The Dallas Cowboys rocked the sports headlines this week after trading the Pittsburgh Steelers for wide receiver George Pickens. The Cowboys gave the Steelers a third-round pick in next year’s draft and a fifth-round in 2027 in exchange for the pass-catcer and a 2027 sixth-round.
While there has been a lot of excitement about the potential of a new dynamic duo with Cowboys WR1 CeeDee Lamb and Pickens working alongside each other, there have also been some concerns about Pickens’ maturity. But in an introductory conference call, Pickens addressed the concerns.
George Pickens breaks silence on maturity questions
Among Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s many grievances with Pickens were his issues being on time, skipping warmups, getting into scuffles during games, and even having to be restrained after getting into a verbal altercation with fans. In general, he showed several signs of emotional immaturity, and Tomlin said that Pickens needs to grow up.
On Thursday, Pickens addressed these concerns with the Cowboys media during a virtual conference, making it known that he’s ready to move forward and grow, and help Dallas improve on the field as well.
“I can’t change anyone’s opinion. Me, personally, I just continue to grow,” Pickens said. “Everyone in the world has to grow as you get older and older. I’m just trying to build a winning culture, which they already have at the Cowboys. I’m just glad to be joining.”
Pickens expecting a contract extension?
Pickens joins Dallas in the final year of his rookie contract, so many expect him to sign a long-term extension with the Cowboys. The question for Dallas is when. They won’t want to do so now, with defensive end Micah Parsons up for one this year too and with Pickens unproven as of yet.
But if the season does go well, they won’t want to let him go into free agency at the end of it either. Fortunately, Pickens isn’t worried about that at the moment.
“I’m kind of where my feet are right now, to be honest,” Pickens said. “I’m not really thinking about contract talks. I’m just glad to be here at Cowboys right now, you know, trying to build a winning culture.”
Pickens also said he’s excited to play alongside Lamb. “In the game of football, we can work off each other. There’s no, ‘Oh, he gets the ball, I get the ball’ – we’re working off each other. That’s why I always come back to, you know, building a winning culture and that’s kind of what we’ve been talking about in Dallas.”
Music to Cowboys fans’ ears. Although Pickens has dealt with inconsistencies at quarterback as part of the Steelers organization, he still has one 1,000-yard season in his three years there, and put up 900 last year despite sitting out for some games. In Dallas, he has a much better setup to prove that he can be a top NFL receiverwhich will naturally lend itself to a nice contract in his future.
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