Some understandably wondered when the Dallas Cowboys acquired wide receiver George Pickens in May how Pickens would fit in with the team after the Pittsburgh Steelers made it clear with their actions that they viewed trading Pickens as an addition-by-subtraction move.
Coming off Pickens’ stellar outing in Dallas’ 40-40 tie with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones offered high praise for the 24-year-old who is in the final year of his rookie contract.
George Pickens has been “an exemplary teammate” during brief Cowboys tenure
“He’s an exemplary teammate,” Jones said about Pickens during a Tuesday appearance on Dallas sports radio station 105.3 The Fan, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “He is exemplary in his work preparation, and you can see the results of that out there Sundays.”
Pickens was allegedly guilty of a “litany of violations” when he featured for the Steelers from 2022 through the 2024 season. For example, he reportedly showed up late for practices and for Pittsburgh’s Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs last December.
That said, Pickens seemingly has been a model citizen since the Cowboys took a flier on his services this past spring. With No. 1 Dallas wide receiver CeeDee Lamb sidelined due to a high ankle sprain, Pickens recorded eight receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns versus Green Bay. He has now found the end zone in three straight games for the 1-2-1 Cowboys.
Jerry Jones addresses George Pickens’ potential future in Dallas
The Cowboys’ trade of star pass-rusher Micah Parsons to the Packers in late August theoretically could allow Dallas to spend a little extra money to keep Pickens around beyond the ongoing campaign. Jones hinted he’s open to signing Pickens to an extension even though the Cowboys handed Lamb a four-year, $136M deal last summer.
“I’m proud to tell you that we’ve got some outstanding structure in our cap space that will allow us to do a lot of things that I didn’t think, when we finished this time last year, that we might have the room to do some of these things we’re talking about doing,” Jones explained during Tuesday’s segment. “We got it. We paid a price for it. We had to not sign some players our fans might have thought ought to be signed. We can do it now.”