Why Cowboys believe 'unique' George Pickens will be worth the risk

The Dallas Cowboys took somewhat of a risk when they sent a 2026 third-round draft pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder to the Pittsburgh Steelers to land mercurial wide receiver George Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round selection back in May. 

During a recent chat with Jon Machota of The Athletic, Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay indicated the club has thus far seen only positive things from Pickens since he joined the club during springtime workouts. 

"A really unique individual, No. 1, from the standpoint that he loves football, loves his teammates, and a rare talent from a standpoint of being able to track a football and have the body control to make those contested catches," McClay said about Pickens. "In the NFL, you got to win one-on-ones, you got to make those catches. He can make catches when he’s covered." 

Pickens made numerous highlight-reel plays over his first three pro seasons after the Steelers grabbed him in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Pittsburgh's unsettled quarterback situation could be blamed for why Pickens never became a top-tier WR1 with the club, but his emotional outbursts during games and the "litany of violations" he allegedly committed while with the Steelers likely impacted his value on the market earlier this year. 

The Steelers reportedly grew "fed up with" Pickens either before or after he showed up late for the team's Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs last season. As much as Pittsburgh became a win-now team once head coach Mike Tomlin realized in the spring that he'd have 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers as his starting quarterback for the upcoming campaign, Tomlin clearly viewed trading Pickens as an addition-by-subtraction transaction. 

"We had a game plan going into it about wanting to address the position and adding some stuff there, be it in free agency, be it through the draft, or after the draft," McClay said about the events that led to Dallas taking a flier on Pickens. "So, free agency didn’t happen, the draft didn’t follow the way it did, so we continued to work and make those connections and conversations throughout the process, you kind of felt things that could happen. So when that one came up, we just felt like it was the right move and the right investment for us."

Pickens has thus far been a model employee while working with friend and fellow receiver CeeDee Lamb. That said, the Cowboys are protecting themselves by not offering the 24-year-old in the final year of his rookie contract an extension before he proves himself once the games begin to matter.