CeeDee Lamb needed only three words to describe what he and George Pickens could become in 2026. Asked by Dallas Cowboys reporter Nicole Hutchison during the game broadcast, Lamb answered, “The best ever.” If the Pittsburgh Steelers had kept Pickens, that answer could've fit a Pickens-DK Metcalf pairing just as easily.
Pittsburgh knew Pickens owned that kind of ceiling. Before the May 2025 trade, he caught 174 passes for 2,841 yards and 12 touchdowns across three seasons. His 1,140 yards in 2023 were a career high then, despite spending those years catching passes from an unsettled quarterback rotation.
Dallas sent a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder for Pickens and a 2027 sixth-rounder. The main return became Penn State quarterback Drew Allar at No. 76. The Steelers chose draft capital after Mike Tomlin decided the receiver's penalties, sideline frustration and week-to-week maintenance weren't worth another contract year.
George Pickens became the Dallas Cowboys star the Pittsburgh Steelers expected
Pickens answered with career highs across the board in 2025, catching 93 passes for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns over 17 games. Those totals beat his previous bests of 63 catches, 1,140 yards and five scores. Now 25, he has 267 receptions, 4,270 yards and 21 touchdowns in 65 career games. He also made his first Pro Bowl and earned second-team All-Pro honors.
Lamb helped unlock that jump without turning Pickens into a complementary piece. With weapons at his disposal, Dak Prescott could punish defenses with Pickens winning downfield at 15.4 yards per catch. Pittsburgh had tried to create that same setup by trading for Metcalf two months before it dealt Pickens. With another big receiver commanding safety help, Pickens would've seen more isolated matchups.
Tomlin had already reached his limit, though, and the timing made the decision sting once Pickens behaved and produced in Dallas. The talent evaluation was never Pittsburgh's mistake. The Steelers questioned whether they could count on the player attached to it for another season, then watched a better offensive environment bring out Pickens' most complete football.
Mike McCarthy would've loved taking a crack at that version of Pickens. An offensive-minded coach who featured receivers throughout his career could've built weekly answers around Pickens and Metcalf without asking either to serve as a decoy. Dallas later used the $27.3 million franchise tag to keep Pickens for 2026.
McCarthy's Cowboys contract expired in January 2025, and Pickens arrived in May. He missed one of the league's nastiest receiver pairings by four months.
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