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By the time George Pickens was dealt, it hardly came as a surprise given the chatter surrounding a trade from the Steelers. The Cowboys acquired him last week, but not because they won a wide-ranging bidding war. 
Few teams showed interest in the pending free agent receiver, Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show reports. Acquiring Pickens as a one-year rental would have provided a boost to the passing attack of any number of suitors, but the cost of doing so would be weighed against the off-field concerns which played a key role in Pittsburgh’s decision to move on. Pickens is eligible to sign a long-term pact with Dallas, but he is not focused on that right now.
Kaboly adds the Steelers were not prepared to accept anything less than a third-round pick for Pickens; Dallas originally offered a fourth-rounder but eventually met that asking price while also swapping seventh-round picks in 2027. In spite of that marginal return relative to the 24-year-old’s on-field abilities, his absence is not expected to be an issue moving forward. Per Kaboly, multiple Steelers players became “fed up” with Pickens over the course of his three years in Pittsburgh to the point they saw retaining him as something which could be “counterproductive.”
When addressing the trade, Steelers general manager Omar Khan said the agreement with Dallas came about in short order after the draft. Selecting a rookie receiver was seen by many as a Cowboys priority, and the team did indeed have a number of prospects on its radar at the position. In the end, though, Dallas elected to take the highest-rated players at other spots during the opening rounds, thus waiting until the post-draft period to explore a receiver addition via trade.
“We had a nice list of guys that we were looking at, comparing that to what was available in the draft, and giving up the pick versus picking one,” Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “And as you know, when you pick a receiver in the draft, you get him for a good number for four years, so obviously that was one of the routes we were looking at hard.”
For now, Pickens represents a one-year investment as a wideout to complement CeeDee Lamb. The latter is attached to a $34MM-per-year pact, so finding cost-effective receivers is key for Dallas. Pickens has amassed over 2,800 yards and scored 12 touchdowns to date in his career, one which has been spent on less-than-stellar Steelers offenses. A strong showing with his new team could put the Georgia product on track for a notable payday next spring, but improvement with respect to the factors driving his trade would no doubt be required as well.