The George Pickens Trade to Dallas is just Another Episode of Jerry's World

This is nothing new with the Dallas Cowboys. Going after a young, rising star receiver or one who is already an established star in the league to boost their offense into skyrocketing success. Hoping the transaction would eventually lead the franchise to another world title or more. George Pickens is certainly a star who has been inching closer and closer to grasping his full potential.

For the past three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pickens accumulated 12 touchdowns, 174 receptions, and over 28 hundred receiving yards on an average of 16.3 yards per catch. George earned no less than 800 receiving yards, 50 catches, and an average of 15 yards per catch in each of his first three seasons in the league. While only producing one season of a thousand yards receiving and have yet to score a double-digit number of touchdowns for a season. All of these statistics in a lost Steelers offense that has had five different quarterbacks start during those three seasons that Pickens was there, while dealing with unimaginative play designs for the offense.

George Pickens could have eclipsed a thousand yards for the second season in a row last season. But that quest was halted by a three-game absence in December due to being listed on the injury reserve list. He became one hundred yards short of that goal by the end of the regular season. His bizarre athleticism, supreme hands, and knack for making the big play at crucial moments of a game make him much more than just a number two target to CeeDee Lamb, someone who you can't deny the fact of being an NFL superstar. As exciting as this seems to be and how much this duo could work out for Dallas' passing game, this should bring a flashback of 2008 to the minds of Cowboys fans.

October 14, 2008: The Roy Williams Trade

Coming off a 13-3 season in 2007 that ended in a disappointing playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl 42 champion New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys came into the 2008 season as Super Bowl favorites. During the 2008 season, after a stunning overtime loss to the Cardinals, the Cowboys decided to go after big fish before the trade deadline. Jones traded three draft picks for the following year's draft. The draft package included a first-rounder, a third-rounder, and a sixth-rounder for Pro Bowl wideout Roy Williams from the Detroit Lions. The move was meant to create an unstoppable pass-catching trio out of him, Terrell Owens, and Jason Witten.

Instead, Dallas collapsed to a 9-7 finish to the 2008 season, while missing the playoffs after a 5-1 start. At the point of the season when they were standing at 8-4, they lost three of their final four games to the Steelers, Ravens, and Eagles. The season in which they were favorites to go to the Super Bowl would just be known as the last season they would play at old Texas Stadium, and the last time TO would be seen in a Cowboys uniform. In his debut season with the Cowboys, Williams played 10 games, caught all of 19 passes for 198 receiving yards, and a lone touchdown, spending just two more seasons in DFW.

February 12, 2000: The Joey Galloway Trade

From 1995 through 1998, Joey Galloway for the Seattle Seahawks was one of the most marvelous football players in the NFL to watch. It was like throwing the football to Sonic when Joey Galloway was your wide receiver. Three out of his first four seasons were for 1000-plus yards, and he scored no less than seven touchdowns in each of his first four seasons. By 1999, he held out for a good amount of time due to his demand for a bigger contract.

That following summer, Joey Galloway would become a Cowboy. Jerry Jones got Joey Galloway from the Seahawks, giving them two of the Cowboys' future first-round draft picks from the 2000 and 2001 drafts. One of those draft picks would be the 2005 NFL MVP award winner, Shaun Alexander. After Michael Irvin declared his retirement after the 1999 season, the trade for Galloway was supposed to fill in that void left by Irvin successfully. Galloway would suffer a season-ending injury in just the first game of the 2000 season after scoring his first Cowboys touchdown at Texas Stadium against the Eagles.

In each of the next three seasons with the Cowboys, he would fail to produce a thousand yards despite playing at least 15 games in each of those three seasons from 2001 through 2003. In 2003, Dallas did see its first playoff season since 1999, but it was still a low production year for Joey Galloway. He only had 672 yards receiving on just 34 catches and two touchdowns in 15 games in 2003. Marking the final time that Galloway would play for the Dallas Cowboys, as they traded him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Keyshawn Johnson in March of 2004. Who also didn't fare so well in Dallas himself, failing to eclipse a thousand yards in any of his two seasons with the Cowboys.

October 22, 2018: The Amari Cooper Trade

Another Jerry Jones in-season trade that was just as successful a transaction as the T.O. signing was the trade for Amari Cooper during the 2018 season. Jerry Jones traded a first-round draft pick to the Raiders for the star wideout, and it eventually paid off dividends. In the nine games he played that season, his 725 receiving yards and six touchdown catches helped the Cowboys make a late-season surge to capture a playoff spot with a 10-6 record after a 3-4 start. His most memorable performance as a Cowboy took place in week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles, when he racked up 217 receiving yards while scoring three touchdowns. Including the one in overtime that won the game and the division for the Cowboys.

Amari Cooper would continue performing at an All-Pro level for the Cowboys. He would have at least eleven hundred receiving yards for the next two seasons and average at least 12.7 yards per catch for the next three seasons. Cooper would catch eight touchdowns in 2019, five touchdowns in 2020, and eight touchdowns again in 2021. During his time with the Cowboys, he would produce career highs for receiving yards in a season (1,189 in 2019) and catches in a season (92 in 2020). Dallas would taste postseason play twice during Cooper's tenure playing for Jerry Jones' franchise. As soon as CeeDee Lamb's rise to superstardom, the Cowboys felt like it was time for a change for Lamb to thrive as the man in this offense. So, they traded Amari Cooper to the Browns after the 2021 season.

May 7, 2025: The George Pickens Trade

Last Wednesday, the Dallas Cowboys did it again by trading a third-round draft pick from 2026 and a fifth-round draft pick from 2027 to the Pittsburgh Steelers for wide receiver George Pickens. The Cowboys also received a sixth-round draft pick from the Steelers for next year's draft. This trade can go the way they want it to, considering the many on-field abilities that Pickens possesses. It can go the way they hope it doesn't, considering his poor attitude towards the game.

There have been times when viewers who watched the Steelers for the past three seasons spotted Pickens throw fits on the sidelines, because he wasn't getting the football a lot. Times when he would cost his team yardage due to unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called on him for the silly, unnecessary antics he does. Despite his talents, he can be inconsistent. The Week 18 game against the Bengals is the latest example of how disruptive he becomes at times.

Watching that game, he dropped so many crucial passes. Passes that were catchable for anyone, even for a lineman. At one point in the game, cameras caught him being distracted by the fan banter, and it was in Pittsburgh, at his own team's stadium. The shot stayed on Pickens trying to confront one of the fans during the second half while the Steelers were behind. It might have been a visiting Bengals fan, but it isn't a pass for any player, especially a player of his caliber, to turn their attention away from the game towards a rowdy spectator. Especially when it is a crucial game and your team is behind on the scoreboard. Change of scenery can become beneficial for players at this stage of their career, or the move can become a roadblock for players like George Pickens.

Most players have become attached to their original spaces, and when they suddenly have to adjust to another space, they fold up. Sometimes, the elevation of a player's performance is decided by whether the system is a good fit for the player. Brian Schottenheimer is the new head coach for the Cowboys. This offense guru has worked with some of the league's finest wideouts over the years, like Tyler Lockett, Metcalf, Lamb, and Brandin Cooks. He has proven to be known as one of the finest play-callers in this league for a long time. Pickens may have found the right place for himself to bloom into a legitimate target for this offense that can once again become capable of scoring as much as they want and whenever they want. Their mission of returning to the playoffs isn't a long shot with the other solid offseason moves they've made so far.

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