CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens going for 1,000 yards each is no guarantee.
Imaginations have run fully wild. When the Dallas Cowboys traded for wide receiver George Pickens, the floor for the offense as a whole was immediately raised. Dak Prescott, Jake Ferguson, Jalen Tolbert and Jonathan Mingo will all have easier lives because of Pickens’ presence, but outside of the quarterback there is no one who will benefit more than CeeDee Lamb.
Lamb and Pickens appeared to be getting along well at a softball game last weekend for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray’s foundation, and once more minds began to race at the idea of these two receivers suddenly sharing an offense. When it comes to prolific NFL pass-catching duos, a common goal is for them each to have 1,000 receiving yards.
In the current era of football, particularly with how long the regular season has become, having two 1,000-yard WRs is more possible than ever. Comparing it to the past requires context, but you get the overall point here. If Lamb and Pickens were to each go for 1,000 receiving yards, then we would likely consider the season a success in that particular way (obviously there is lot more to the hypothetical).
This is not as easy of a thing as you think, at least in Cowboys history.
A wide receiver duo has each reached 1,000 yards only three times in franchise history
Thanks to our friends at Stathead we can quite easily search for something this specific. A couple of quick clicks tells us that there are seven years in which the Cowboys had multiple players reach 1,000 receiving yards.
That word matters, though. Players.
- 1979: Drew Pearson and Tony Hill
- 2006: Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn
- 2007: Terrell Owens and Jason Witten
- 2009: Miles Austin and Jason Witten
- 2010: Miles Austin and Jason Witten
- 2012: Dez Bryant and Jason Witten
- 2019: Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup
Jason Witten’s name appears here on four occasions which means that a wide receiver duo specifically has only done this three times in franchise history. By the way, it is remarkable how it was happening with such regularity throughout the Tony Romo era. He and Witten both remain perennially underrated.
The 2019 season was the last one in which the Cowboys franchise played without Lamb being a part of it. Diluting the point to talk about yards specifically isn’t wise either, but this whole exercise partly shows how Lamb has not had a proper running mate to work opposite of him which is why we are all so excited.
Speaking as a whole across the entire NFL, this phenomenon doesn’t happen as often as you might think. There are certainly instances of it occurring since Dallas last did it themselves in 2019 with a handful of teams doing it each year since.
Stathead
Individually, Lamb has reached the 1,000-yard mark in each of his last four seasons (he came 65 yards shy as a rookie) where Pickens did it only in 2023 (obviously his sample size is smaller).
While there is only one ball and we can make the argument for this overall thing not happening more often as a result of it the talent on the field (or lack of it) is a huge factor. That goes without saying.
Consider what happens if we lower the bar for success in this particular discussion. If we search for the last time that the Cowboys had multiple players hit 900 yards in a season then our answer is 2020 when Lamb did it alongside Amari Cooper. If we lower the bar one more time and look for the last time multiple players hit 800 yards then our answer is 2021 when Cooper and Lamb were joined by Dalton Schultz.
Think about that. The Cowboys have gone three straight seasons in which only a single player (an incredible one in CeeDee Lamb) had 800 receiving yards. An addition like Pickens has been overdue for some time, but this all really underscores that.
Whether or not George Pickens has 1,000 receiving yards is not going to be what matters the most. But if he does reach that point, it certainly will not hurt.
