, Jerry Jones went out and got himself another walking problem.

Stephen A. Smith believes the Cowboys should have invested in a reliable running back

Smith believes the franchise would attempt to hold on to running back Rico Dowdle or replace him with a better option.

You don’t have much of a running game because Rico Dowdle, you didn’t even try to hold onto him, you went and got this brother, (Javonte) Williams from Denver because he was half the price…which means you’re going to be passing the ball all day long. The more you pass, the more it sets the stage for Dak Prescott to make a mistake when it matters most. Congratulations to the Cowboys, I’m sure it looks good on paper, it always does…
Stephen A. Smith concluded

Dallas has made some interesting choices offensively. In a bid to extract the most from Dak Prescott after paying him all that money, the team will focus on passing the ball for the most part.

The team has a crowded running back room with fifth-round pick Jaydon Blue, Javonte Williams, Phil Mafah, Deuce Vaughn, and Hunter Luepke. Surprisingly, the Cowboys did not attempt to trade up for Ashton Jeanty, who was picked by the Raiders early in the first round. Dallas is sending a clear message -they intend to rely on Dak Prescott’s arm to win a Super Bowl. This makes things for opposing defenses easier because they no longer have to be concerned about defending two fronts.

"Congratulations to the Cowboys. I'm sure it looks good on paper as it always does. … They're going to go back to teasing us into believing that they're relevant."

—@stephenasmith reacts to the Steelers trading George Pickens to the Cowboys pic.twitter.com/1EFgHx15DB
— First Take (@FirstTake) May 7, 2025

There is a chance that Jaydon Blue could turn out to be a diamond in the rough. However, the biggest question mark continues to revolve around HC Brian Schottenheimer. It’s hard to imagine the amount of pressure he is under. His father, Marty Schottenheimer, was a legend. He has to live up to the family name, and in his first gig as an HC, he is dealing with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. It will be interesting to see how this season pans out for America’s team.

3 Reasons Why George Pickens’ Move to Cowboys Makes No Sense

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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