Cowboys' George Pickens takes shot at Steelers at start of training camp

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and team owner/president Art Rooney II previously said they wanted to see mercurial wide receiver George Pickens "grow up."

Now with the Dallas Cowboys, Pickens seemed to take a shot at his former team while speaking with reporters at training camp on Tuesday.

"Yeah, I'm definitely excited to run better plays, for sure," Pickens said, NFL.com's Kevin Patra shared. 

A 2022 second-round draft pick, Pickens developed a reputation for looking displeased over a lack of targets and for emotional outbursts during games over his first three seasons in the league. Pittsburgh traded the 24-year-old to Dallas in May after the Steelers reportedly grew "fed up with" the talented target who was allegedly guilty of a "litany of violations."

Pickens was known for arriving late to practices while with the Steelers. He was also reportedly late for Pittsburgh's Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Dallas' Dak Prescott should be the best quarterback Pickens has had as a pro. Additionally, Pickens has a needed mentor in No. 1 Dallas wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

"Oh yeah, for sure," Pickens responded when asked on Tuesday if he believes he and Lamb can be the NFL's top one-two punch at the position. "Just different type of styles of play. A lot of people over the years got different styles of play, but CeeDee's a certain type of guy, then I'm a certain type of guy. So, when you mesh that together, it's like 'Mario Bros.' We definitely can do something special."

Pickens is in the final year of his rookie contract, and there's no indication he will receive an extension from the Cowboys before he shows what he'll be as a player and a person this season. Thus, he has millions of reasons to want to be on his best behavior and produce the best campaign of his career while sharing an offense with Prescott and Lamb. 

It remains to be seen if first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer will succeed where Tomlin failed in getting the most out of Pickens, if even for one season.