It has not even been a month, but George Pickens seems to have landed in a far better situation for himself with the Dallas Cowboys than he ever was with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yes, Pittsburgh may win more, but quarterback play and the rest of the supporting cast did not do him any favors. Pickens now plays for Brian Schottenheimer, alongside CeeDee Lamb and catches passes from Dak Prescott.
In Todd Archer's latest for ESPN, he touched on well Lamb and Pickens are meshing within the context of the Cowboys offense. The receivers seem to complement each other well, while simultaneously opening up the field a bit more for Prescott to spread the ball around better. Chemistry will be a big thing, but the early returns of this investment could work out for the Cowboys.
Lamb expressed how quickly the rapport is coming together between him and Pickens already.
"Man, we complement each other very well. Obviously, he's a tall figure. His ability to go up and get the ball at the highest point is amazing. I don't think anybody in the league can really ... he's up there with the guys in the league as far as 50/50 balls, deep threat. Anything as far as running routes, it's pretty good. It's good to see."
Pickens cited that he can not only learn from Lamb, but they can learn from each other on this team.
"Just intermediate stuff. He's got great feet, stepping in certain places. He steps in place a lot, which means he can get where he's going fast and in a short space. And he's tall. A lot of people don't know he's kind of tall."
Prescott could not contain his enthusiasm of landing a wide receiver of Pickens' caliber this spring.
"Looking at the guy's tape, you see what he does, the kind of receiver he is. He's going to win on one-on-ones. He can win two versus one if he has to. Very, very talented guy. When you can add him alongside a CeeDee and the rest of the weapons we have, I'm super excited."
And finally, Schottenheimer touched on Pickens' newfound maturity since coming over to Dallas.
"I see a guy that's maturing. I see a guy that we're excited to put out there and watch him grow and get better. He obviously is a tremendous athlete, but I love watching him in meetings, because in meetings, he's been so dialed in, taking great notes. He knows he's a little bit behind, not a lot but a little bit behind in terms of what the veterans are doing. But his intentionality in the meeting room has been really cool for me to see."
Pittsburgh might not like this, but Dallas might be getting the player that was so good at Georgia.
Dallas Cowboys could be getting George Pickens entering his NFL prime
Frankly, I look at the Cowboys and the Steelers in the same giant cluster of NFL teams heading into this season. Are they serious contenders to win the Super Bowl? No. Could they make the playoffs? Potentially. Will either fail to live up to lofty expectations? Possibly. There is so much unknown with these two teams that it is hard to forecast how high their ceilings are and how low their floors can be.
Pittsburgh is not a better team without Pickens on paper, but addition by subtraction could work out in the Steelers favor. Adding Pickens should, in theory, make the Cowboys a better team, but paper does not win games, players do. In the end, Dallas is excited to have Pickens aboard, just as much as Pittsburgh is to have Pickens out the building. They can both be right regarding their thoughts of him.
Since these are two of the biggest brands in the NFL, it is good for the sport of football for both the Cowboys and Steelers to be on the top of their game. It has not always been the case, but seeing both teams come across as strong and not varying degrees of dysfunctional would be to the benefit of the league. They are pillars in which the NFL was built on. Maybe the trade helps get us back to it?
For now, Dallas fans cannot wait to see what Pickens can do for the Cowboys in a game that counts.