Follow the Jones? In the trade of George Pickens, the Jones of Cowboys try rather to follow NFC East

While the Dallas Cowboys began to explain their selection of the first round of another The offensive line player, Jerry Jones' spirit flew to the defensive platform of the Eagles of Philadelphia, Jalen Carter and the defensive platform of the New York Giants, Dexter Lawrence.

“We are very aware of the challenges we have in our division at the center of the line,” said Jones. “You look at our division, and you have to start beating the guys in our division and winning.”

The cowboys therefore disappointed certain analysts of the simulation project when they kicked the receiver in favor of the Alabama Tyler Booker's offensive goalkeeper in the first round.

Matthew Golden has not become a cowboy.

But Dallas had a plan.

Cowboys 'executive vice-president Stephen Jones, and owner Jerry said Draft weekend what they have often said for more than a decade: players' acquisition is a 24-hour operation a day and 365 days a year.

“The train has not left the station if an improvement is necessary from what we have on campus,” said Jerry Jones. “We don't need to go to the receiver.

“I just give you the benefit of the mentality there: certainly the idea that we could, if the opportunity arises and that we want, we can remedy ourselves in free will.”

Wednesday morning, the cowboys added a passenger to the train.

Dallas Steelers receiver acquired from Pittsburgh George Pickens For a third round choice in 2026 and an exchange of their sixth 2026 for the fifth of the Steelers in 2027.

The star receiver of the cowboys, Ceedee Lamb, tweeted an agitated GIF shortly before the commercial news has been dismissed.

There is much to debate on the schematic and cultural implications of trade, but Dallas' decision sent two messages.

The first: the cowboys realized that they were losing ground in the arms race of the East NFC and responded accordingly. And second: despite a serious turnover in team leadership, including a new head coach, the cowboys are not looking for a reconstruction scene – they are impatient to win now.

One more “all in” step.

After losing the season, why would Cowboys pay Pickens?

A multitude of injuries, a lame coach in the last year of his contract and an underperforming offensive line all contributed to the arrival of the 7-10 Cowboys last season.

Dallas replaced Mike McCarthy with Brian Schottenheimer two days before his rivals from NFC East clashed in the conference championship.

The Eagles finally won the Super Bowl. Commanders, in head coach Dan Quinn and the quarter-Arrière Jayden Daniels, qualified for a depth in playoffs that Dallas has not seen since the 1995 season.

Jones and Co. therefore considered what they needed. They thought that their offensive line performance prevented any significant success, so they hired the coach of the Cardinals of the Cardinals of Arizona Klayton Adams to their role as an offensive coordinator, then had a choice in the first round on the unit. The cowboys remitted their racing patterns and their passage concepts to help the protection of calls. But a problem remained: the opponents knew last year that the Dallas quarters sought a lamb field. There was not much to hide and very telegraph.

The emphasis on the Protecting Prescott offensive line will not be fully paid without an inclination to the passage of pass. And there was no choice but to maximize the investment of $ 60 million in the League that Cowboys make in Prescott.

“With the makeup we have in our team and the players we have at the moment, it's a very good way to try to do something big in the next two years,” said Jerry Jones during the recovery weekend. “It makes sense, in terms of time.”

Enter Pickens, a mercurial but talented receiver During the last year of his recruit contract.

In three seasons with Pittsburgh, Pickens captured 174 assists for 2,841 yards and 12 affected. His peak of 2023 presented 1,140 yards and a record of 18.1 yards per hic. The footage was not mainly the result of tackle breaks after taking.

Pickens has an average of 12.3 yards on average Before The problem in his career compared to 7.8 of Lamb. The league assessors and coaches expect them to complement each other.

“The only thing in which they are similar is their framework,” said an opposing coach of the NFC players who stand at 6 feet 3 and 6-2, each 200 pounds. “The Skukens skills are more of your real X receiver, external threat, vertical road runner. Large ray of capture. Ceedee has a more diverse route tree. Can be moved. In the slit and outside. Think that there is a lot of versatility in the LAMB game. ”

An NFC leader agreed with the external threat of Pickens would open the lamb.

“Allow Ceedee to play more free inside,” said the executive, “where it is best suited.”

The Eagles and the Commanders succeed in the inflamed fire of the competitiveness of Jerry Jones

The risk of a salary ceiling for negotiation for Pickens is limited. His skills set is attractive.

But it is well known in the league that The receiver invites and sometimes creates a drama. This took into account Pittsburgh with a talented young player with only $ 3.6 million this year.

“Pickens is an Elite WR”, a defensive coach of the AFC who faced Pickens said, “when he chooses to be.”

The sources of the league expect Dallas to need to manage Pickens. They believe that Prescott leadership took into account the comfort of the cowboys by writing a player with the pickens fire. The existing list was not going to pass the team on the board of the playoffs.

“The disappointing year has made us perceive or have more (objectives) in what we would like to go ahead this year,” said Jerry Jones. “It has probably shown that you have to rethink where you are there, whether in terms of talent or what you are trying to do with the talent you have.”

While the cowboys were looking at their division, the first hill to climb on the road towards any success in the playoffs, they saw a team of commanders who exchanged for Deebo Samuel this off -season to associate with the recipient Terry McLaurin as weapons for The second year quarter of a year Jayden Daniels.

Dallas watched the Eagles win all last year after exchanging the AJ Brown receiver to associate himself with Devonta Smith, and the Ballon Ball Saquon Barkley capitalizes the two wide threats.

The giants do not seem so deep in the reception room, although their high -end talent in 2024, Malik Nabers, a weekly match problem.

Dallas, too, now poses a problem for the opposing defenses, which cannot put their upper corner on the lamb And Pickens. Cowboys Hope Lamb and Pickens Downfield mean fewer stacked boxes for a racing game requiring improvement, and all this reinforced by an offensive line that has received investments to counter NFC East trenches more and more intimidating.

Will Pickens send Dallas all the way? The last 30 years in the history of cowboys do not point to this conclusion.

Will he help them stay afloat, if not triumph, in a talented NFC East? It's realistic – and it was necessary.

“They have to keep up with the pace,” said an NFC leader, “with the division.”

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