The Dallas Cowboys have struck gold with the trade that acquired wide receiver George Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers this spring. Pickens, who came to Dallas with plenty of baggage after three years in Pittsburgh, has been a revelation, catching 32 passes for 525 yards and an NFL-high six touchdowns through the first six games.
With Pickens in a contract year, the question hasn’t been how he can continue to develop alongside CeeDee Lamb. Instead, it’s turned into whether the Cowboys will give him a lucrative contract extension that could flirt with $30 million per season.
Some would argue that paying Pickens as soon as possible is the best way to fix this problem. But his path to getting paid may face an unknown challenge as Brian Schottenheimer told ESPN’s Todd Archer that Lamb would be “very involved” in walkthrough and will practice on Wednesday.
CeeDee Lamb’s Return Could Help Cowboys See What They Have in George Pickens
Lamb has been out since Week 3 when he suffered a high ankle sprain against the Chicago Bears. While Lamb has been sidelined over the last three games, Pickens has taken off, catching 19 passes for 359 yards and four touchdowns. The stretch has helped Pickens vault to the front of potential free agents for next season, but that production will be tested if Lamb returns for Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders.
In the three games with Lamb this season, Pickens has been a different receiver, catching 13 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has also documented a difference as Pickens averaged 2.24 yards per route run compared to 3.35 yards per route run in the three games without Lamb. Pickens has also been used differently, with an average depth of target of 7.8 yards in the first three games compared to 15.7 yards in the last three games since Lamb’s injury.
As you can assume, this means Pickens has been a wildly different receiver in the six-game sample size. If the Cowboys were to talk to Lamb about a contract at the beginning of the season, they would have been negotiating with a receiver that was on pace for 73 catches, 940 yards and 11 touchdowns. If they believe he’s the receiver he has been over the past three weeks, he's a player that is on pace 2,034 yards and 22 touchdowns over a 17-game season.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle and it happens to be between two wildly different pay scales. If he reverts to the receiver he was with Lamb on the field, it could entice the Cowboys to give him a lower offer or even let him walk and try and strike gold again next season. If he’s still a star, the Cowboys will have a high-priced decision to make by the time he hits free agency or the Nov. 4 trade deadline if Dallas drops a couple of games over the next three weeks.
It’s two outcomes that could play out as soon as this week if Lamb returns and have the Cowboys checking their finances before a crucial NFC East matchup.