Fantasy Football Reaction: George Pickens Trade
Since the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft on April 26th, the league has been relatively quiet after a busy offseason. This quiet was quickly upended on Wednesday when the Steelers and Cowboys agreed to a very unexpected trade that would send former Georgia standout wide receiver George Pickens to Dallas in exchange for a 2026 third-round selection and a 2027 late-round pick swap. Pickens, who was drafted 52nd overall in 2022, is now entering the final year of his rookie deal — this makes 2025 a contract year.
Let’s consider the now vastly different fantasy landscape since the completion of the deal.
George Pickens
Obviously, George Pickens will be the most affected player from his trade. First off, he will likely be supported by the best quarterback of his young career. Having played with five different quarterbacks in his three seasons as a Steeler, Pickens will now have the chance to prove himself with Dak Prescott, a quarterback who is proven in his own right. Though Prescott may be a polarizing quarterback, there is no doubt that he will be better at supporting his wide receivers than whoever out of Mason Rudolph and rookie Will Howard wins the coveted Pittsburgh quarterback role.
During Pickens’ time in Pittsburgh, the Steelers ranked 27th in offensive touchdowns and 31st in passing touchdowns. In that same period, Dallas ranked 9th and 8th, respectively. This new offense will be much more than a change of scenery — it will be a much stronger offense.
Not only will his new offense be stronger, but it will also be much more pass-friendly. The Steelers passed the ball at the 7th-lowest rate during George Pickens’ tenure.
Arthur Smith’s run-first system only made this problem worse for Steelers pass-catchers when he joined the team as offensive coordinator in 2024, and Pittsburgh threw the ball at an even lower rate.
It is time to address the CeeDee Lamb-sized elephant in the room: George Pickens will have a very talented new teammate lining up on the outside. Lamb is one of the premier pass-catchers in the league, and while some may argue that Pickens will lose targets and struggle more as a WR2, I’d argue that Lamb will improve Pickens’ fantasy outlook. Like shoes and chopsticks, high-level wide receivers come best in pairs. Lamb and Pickens will take the pressure off one another by forcing teams to respect the abilities of both. This will open up many more opportunities for both receivers, and I predict they will perform better together than alone.
While the fantasy outlook for Pickens has changed the most since the deal, there are various other players on both teams who we must also reevaluate.
Dak Prescott
Though coming off a season-ending hamstring injury in Week 9 of 2024, the case for Dak Prescott to return to fantasy greatness is quite simple. He will now have a stronger offensive line thanks to the first-round investment of Tyler Booker (who became the highest-drafted interior offensive lineman of 2025) and, of course, the man of the hour, George Pickens. More protection and now two high-end wide receivers will give him the opportunity to return to the elite level we are used to seeing, barring further injuries.
CeeDee Lamb
For the same reasons as stated earlier with George Pickens, CeeDee Lamb will benefit from having another talented pass-catcher on the field.
ceedee lamb and george pickens is such a cool wide receiver duo. both rank highly in ESPN's receiver ratings and in yards per route run these past two seasons
pickens should be able to reignite the deep ball in dallas' offense while lamb can work out of the slot and get his… pic.twitter.com/VnW39wBaOt
— Tej Seth (@tejfbanalytics) May 7, 2025
As George Pickens stretches the field as a deep threat, more space will open up for CeeDee Lamb underneath, making this wide receiver pairing a match made in heaven.
As can be seen by the glorious heat maps shown above courtesy of TruMedia (@TruMediaSports), Pickens stretches the field vertically and horizontally, opening up the field for CeeDee Lamb, who specializes in the middle. This culminates in a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses.
D.K. Metcalf
While everyone is livin’ large in Dallas, I do not predict as bright of a fantasy season in Pittsburgh. In another quite surprising trade earlier this offseason, D.K. Metcalf was sent to the City of Bridges in exchange for a similar trade package as his teammate of two months. After spending each of his first six seasons in Seattle, Metcalf will be plugged into the same, dreary wide receiver situation in which George Pickens spent the beginning of his career. A run-first offense led by Arthur Smith, an uncertain quarterback situation, and now poor surrounding receiving talent spell out nothing but trouble for a wide receiver who already had been struggling to put up consistent fantasy production in Seattle.
Conclusion
George Pickens’ trade to the Dallas Cowboys will be very beneficial for his own fantasy value as well as that of the entire Dallas offense, most notably that of Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. In the first year under Brian Schottenheimer’s leadership as the newly appointed head coach in Dallas and the last year of Pickens’ rookie contract, 2025 is a big year for the Cowboys offense. If Pickens is able to translate his skills and athleticism to his new team, Dallas can prove many people wrong.
Comments
This is definitely a high risk, high reward move by the Cowboys. Personality issues and character flaws have never been an issue in Dallas. Despite the risk though, I think it is only mitigated to this season since Pickens is not signing an extension with Dallas. If it this ends in a disaster, the Cowboys can get him out of here as quickly as he came.
Nice evaluation Jack. Go Cowboys, this is our year!