Steelers trade George Pickens to Cowboys

Steelers trade George Pickens to Cowboys

The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for draft capital, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport was among the first to report Wednesday.

Rapoport notes that the Cowboys are trading a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick for Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick.

Full details:
— #Cowboys get George Pickens and a 2027 6th rounder
— #Steelers get a 3rd rounder and 2027 5th rounder. https://t.co/5WlzzxyqP8

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 7, 2025

Pickens, 24, was entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2025. Last year, he hauled in 59 passes for 900 yards and three touchdowns, the fewest of his career.

Over his three-year career, the Georgia alum has totaled 174 catches for 2,841 yards and 12 touchdowns in 48 games, which has included 40 starts. He’s been targeted 293 times over that span, by far the most of any Steelers pass catcher over that span. Only Pickens, Diontae Johnson (234) and Pat Freiermuth (223) have been targeted over 90 times since the start of 2022.

The Cowboys will now have to make a decision about paying Pickens. They already broke the bank for quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver Ceedee Lamb, who inked a four-year extension worth north of $130 million last August.

They will also have to pay Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland and Jake Ferguson, among others. The Cowboys already shelled out a fourth-round pick for Jonathan Mingo last year and now a third-rounder for Pickens. That’s not nothing.

As for the Steelers, they acquired-and-extended two-time Pro Bowler D.K. Metcalf earlier this offseason. At the time of this publishing, we still don’t know who’s going to be behind center for Pittsburgh in 2025 (any day now, Aaron Rodgers), but it was wise to flip Pickens for a Day 2 pick if you weren’t going to extend him.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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