Adam Schefter is reporting that the Dallas Cowboys are trading for Steelers wideout George Pickens. If it's possible for a deal to be both surprising and unsurprising, this is it.
Ever since Pittsburgh (also surprisingly) gave up a second-round pick for DK Metcalf, there's been speculation that Pickens was on his way out. He's looking for a new contract with a year left on his deal, and the Steelers not only seem ambivalent about giving out early contract extensions to wide receivers/running backs in general, but Mike Tomlin has expressed criticism of Pickens' maturity in the past. Lacking a new deal, a summer of Pickens either holding out or more likely showing up but not practicing seemed to be in store.
What's surprising, to me at least, is that a deal involving draft pick compensation is occurring now, a week after the draft. Pittsburgh is reportedly getting a third-round pick and other pick swaps, in the 2026 NFL Draft. Not gonna help whoever their starting quarterback is this year, presumably either Mason Rudolph or perhaps a veteran not yet on the team, Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins.
Winners: Dak Prescott, for sure. The last time he had two really talented, in-their-prime wide receivers was 2021, with CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper. Prescott threw a career-high 37 touchdowns that year and was the 6th-best fantasy quarterback. Dallas presumably wouldn't be making this trade if they didn't plan to give Pickens the contract he's looking for (only the Jets seem to trade for players looking for new contracts only to not give them one), so most likely Pickens will be happy and producing in the Dallas offense.
I guess we call Pickens a winner, presuming his contract demands are met. Granted, he's on the same roster as an alpha target monster in Lamb. But he was in a comparable situation on the same roster with Metcalf, and it's possible his quarterback was going to be Rudolph. Now he's the No. 2 for sure, but at least he's working with Dak in what will probably be a better offense (it has been lately, at least). Not sure he's really a winner, it's more of a lateral move or slight downgrade, but the offense and quarterback are probably better and Pickens should get paid, which seemingly wasn't happening in Pittsburgh.
In Pittsburgh, DK Metcalf is now the No. 1 wide receiver by a wide, wide margin. Back in 2022, he had a career-high 90 catches on a career-high 141 targets. Those kind of numbers seem reasonable now, given Pittsburgh's other receiving options. True, we don't know who Metcalf's quarterback will be, but whoever it is will be dialing up DK early and often. Move Metcalf up boards a little, since he should be heavily targeted.
Losers: It's a slight hit on CeeDee Lamb, since there's better competition for targets. Back in that 2021 season when Cooper was around, he had 120 targets. The last three years, he's averaged 163 targets. That's not happening. If you were debating Lamb versus Malik Nabers, say, I'd be taking Nabers.
In the unlikely event you were considering using a pick on Jalen Tolbert or Jonathan Mingo, forget it. Neither will be relevant as a No. 3 (well down the target list, with tight ends and running backs factored in).
Whoever Pittsburgh's quarterback is will now apparently be looking to one of these guys as their No. 2. Robert Woods (yes he's still in the league), Calvin Austin, Ben Skowronek and last year's third-rounder Roman Wilson.
Wilson couldn't get on the field last year. Apparently got in Tomlin's doghouse at some point early on. Maybe he's one of the top 3, or maybe he just quietly fades into oblivion. I have him on a dynasty roster and when roster crunch occurs, he's my first cut at present.
Here are how the other wideouts in Pittsburgh have fared over the past four seasons, sorted by ranking in PPR leagues.
| CURRENT STEELER NO. 2 WR CANDIDATES FOR 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | G | No | Rec | TD | Rk |
| 2021 | Robert Woods, LAR | 9 | 45 | 556 | 5 | 51 |
| 2022 | Robert Woods, Ten. | 17 | 53 | 527 | 2 | 57 |
| 2024 | Calvin Austin, Pitt. | 17 | 36 | 548 | 5 | 68 |
| 2023 | Robert Woods, Hou. | 14 | 40 | 426 | 1 | 78 |
| 2022 | Ben Skowronek, LAR | 14 | 39 | 376 | 1 | 86 |
| 2023 | Calvin Austin, Pitt. | 17 | 17 | 180 | 2 | 109 |
| 2024 | Robert Woods, Hou. | 15 | 20 | 203 | 0 | 119 |
| 2021 | Ben Skowronek, LAR | 14 | 11 | 133 | 0 | 150 |
| 2023 | Ben Skowronek, LAR | 17 | 8 | 66 | 1 | 157 |
| 2024 | Ben Skowronek, Pitt. | 10 | 5 | 69 | 0 | 168 |
Having a top-50 wide receiver as your No. 2 isn't everything, but it seems safe to say that Pittsburgh will be making a move at wide receiver between now and the start of the season. The aforementioned Amari Cooper is still available, that's one possibility. If they do sign Aaron Rodgers, maybe he can talk his buddy Randall Cobb out of retirement, or Pittsburgh can trade for Allen Lazard.
Bottom line, seems like a good move for Dallas, which certainly needed someone else. For Pittsburgh, well, they traded a really talented wide receiver for a draft pick they can use on Day 2 11 months from now. I have no more positive spin to give.
--Andy Richardson