It didn't take long for George Pickens to make his presence felt on the Dallas Cowboys. After a disappointing 1-2-1 start for Dallas, and with star receiver CeeDee Lamb injured, most NFL experts wrote off the Cowboys. However, Pickens is already proving why the Pittsburgh Steelers might have made a mistake trading him back on May 7.
In Week 4, with Lamb sidelined, Pickens racked up eight catches on 11 targets for 134 yards and two touchdowns. This remarkable showing helped the Cowboys to a 40-point offensive performance, which ultimately resulted in a tie with the Green Bay Packers.
Then, in Week 5, Pickens turned just four targets into 57 yards—including a 43-yard touchdown reception. Now the former 2022 second-round pick is on track to do something he never came close to doing with the Steelers: earning double-digit touchdowns.
From the start of the Cowboys' season on September 4 to Dallas' comfortable Week 5 win over the New York Jets on October 5, Pickens has put up some spectacular numbers. What's most impressive is that he's earned five touchdown receptions over the past four weeks.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens is on track for a career year with the Dallas Cowboys
George Pickens had a quiet Week 1 debut with the Cowboys when he recorded just three receptions for 30 yards. Since then, the polarizing wide receiver has caught fire. Through five games, Pickens has recorded 23 receptions for 357 yards and five touchdowns.
While this pace could slow when CeeDee Lamb returns to the field, over the course of a 17-game season, Pickens would be on track to earn 78 receptions, 1,213 receiving yards, and 17 touchdowns—all of which would be new career high numbers.
What's so head-scratching is that, as good as Pickens is in the red zone and boxing out defenders, he never earned more than five touchdown receptions in a year in each of his first three seasons with the Steelers.
It's even more discouraging for Steelers fans to know that Pickens is averaging an outstanding 9.6 yards per target and has a career-high 122.4 passer rating when targeted by Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, per advanced stats from Pro Football Reference. Last year, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields combined for an unimpressive 87.8 passer rating when throwing in Pickens' direction.
While we still wish Pickens the best—despite the headaches he caused in Pittsburgh—it's beyond frustrating to see him take a massive leap forward in his fourth season, and the fact that he's playing in a contract year on a new organization might have something to do with it.
Pittsburgh sent Pickens packing in the spring largely because they didn't want to deal with his antics for another season. But this hasn't been much of an issue so far for the Cowboys.
Still just 24 years old in his fourth NFL season, George Pickens is stringing together a career year for the Dallas Cowboys, and Pittsburgh Steelers fans have every right to vent about the fact that he's already proving his former team wrong.