The Dallas Cowboys have a George Pickens problem, as expected. And they couldn’t be happier

George Pickens is now the problem he was predicted to be for the Dallas Cowboys.

After being told to grow up by Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, Pickens was unloaded in the Cowboys in a trade last April with “buyer’s beware” stamped on the package.

He was considered immature, a loose cannon and a problem teammate by those in the Steel City.

The Cowboys heard all the talk and the noise and proceeded with caution.

Now Pickens has truly become a problem for the Cowboys, much to their delight.

Brought in to be the No. 2 receiver behind All-Pro CeeDee Lamb, Pickens has been better than expected per owner Jerry Jones.

Pickens is second on the Cowboys with 44 for catches for a team-leading 525 yards and a team-leading and career-high six touchdowns in six games.

He ranks third in NFL in receiving yards and is tied for the league lead in receiving touchdowns.

Pickens, who has caught a touchdown in five consecutive, has stepped up as the No. 1 receiver with Pickens out the last three games with a sprained ankle, catching 19 passes for 359 yards and four touchdowns to help keep the team’s No. 1 ranked offense rolling without a hitch.

He has played so well that owner Jerry Jones now has a real Pickens problem that is he is only so happy to be facing.

Are the Cowboys, who made Lamb the third-richest receiver ever with a $34 million annual salary before last season, going to sign Pickens to a contract extension, tag him or let him walk in free agency.

Pickens is in the least year of his contract and part of his motivation for coming to Dallas and playing well was to hopefully cash in big as a free agent.

He is now on pace for career highs of 91 catches for 1,488 yards and 17 touchdowns, which puts him in the market for a contract of $30 million annually or more.

“I don’t want to sit here and… as you know, there’s even a competition to it,” Jones said. “He is doing more than we expected or could have expected, and what’s really special is he’s a real plus to have around the team. He’s a real plus around his teammates, he’s a great presence around those coaches, and those coaches really think highly of him.

“So he’s not only contributing on the field, he’s doing it as part of the team concept, which is very important and should be noted. But we’ll weigh [contract extension talks]. We knew full well that if things really went the way we wanted them to, then we certainly need to think about having some room available if we’re going to pay a second receiver at that level.”

The idea of Jones and the Cowboys, who traded the NFL’s best pass rusher in defensive end Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers a week before the season opener, paying two receivers at the top of the market seems humorous, especially when you consider they have the highest paid player in NFL history in quarterback Dak Prescott at $60 million annually and they have much bigger needs on defense.

That’s not even considering the fact that Pickens’ agent is David Mulugheta, who also represents Parsons and is the man Jones refused to negotiate with.

Pickens was aware of Parsons contract drama but said he wasn’t paying attention. He also doesn’t believe the issues Jones had with his agent will impact any potential contract negotiations with him.

Pickens would be open to staying in Dallas but said that’s not his focus at the moment.

“I wouldn’t mind it,” Pickens said when asked about staying Dallas long term. “The guys in the locker room are super cool, the energy is great. I always want to showcase my talents.”

“I’m definitely in the middle of the season, so I’m not fully, fully thinking about it,” Pickens added. “I just want to keep going and see how far we can get in the season as far as playoffs and stuff like that.”

One of reasons Pickens welcomed a trade to the Cowboys after spending the first three seasons of his star-crossed career in Pittsburgh was because he saw it as opportunity to showcase his talents on a big stage with a top quarterback like Dak Prescott for the first time.

The spotlight in Dallas that many people thought would expose perceived warts from Pittsburgh has actually allowed him to showcase his fun-loving personality, shedding new light to an image that didn’t always come off as a positive in Pittsburgh.

Certainly, no one is having more fun in practice and games or in the locker room than Pickens.

He has a different celebration for every catch he makes and more for touchdowns. He also has created roughly 40 different handshakes with teammates and coaches.

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer doesn’t have a handshake with Pickens because they are too confusing for him and the players consider him “a lost hope” on those things.

But he says Pickens that he has seen in Dallas doesn’t come close to the rumors out of Pittsburgh.

“You guys can see much he loves playing the game of football,” Schottenheimer said.  “It’s very evident. It doesn’t matter the situation. He just loves playing the game. His personality is truly infectious. We actually sit in meetings a lot and we just laugh about GP and some of the stuff he says on the field. No. 1: any pass he catches he practices a celebration, so that’s kind of cool. He’s got a lot of choreographed stuff. Some of the stuff he’ll do; like he caught a ball the other day and it was a one-handed catch and the safety was running over the top. I was asking him about it and said, ‘Hey, man, that was an amazing catch.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, insane, right?’ But he just loves it. What a great teammate, man. Seriously. Great teammate, and we’re so lucky to have him.”

“Again, when we got GP [George Pickens], everybody wanted to talk about him and his story and his background and all that stuff. That guy has been truly a pleasure to coach. You talk about a talented young man that loves to play the game of football.”

Pickens’ joy was on full display against the Carolina Panthers last Sunday when caught a career-high 9 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown.

Not only did he celebrate after plays but he was jumping over players to gain extra yardage and then he let everyone know about it.

“He loves football,” Schottenheimer said. “I would put him up against anybody in this league about how much he loves football. He doesn’t always love Wednesdays and Thursdays, but he works his ass off on the practice field. He loves being on the grass. I love the energy and juice he brings to our football team. It is infectious. I would never say receivers are unstoppable, but damn, he’s pretty good.”  

Prescott said the joy and fun Pickens plays with is contagious. He said he is having a blast playing and throwing to him, as there never any questions or concerns about Pickens’ elite talent.

“When you get to throw it to a guy like that, and he makes the catch, and you watch him do the – make the people miss afterwards, try to jump over them,” Prescott said. “He loves football. You see it on Sunday. I see it all throughout the week. There’s plays at practice, whether he catches a touchdown, and does a celebration, or catches a big play, and acts like – I don’t want to say, ‘Acts like it,’ – preparing to cut back and make people miss. That’s who he is. That’s the way he approaches it every day when he comes in. We’re crazy fortunate to have him. You see that every day that he touches that field. When he’s around the guys, he loves his teammates and he loves the game of football.

“It’s contagious and it’s fun to watch.” 

Let Pickens tell it. This is who is and who he’s always been.

He didn’t get to show this side of his personality or people didn’t publicize it the same way in Pittsburgh.

He had handshakes with Steelers players, though not as many.

Pickens admits to having the most fun playing the game since he’s been in the league. He credits the players in the Cowboys locker room and the environment and culture created by Schottenheimer for also giving him the freedom to be himself without judgement.

“I feel like definitely people can put stuff out there to kind of tarnish the image. But I always feel like I was having fun,” Pickens said.

He added this side of him as well as his ability to expand his game with a greater route tree than he got run in Pittsburgh was “definitely something that I wanted to showcase” with the Cowboys.

Now that he’s gotten his chance, there is no turning back now, which has presented the Cowboys with another welcomed problem with Lamb expected to return to lineup and reclaim his No. 1 receiver role Sunday against the Washington Commanders.

Consider it a problem for opponents not the Cowboys, Pickens said.

“I’m super excited,” he said. “I don’t even think the words can fully explain it…It’s another component of explosiveness that you can’t really describe.”

It certainly won’t be a problem that Schottenheimer, who also serves as the Cowboys offensive coordinator, is worried about.

“Well, I think what George has shown us over the last couple weeks is that we can move him around,” said Schottenheimer. “You know, I think, really, it took George a little while forcing us to move him around. The one thing that George has proven over these last couple weeks is our ability to move him around, which makes us more difficult to defend, because CeeDee was the guy we were trying to move around, right?

“I think it’s a great thing. And integrating them both in and, you know, there’s one ball — we know that, and they’re both really good players, so we’ll see where the defense makes the ball go.”