Cowboys WR George Pickens ‘having fun’ in Dallas in what’s already become a career year

FRISCO, Texas — The Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver curse is being laid to rest in Dallas this season. 

There has been a longstanding trend of explosive wide receivers to exit the Steelers and then experience sharp declines in their respective careers. New Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens is currently en route to burying that narrative five weeks into 2025 after being traded off the Steelers along with a 2027 sixth-round pick in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick. His five receiving touchdowns in five games are tied for the second-most in the NFL as well as his single-season career of five he set back in 2023. 

“I’ll probably say just one day at a time, but most definitely like you said, it’s a career high. All I can say is the guys, Dak, young o-line [are] stepping up. Because it’s my first year [here], so they’re helping me out as well,” Pickens said on Wednesday.

 Another narrative about Pickens centered around his perceived immaturity and bad attitude in Pittsburgh with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin publicly ripping the now-24-year-old last season and declaring he needed to “grow up.” That’s not the Pickens that has shown up in Dallas. 

“I would just say with him, he [Pickens] brings the energy man,” Cowboys All-Pro kick returner and return man KaVontae Turpin said Wednesday. “Everybody says he’s this type of guy, but I say he’s a goofy guy, man. He’s always smiling and always wants to make sure everybody else is smiling. So that’s my guy. We’re always trying to make everybody smile in the building.”

Catching five touchdowns in five games and the Cowboys being off to a 2-2-1 start to the season has Pickens in a great mood through the first quarter of the season. 

“I feel like I’m having fun. That’s the thing, I feel like I was always having fun. I just feel like the narrative never showed me having fun,” Pickens said. “I feel like right now it’s a good thing for the team.”   

Being able to essentially speak touchdowns into existence with Dallas is also pretty fun. Quarterback Dak Prescott told Pickens to just run deep in the huddle at the Jets in Week 5, and that’s exactly what he did as Prescott hit him for a 43-yard bomb of a touchdown on Jets All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner. 

“Yeah, a lot of hand fighting, knowing he was going to try to hold and grab a lot, so I was definitely trying to not get caught up in that mid-route. It was a post route, kind of got him off the release, and then Dak put the ball up,” Pickens said. … “Definitely trying to get a step on him [Gardner] because we know he can’t, he has a hard time playing the ball in the air. … I think we had a drive before that, we wanted to score then, but we went three-and-out. So when we got back out there, it was definitely like ‘let’s put up another one.’”

A year ago, it would have been unfathomable for Dallas to score 77 points in a two-game span with All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb sidelined with a sprained ankle. That’s exactly what’s happened the last two weeks in large part to Pickens assuming the mantle as Dallas’ No. 1 option. Across the last two weeks, Pickens co-led the NFL with three receiving touchdowns and his 191 yards receiving yards were the sixth-most in the league across Weeks 4 and 5. 

“Confidence is high. When you add a guy like George and guys who are just getting older, more experienced, whether it be [tight end Jake] Ferg[uson] or [KaVontae] Turp[in] or [Jalen] Tolbert then you got a guy like [Ryan] Flo[urnoy] that comes in and contributes like he does. It’s just exciting,” Prescott said on Thursday. “It’s exciting to understand, and when you get them all back, how many weapons you’re gonna have. Once again, there’s only one ball. So I think for the good part about it, right, is some guys can get their egos fed out, and get back into it later. Understand that this thing’s truly just about winning, and everybody’s number gets called, just who knows what day it is. … When you’re doing things right, you’re playing the right way, and you’re helping this team, you’re going to have success.”