The Dallas Cowboys made a rare offseason trade when they acquired WR George Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers. They badly needed to find an upgrade across from CeeDee Lamb, and they got that with Pickens.
There has been constant chatter around Pickens' character since he entered the league in 2022. That has followed him for years and likely played a role in why the Steelers dished him. It didn't take long for his former teammate Cameron Hayward to look ahead to the upcoming campaign without Pickens.
On his "Not Just Football Pod" podcast, Hayward discussed Pittsburgh's history of moving on from receivers and how they could be a better team without Pickens.
He said, "I think we’ve got to look at the track record of trading wide receivers. There’s been and when to do it, what to expect. I was looking at a stat. There’s only been like three or four receivers that made it past the rookie contracts with the Steelers. It’s crazy."
Hayward added, "You had AB; you had Diontae Johnson; you had Hines Ward; I think you had JuJu [Smith-Schuster] for another year. For the most part, they know when to re-sign and when to trade, and we’ll see what happens. We could be a better team because of it.”
Cameron Hayward Says Steelers Could Be Better Without George Pickens
The names that Hayward said didn't have productive post-Pittsburgh careers. That doesn't mean that will be the case for Pickens, but history isn't on his side.
But things are meant to be broken, and that could be the case for the Georgia product. The 24-year-old has registered 174 catches for 2,841 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns in his career. In addition, he has a 16.3 yards per reception average.
He's looking to bring that big-play ability over to Dallas while his former teammates have turned the page and are focused on the players on their roster.