Cowboys addition of George Pickens gives needed clarity to WR room

The Cowboys offense got better with the trade for George Pickens.

Dallas Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones teased that the team could be active on the trade market again just before the draft, and coming away from the draft with nine picks but not a single wide receiver went a long way in narrowing down what position the team may be targeting in a trade. The Cowboys made a high-profile trade for a wide receiver on Wednesday morning, acquiring George Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round draft pick from the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for next year’s third-round pick and a ‘27 fifth-round pick.

The Cowboys making this trade is just the latest example of them sticking to their word when it comes to this offseason’s plans to improve under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer, but in more ways than one. By adding Pickens in the aftermath of an impressive ‘best player available’ focused draft, the upside of the trade is in line with the positives of their top draft choices as well.

For example, when grading the Tyler Booker pick at 12th overall, it was praised not only for the blue-chip, high-character player that Booker is at an immediate position of need for the Cowboys, but also how his addition at right guard reshuffles the depth chart throughout the offensive line to create a much more favorable outlook. Players that project better as quality depth options like T.J. Bass or Robert Jones can comfortably fill this role instead of being over-slotted as potential starters.

Second-round pick Donovan Ezeruika also steps into a situation at defensive end where he can be a piece of a larger puzzle, joining Micah Parsons, second-year player Marshawn Kneeland, Dante Fowler, Sam Williams, and Payton Turner to potentially give DC Matt Eberflus a real strength in numbers approach to pass rush. This general philosophy is sound roster building for the Cowboys, just one offseason removed from doing literally none of these things. Give credit where it is due.

The Cowboys achieved this same thing, and hopefully much more, in adding a player that projects as their newest complementary receiver to top dog CeeDee Lamb by acquiring the 24-year old Pickens. The 24-year old receiver, in the final year of his rookie contract, will have to earn this role in Schottenheimer and OC Klayton Adams’ offense. If he does so, it will go a long way in allowing Jalen Tolbert to remain a serviceable third receiver, Jonathan Mingo and Jalen Brooks to be rotational players as possession receivers, KaVontae Turpin to keep an element of surprise to his usage on offense as a speedster, and last year’s draft pick Ryan Flournoy to continue developing without high expectations.

In the case a trade like this did not materialize, the Cowboys wasted no time following the draft reminding the fanbase that they traded a fourth-round pick last year for Jonathan Mingo, who still carries the expectation to contribute because of this despite not getting established in either Carolina or Dallas yet. To pull off yet another WR trade in back-to-back years and put Mingo in a much more realistic spot a bit further down the depth chart is a breath of fresh air compared to how the Cowboys operated prior to this. BTB’s Brian Martin delved deeper into how trading for Pickens could benefit Mingo, a player the Cowboys are still clearly not ready to give up on:

How the acquisition of Pickens potentially benefits Mingo is relatively simple. It gives him the time he hasn’t had since entering the league to continue to work on his craft and acclimate himself with the Cowboys offense. In essence, it takes the pressure off of him having to step into a role he may or may not be ready for.

At still just 24 years old, the 6’2”, 220-pound WR can now focus on doing all the little things right and continue to improve as a player instead of being thrown into the fire like he was in Carolina. Only time will tell if this will end up helping him turn his career around, but with Pickens now in the picture, this is his best chance to continue his growth as a player.

The Cowboys trading for Pickens isn’t just about trading for a player that immediately has to fix the entire situation at receiver himself. He will certainly be called on to make the big plays he’s proven capable of, in ways no other current Cowboys receiver besides Lamb has proven, but he can also be key to unlocking the full potential of the receiving depth chart from top to bottom.

Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

Yet another pro of the Cowboys adding Pickens, and the way they’ve stayed the course of building the team how Schottenheimer and his new staff desire, is how his play style will also pair with Lamb specifically. Schottenheimer is looking to attack defenses with similar looking formations and alignments that still give Dak Prescott and his receivers an array of options. Lamb and Pickens have complementary skillsets that match Prescott’s strengths, and is a major lift to the passing offense the Cowboys didn’t have coming out of the draft.

These heat maps show where both Pickens and Lamb were targeted the most from 2023 to last season. Lamb has been targeted more heavily in the seams, over the middle, and behind the line of scrimmage. The first part of this is explained by how dominant Lamb is out of the slot, something that he can continue focusing on as Pickens gels into his role an an outside target in the Cowboys offense.

As for some of the other ways the Cowboys force fed the ball to Lamb during the times he was their only playmaking threat, the team can now distribute some of those throws to Pickens, who excels as a more downfield target, but can also use his great body control and excellent ability to make contested catches along the sideline. Keeping Pickens involved in the game script in this way will be important to manage the temperament that’s earned him a reputation of a hot-and-cold, headcase type of receiver.

Pickens can channel the edge he plays with in the run game, where he excels as a downfield blocker on the boundary. Much has already been said about how the Cowboys are looking to get their offensive line out in space blocking for a more dynamic run game again, and while getting receivers in this mix is a far less talked about element to the game, it is yet another skill that makes Pickens a fit in Dallas.

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Cowboys have added Pickens to Lamb as two sure-fire playmakers on offense, something they needed. They have a crowded and rebuilt backfield with Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, Jaydon Blue, Deuce Vaughn, and Phil Mafa. A fully loaded tight end room with Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Brevyn-Spann Ford, John Stephens Jr., Princeton Fant, and intriguing UDFAs Rivaldo Fairweather and Tyler Neville. And now with George Pickens being added via trade, they have a true pecking order at wide receiver trickling down from Lamb to Pickens to Tolbert, Brooks, Mingo, Flournoy, Turpin and Paris Campbell.

This is a team with a relatively unknown first-year head coach, looking to make a name for himself as a culture-setter in Dallas, as well as offensive play-caller. Enough pieces should now be in place to get a fair assessment of Schottenheimer’s play-calling ability, as well as where the cream will rise to the top across the skill positions to give the Cowboys their new direction of how to build around the highest paid QB in the game. Adding a receiver like Pickens was a great step in the right direction, and just the latest move to praise the Cowboys front office for, still with the potential of more before or during training camp in Oxnard.