The Dallas Cowboys were more active in free agency than in years past, but their willingness to make trades was at an all-time high. Just days into free agency, the Cowboys completed three trades, acquiring Kenneth Murray, Kaiir Elam, and Joe Milton for late-round pick swaps. But the biggest move they made all offseason was trading for George Pickens after the 2025 NFL Draft.
Dallas failed to grab a bonafide No. 2 wide receiver during the NFL Draft and that’s why they were willing to give up a 2026 third-round pick for Pickens in early May. He was the best receiver available and the fact that Dallas was able to keep all of their picks in the 2025 draft made this too good of a move to pass up in their minds.
But what can Pickens bring to the table besides just being a viable No. 2 option after CeeDee Lamb? In a recent article by Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus, he wrote about the biggest impact offseason addition for every team in the NFL. Of course, that player was none other than Pickens for the Cowboys, but his reasoning was due to his ability to create big plays down the field.
George Pickens could be the deciding factor for the Cowboys in 2025
Here is a snippet of what Wasserman had to say about the former Georgia Bulldog:
"Dallas’ offense declined last season due to a lack of a legitimate receiving threat aside from CeeDee Lamb. They recently traded for George Pickens to change that. Pickens tied for the NFL lead last season with a perfect 99.9 receiving grade on deep targets (20-plus yards). Meanwhile, Cowboys wide receivers ranked 21st in the NFL in deep receiving grade, and they were only that high mainly due to Lamb’s downfield production."Dalton Wasserman, Pro Football Focus
The Cowboys have had plenty of elite offenses before without a prolific downfield passing game. Dak Prescott has never been the best deep ball passer since entering the league, but he’s never had a downfield threat like Pickens either.
Pickens has averaged a whopping 16.3 yards per reception over his career despite playing with very mediocre quarterbacks. He actually led the league in yards per reception during the 2023 season at 18.1 with a combination of quarterbacks, including Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph.
The hope is that Pickens can create splash plays down the field while Lamb does all of the work underneath and in the intermediate part of the field. Defense will likely play a lot of Cover-2 this season, forcing Dallas to throw the ball underneath and put together long drives.
In theory, that should open up the run game and help players like Jake Ferguson and Jalen Tolbert have more of an impact. It’s not hard to see why Dallas decided to take a chance on Pickens because if it works out, he could be the missing piece to help fully unlock this offense.