George Pickens' trade could unlock the cowboys offensive – and fantastic football for many

Dallas' cowboys had a wide graphic graphic in place after the alpha CEEEDEE lamb at the beginning of the month. It was largely supposed that they would meet WR2 place in the draft of the NFL, but they chose to meet other needs and released in April with Jalen Tolbert and Jonathan Mingo (theoretically) seated behind Lamb.

Who changed Wednesday morning when Cowboys struck a job with Pittsburgh Steelers for the Large George Pickens receiver. The cowboys returned a third round choice to Pittsburgh and exchanged the choices of day 3 in the draft of the NFL 2027.

Why the Steelers treated Pickens

I think it is more informative to examine this business from the angle of the steelers, because it helps to inform what Dallas gets to Pickens. A profession of pickens has I have been on my radar since the end of last seasonAnd I was ready to go record by predicting that it would happen At one point, this off -season after talking with several people at the NFL Scouting combined in February. If there was a doubt, the fact that the organization chose to exchange for the departure X receiver of another team at DK Metcalf and to give it an extension north of $ 30 million should have removed it. It is not shocking at all that Pickens was treated, because my understanding of the situation is that there was a chance close to 0% that the Steelers were interested in offering him a second contract. What is a little surprising is that they did not do it before the draft this year, but again, it is informative of the place where this relationship was.

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It is quite revealing that Pittsburgh, which is theoretically in the shortest short-term windows with a 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers, probably their quarter-rear leaving this season, was willing to make a 2026 recovery choice so that Pickens is simply not in their team in 2025.

Here's why these bites: it was quite obvious to watch the film last season that Pickens played the best football in his career during the first month of last season.

He would erase the coverage of man and earned more than his typical diet of vertical roads. The release work of Pickens out of the line was considerably improved and he obtained a coherent separation from the slopes, even when he did not obtain football. I was so impressed by his game.

It seemed that all the systems took place, but things changed almost immediately after this video above. During week 5, ironically against cowboys, he only played 58.6% of offensive shots and was criticized for his efforts and concentrations, especially when the parts were designed to go to him. He was visibly jogging on the routes and was not engaged; This film was brutal. Pickens experienced a strong section of matches with Russell Wilson under the center, but then missed three games with an injury in December. He returned to play the last two games of the regular season, but was again criticized for his effort during a defeat of the Christmas day against the Chiefs and was detained against the Bengals with several drops and errors in disputed situations during their defeat of week 18 against Cincinnati. He had an eight yards and an offensive passing interference penalty in the first half of a loss of Joker in Baltimore.

Do you feel like you are climbing on high and stocking roller coaster? This is the experience of Pickens for three years in Pittsburgh. It was a property, the front office and head coach Mike Tomlin were ready to leave. None of these problems surprised Pittsburgh by surprise – there is a reason why a player with his talent was available on Tour 2 in 2022 – their tolerance for the experience had just taken his course.

Why cowboys took a chance on Pickens

So now we arrive at Dallas' decision to take Pickens and everything that accompanies him; All the ups and all the stockings. It is essential to understand the risk they take here when you analyze this job and look beyond its end-of-season statistics and do not obsess yourself how he played with terrible quarters in miserable offenses. And you have to do it even if you like the job, which I do.

The cowboys did not only have a blatant need for someone with “WR” next to their name; Their specific gaps required that someone with the exact skills of George Pickens.

Dallas did an excellent armament work of the Ceedee lamb by moving it in the training. The lamb leads all the wide receivers with 43 yards per match on the slit in the last two seasons. It is both a large threat and a first machine as an interior receiver. The lamb is good enough to gain any alignment, but its connection with Dak Prescott and its value to the offense is maximized when it is aligned outside the line or inside.

What the cowboys missed during this period is a real X receiver to line up outside the lamb and threaten the defenses in the field and in the coverage of man. Pickens is sculpted with stone, classic X receiver. He is both a winner of a leading ball and, at his best, is dangerous against the cover of man. Even by suffering from his own gaps and playing with bad quarters, he is fourth among all the wide receptors in yards by road against man The cover in the past two combined seasons. Its 3.16 figure only follows Nico Collins, Lamb and AJ Brown. Let us not stop, he does not have the complete skills of these elite players, but in the specific part of the vertical magnitude of the concert, he is excellent when he is engaged.

At the very least, Pickens brings to Prescott what he has missed since Michael Gallup has torn his ACL. Pickens separates well on the descending field and the external routes, in particular against the cover of the press, and can be victorious on the stop routes.

This alone is worth the game to exchange a third round for a player on an expired contract, considering the howling Dallas needs for this exact type of broad receiver and its objectives for the season. The fact that he played at some point as the updated version of the separator below and intermediate which he showed as a prospect only makes him more attractive.

The Pickens trade could be the missing ingredient whose cowboys passes game needed, and it could start a contractual year for a team that wants to roll its attack under the new head coach Brian Schottenheimer. We could watch the best season of his career now to which he is attached, by far, the best passer in his career in the NFL. Pickens could also fall back into the same old bad habits and the cowboys could find themselves regretting having sent a recovery choice of day 2 for a one -year receiver rental which has never been silent with the program. There is a variance with this movement, but I do not blame the cowboys to look into it.

Anyway, they will be at least interesting and it is not something you could say about this team, and certainly the offensive product, in the past 12 months.

If DK Metcalf and George Pickens were going to share a field, I was not too eager to write one or the other in fantasy this season. Now that we know that they will not play together in the Pittsburgh offensive, I am at least a little more interested.

The Steelers finished 28th in neutral success rate when Russell Wilson was under the center last season. It is a familiar territory for an Arthur Smith offense and it is there that I will project them, it doesn't matter who is under the center. A wide receiver must dominate the target part in order to be an every week starter in an attack like this, and now Metcalf is about to do so. It also adapts to the X-Receiver route tree of this offense, which prioritizes game breaks.

The Metcalf Fit and Locked-in High Target Share's scheme is enough to be put inside my best wide receivers, at least for this season. This assumes that everything that remains of rodgers plays for this team. If it's Mason Rudolph, forget that.

Elsewhere in Pittsburgh, this only reaffirms their commitment to an operation first. I cannot master too much on the recruit ball carrier Kaleb Johnson as a perfect impact runner of the perfect diagram and of the year 1, but that does not hurt.

By moving to George Pickens, it is a little more difficult to classify among the wide receivers, but it is a victory for him in recovery. He obtains an upgrade of the quarter, whatever the situation of Pittsburgh and he moves to a team of passes which needs his skills. Get closer, no matter how you cut it.

To return to the example of Gallup, he had a fancy point of 12.8 fantasy points per match in 2019 as a clear receiver n ° 2 playing X in front of a movement specialist at Amari Cooper while catching Prescott passes. This would place him around WR16 at 18 last season and it is probably a high brand for Pickens. But given its talent and this environment, it is at least in the range of results for Pickens. Given its probable deployment as a vertical X receiver, I expect the trip to the end of the end of the season for Pickens to be volatile. I will probably slip it right outside the first 30 receivers of my classification which have a similar weekly fuel profile, while recognizing that its full season floor – given all the factors that we have exceeded above – is more tenuous than most.

This decision makes me more interested in the cowboys offensive as a global ecosystem. Whatever you think of Pickens, it is a massive upgrade compared to their anterior perimeter options. I really want it to be a clear cut that is starting to run in Target on this depth board, but you can take dart throws at the end of the round on Jaydon Blue Unless they exchange against another veteran there.

The fantastic ceiling of Prescott is a little higher than its current QB17 consensus ranking, via fantastypros. Although LAMB may not have 190 targets in its range of results with Pickens in Fold, it does not support me from the ranking as a wide three -three -top fantasy player among the first five this season. More affected is good for each member of this offense, including lamb, and the addition of pickens certainly increases their chances of scoring affected.

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