In and around The Star on Thursday, there was general disbelief among Dallas Cowboys players that the outside world had been discussing a George Pickens trade. Sure, the star receiver has not been having the same impact he had in the 2025 NFL season, he has not been the same reliable, over-the-middle slant threat, he had been publicly criticized for his blocking habits by coach Brian Schottenheimer and he had been hampered by an injury. All of those factors have slowed him down, but they have not made Pickens a guy the Cowboys want to see jettisoned from the locker room.
As fellow star receiver CeeDee Lamb, who has become one of Pickens’ closest friends on the team, said: “I don’t know why that’s a thing. C’mon man. Everything that I have been able to accomplish has been because of him and what he’s done the year before. Vice versa with everything that I’ve accomplished the year prior to that.”
Cowboys Never Contemplated George Pickens Trade
But yet, across the NFL, league insiders continue to put Pickens into trade rumors, or suggest that if the Cowboys lose to the Colts on Sunday, Pickens could be on the market. The Cowboys have only four NFL draft picks left in 2027 because of the high volume of trades they’ve made to date. Dealing Pickens would be an opportunity to recoup those losses.
But, according to Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, don’t bet on it. The Cowboys have not, and won’t listen to offers on Pickens. Jerry Jones has intimated he is ride-or-die with this roster, and that includes Pickens.
Writes Harris: “The fifth-year pass-catcher and second-year Cowboy is playing this season on the franchise tag after the team elected not to discuss a long-term contract with him in the offseason. Despite trade rhetoric around the time of that decision being announced, the Cowboys never engaged in trying to send him away. Seven months later, that strategy remains the same ahead of the deadline, according to multiple sources.”
Still, it would do well for the Cowboys to get Pickens involved in the offense, more significantly and earlier. Coach Brian Schottenheimer acknowledged that this week, and given the transition the Colts are going through, ahead of and during the Week 9 outing between the teams, this would be a good time to try to force the ball to Pickens more.
If he is not going to be traded, he might as well be better utilized.
Cowboys Make Final Trade Decision on George Pickens: Report