The George Pickens trade chatter has been building, but the latest reporting points in one clear direction: the Cowboys are not looking to move him before Tuesday’s Nov. 10 deadline.
That comes from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Nick Harris, who reported that Dallas has shown no interest in dealing the fifth-year pass-catcher, even with the team sitting at 3-5. Harris wrote that Pickens is playing on the franchise tag after the Cowboys chose not to open long-term contract talks with him in the offseason, and that despite the noise around that decision, the club never tried to move him. Seven months later, that approach is still unchanged, according to multiple sources.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has echoed the same idea, saying there is “nothing there” when it comes to a Pickens trade. On The Pat McAfee Show, Rapoport said, “As of right now there’s nothing there,” when asked about the possibility.
Could a loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday change the conversation? Maybe. But even that doesn’t sound like enough to suddenly flip Dallas’ stance.
The bigger issue is what comes after this season. The Cowboys are not in a position to build around two expensive wide receivers long term, and Stephen Jones has already acknowledged how difficult that would be.
He said, “The situation we have with George Pickens going alongside CeeDee... I don’t know of any teams that really can pay two top receivers top of the market, So, yeah.
That’s going to be a real difficult situation as we move forward. We’ve managed to figure out how we can do it for this year.”
That doesn’t mean Dallas is boxed in by the cap alone. It means the money tied up at receiver would make it harder to strengthen the roster elsewhere, which is the real problem.
If the Cowboys do listen on Pickens, the return probably won’t be massive. The article pegs a second-round pick as the ceiling, but says that may be too optimistic given the contract situation. A third-rounder is described as the more realistic outcome.
And if a team is willing to offer that third-round value, Dallas should take it. If someone offers more, the Cowboys shouldn’t hesitate. There’s also a path where Pickens gets used to land help on defense, with an edge rusher mentioned as the kind of impact player Dallas should target if the deal is right and the draft compensation is minimal or nonexistent.
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