George Pickens is his own biggest threat to a future with the Cowboys

Former Seattle Seahawks All-Pro cornerback-turned-NFL-analyst Richard Sherman didn’t mince his words after Dallas’ loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday night. He didn’t just slash Dallas for a disappointing loss, he went after Jerry Jones’ big offseason gamble to criticize his effort — or lack thereof — on Thursday. 

It shouldn't be a surprise that George Pickens is once again facing heat. He was a hot head in Pittsburgh and that got him a lot of fines and censure from NFL fans and analysts. Jones knew it was a risk trading for Pickens because as talented as he is on offense, he causes problems off the field too. 

This season isn’t the first time that his effort has been called into question and you could point to moments on Thursday where it looked like he just wasn’t interested in the game. The timing of it is terrible, as the Cowboys’ playoff hopes could be in limbo after that loss. This was the risk in getting Pickens, even if he’s having a career season. All this does is complicate Pickens’ pending extension. 

Did George Pickens bring his Steelers baggage with him to the Cowboys?

The same problems Pickens had in Pittsburgh are starting to creep into his tenure at Dallas. While he’s not nearly as hotheaded as he was a year ago, he’s still showing effortless plays at times and people are speculating it’s cost Dallas on Thursday night. 

“George Pickens throughout the game, especially late in the game, he looked uninterested; uninterested in playing football,” Sherman said on Prime Video after Dallas’ loss to Detroit. “That’s what you can’t have. If you want to be a superstar, if you want to be the best receiver in the National Football League, you can’t ever be disengaged.” 

There were several plays on Thursday that showed Pickens was simply disinterested. He looked like he gave up early a deep pass that he could have caught up to; on another play it looked like he ran a lazy route as if he wasn’t expecting the ball and quickly adjusted to try to make the play.

Sherman makes a great point. Pickens is well on his way to a career season with 1,179 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches, both career highs and both top 2 in the league. The move to Dallas changed his career, but it also brought up old wounds, ones Jones hoped Pickens had left in Pittsburgh. If this becomes a lingering problem, it could be what forces Dallas to move on from Pickens. 

Does George Pickens’ effort affect his future in Dallas?

Jones has to decide how important Pickens is to this team. Clearly, having him in the fold has drastically improved this offense, but is it worth dealing with a player that might not show up when you need them too? At the end of the day, Pickens has changed this team for the better and maybe this was a one-off. He had just five catches for 37 yards on nine targets on Thursday.

Though it is late in the season and Pickens hasn't had many problems, with how he's played, it's fair to think the Cowboys were leaning toward extending him. Does this change this, probably not. If the Cowboys do extend him, though, it could be a persistent problem in the future. It does make you wonder if Jones will play hardball seeing what the narrative is after Thursday night's game.

For most of his time in Dallas he hasn’t had any issues so this probably won’t have too much effect on if Dallas re-signs him or not, but it does give Jones something to think about. For now, I think Pickens should still be a priority. But if this is a sign that things could get out of control, those problems won’t be worth it. 

He did have a dramatic response to Sherman via his Instagram on Friday afternoon. It’s those types of immature moments that make it hard to side with Pickens. Either way, he put himself into this position and it could crumble his future with the Cowboys.