Plenty of teams didn\u2019t want anything to do with George Pickens. He was a headache waiting to happen, causing problems in the locker room and on the sidelines. At least that was the narrative surrounding him.<\/p>\n
Then, after the Dallas Cowboys missed out on drafting Tetairoa McMillan, they turned their sights toward a reclamation project and took a chance on Pickens being different in their building. It turns out, Pickens isn\u2019t quite like the person we were told he was in Pittsburgh with the Steelers. Instead, the soon to be 25-year-old wide receiver thrived under the right circumstances.<\/p>\n
Pickens had a banner year with Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense recording 1,429 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, which led to a Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro nomination. When CeeDee Lamb went down with his ankle injury in Week 3, Dallas needed to rely on Pickens as their No. 1 target, and that\u2019s when things took off for him and the offense.<\/p>\n
With Pickens entering free agency, the Cowboys find themselves in an all too familiar situation of needing to pay another star player. Recent history shows that it leads to drawn-out negotiations. Dallas gave up a third-round and fifth-round pick in exchange for Pickens and a seventh-round pick. All are totally worth the production from this year alone, but having long-term success would make Jerry Jones the ultimate thief in grading the trade.<\/p>\n
All reports indicate Dallas will apply the franchise tag to Pickens as soon as they can, locking the All-Pro wide receiver in for a one-year, roughly $28 million deal. The goal would be to work out a long-term deal, but NFL Insider Ian Rapoport said the Cowboys could also consider a tag-and-trade option with Pickens<\/a>. If that\u2019s the case, is the trade value worth it in the end? It might not be.<\/p>\n