These are the salad days for the Dallas Cowboys with wide receiver George Pickens. Everything is going great.
Pickens, in his first season with the Cowboys after being traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers in the offseason, has been lighting up opposing defenses.
Through 6 games, Pickens leads the NFL with 6 receiving touchdowns and is fourth in the NFL with 525 receiving yards. He’s coming off a bravura performance against the Carolina Panthers in Week 6 in which he had 9 receptions for 168 yards and 1 touchdown — his second game with over 130 receiving yards this season.
Things are going so good for Pickens right now, he thought it was a good time to sound off on his former team and how they “tarnished” his image by portraying him as someone who was toxic in Pittsburgh’s locker room.
Pickens Tries to Deflect Blame to Steelers
“That’s been such a vastly different Pickens experience than the Cowboys appear to be having,” Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney wrote on October 16. “Pickens has repeatedly talked about the closeness of the team and the wide receiver room. And his teammates and coaches have pointed out how much fun he is to have around in the locker room. He insists he was the same way with the Steelers, but that there were elements in the organization that sought to damage his image.”
So, what conspiracy or cabal sought to take down Pickens? That part isn’t totally clear.
“Especially off the cameras,” Pickens said. “I mean, I can’t record myself. Definitely, people can put stuff out there that can tarnish your image but I always feel like I was having fun.”
For several reasons, those are some wild things for Pickens to say. That begins with the fact anyone with a smart phone knows you can record yourself and ends with the idea anyone but Pickens himself, all on his own, tarnished his image.
Steelers’ Christmas Day Nightmare With Pickens
Imagine this — you’re an NFL team getting ready to play on Christmas Day, at home. Not only that, but you’ll be playing in front of tens of millions of people at home will watch you in the first NFL regular season games to stream on Netflix. And you’re doing it all against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
That was the situation the Steelers found themselves in on Christmas Day in 2024, and in the time they should have been the most laser focused — the most dialed in — in the hours leading up to kickoff, they found themselves dealing with a much different issue.
That’s because their star player, Pickens, was nowhere to be found.
“After the Steelers’ Week 13 win in Cincinnati, during which Pickens was flagged twice for unsportsmanlike conduct, the coach said the wideout needed to ‘grow up,’ ” The Athletic’ Mike DeFabo wrote in January 2025. “Pickens sat out the next two games with a hamstring injury. When he was finally healthy, how did he respond? By showing up late for the Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Tomlin asks players to report to games at least two hours before kickoff. On Dec. 25, Pickens walked through the media entrance an hour and 25 minutes before kickoff. That was after inactive players were announced.”
That’s just one example of Pickens being his own worst enemy — their are plenty more — and blaming the Steelers for any part of his failures should count as more of the same.
