{"id":24031,"date":"2025-10-28T04:21:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T04:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/24031\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T04:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T04:21:18","slug":"after-hitting-george-pickens-jackpot-its-time-for-cowboys-to-trade-him-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/24031\/","title":{"rendered":"After hitting George Pickens jackpot, it\u2019s time for Cowboys to trade him away"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Cowboys<\/a> stumble to the midseason mark, there is little doubt that the club hit a home run in May when it traded a third-round pick and a third-day swap of picks to Pittsburgh for wide receiver George Pickens<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Even though Pickens is tied with several players for ninth in targets, he ranks third in the NFL in receiving yards, he\u2019s first among wide receivers in yards after catch, his 15.9 average per catch ranks third among the top 20 receivers, and he basically saved the offense<\/a> while CeeDee Lamb was out. <\/p>\n

Now the Cowboys need to trade him.<\/p>\n

The NFL\u2019s trade deadline will come up fast on the Cowboys next Tuesday, just hours after their Monday night game against the Arizona Cardinals. It\u2019s a home game so let\u2019s assume a victory gets Dallas to 4-4-1. We will hear once again how the team needs to string some victories together, needs to find an identity, needs to play to its potential.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s all so much nonsense. I understand that, as cynical as we are about Jerry and Stephen Jones running this football franchise, they have to take a more positive view of things. But it also has to be serious. And they can\u2019t look at this defense and say that there\u2019s a trip to the playoffs<\/a> at the end of this ride. <\/p>\n

In order to make that happen, the Cowboys (3-4-1) need to win seven of their last nine games. That gets them to 10-6-1 and probably earns a second or third wild card spot. Anything less than that? Is a 9-7-1 record going to qualify when you have an automatic wild card going to the runner-up between Green Bay (5-1-1) and Detroit (5-2), when you have three teams in the West at 5-3 or better and when you have Chicago (4-3) and Carolina (4-4) with better records than Dallas and owning the tiebreaker edge already?<\/p>\n

And I won\u2019t even address how a team gets to 9-7-1 \u2014 there\u2019s a stretch of Eagles, Chiefs, Lions coming up on the schedule<\/a> \u2014 when the defense ranks 31st in total yards, 31st in passing yards, 31st in points per game allowed, tied for 27th in takeaways and dead last in opponents\u2019 passer rating (112.0).<\/p>\n

How does this get back to dumping Pickens?<\/p>\n

Simple. Dallas cannot afford to think about paying him after this season. With the numbers he has put up, all while not causing any of the disruptions that made the Steelers eager to move on without him, he\u2019s a $30 million a year receiver. Easy. And if you think the franchise tag is an option, it projects at $28 million next season. In 2026, Dak Prescott has a $74 million salary cap number, according to overthecap.com. Lamb carries a $38.6 million figure. Javonte Williams is making a whopping $3 million this year and is deserving of at least a decent running back wage. But you want to add $28 million more for another wide receiver, even a really good one?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fun if what you are building is a fantasy team. It\u2019s insane for a team that turned Micah Parsons<\/a> into future draft picks last month. Whether it\u2019s via offseason trade or free-agency signing, the Cowboys have to move significant salary cap dollars to the defensive side of the ball for 2026, or we are all watching this same sad movie again. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Photo\/The<\/p>\n

As for contending teams that are short at wide receiver, San Francisco and Buffalo start the list. What if Seattle had Pickens opposite league leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba instead of the damaged goods that is Cooper Kupp? There are plenty of other teams with needs.<\/p>\n

It would be great if Dallas could recoup the third-round pick it dealt to the Steelers, but that\u2019s not a given since it\u2018s basically a half-year rental. There are also dozens of defensive players not starting for other teams who could move in as first-day replacements here. The Cowboys\u2019 high picks that continue to disappoint \u2014 Sam Williams, Mazi Smith, Marshawn Kneeland \u2014 are now joined by those former first-round picks the club claimed at an offseason antique show (Kaiir Elam, Kenneth Murray, Payton Turner). <\/p>\n

Help is out there, if only the Cowboys will go looking for it next Tuesday. Can\u2019t worry about whether or not what they get matches up with what they gave. That\u2019s living in the past, that\u2019s how the Cowboys constantly get stuck with these former second- and third-round picks (and, occasionally, a first) that aren\u2019t producing. The Joneses are forever looking to win on each investment, and that\u2019s not how it works.<\/p>\n

With Lamb back, assuming a return to life for Jake Ferguson after Sunday\u2019s no-show<\/a>, the Cowboys have adequate supporting receivers in Jalen Tolbert, KaVontae Turpin and Ryan Flournoy. Mind you, I said adequate. Not good and not really good like Pickens. <\/p>\n

But the notion of winning by scoring at least 30 points every game is a failed exercise. And thinking about ways to keep Pickens is the same as paying no attention to what happened on defense last year, what\u2019s happening on defense this year and what this defense will look like in 2026.<\/p>\n

For the second time this season, the Joneses need to make the right decision on George Pickens. This decision is no riskier than the last one.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Cowboys\u2019 legal mind Kaleisha Stuart a key player in the financial gameplan off the field<\/a><\/p>\n

Stuart has blazed a trail over the last nine years as the Cowboys have grown into a business juggernaut.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Brian Schottenheimer promises changes, but are Cowboys\u2019 current problems solvable?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be changes. I can promise you that,\u201d Cowboys\u2019 head coach Brian Schottenheimer said after the blowout loss Sunday in Denver.<\/p>\n

\"Denver<\/a>Cowboys continue to be plagued by injuries at the safety position amid defensive struggles<\/a><\/p>\n

Dallas\u2019 defense has dealt with miscommunication and a lack of cohesiveness. The shuffle of safeties hasn\u2019t helped.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Cowboys stumble to the midseason mark, there is little doubt that the club hit a home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2353,1044,102,113,104,103,5962,2638,80,17183],"class_list":["post-24031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-commentary","tag-cowboys","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-george-pickens","tag-jerry-jones","tag-nfl","tag-stephen-jones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}