Analyst floats wild George Pickens trade idea for Dallas Cowboys

George Pickens and the Dallas Cowboys proved to be a great fit. Pickens had career highs in receptions (93), receiving yards (1,429), and touchdowns (9).

That set him up perfectly as his rookie contract expires. Pickens can command a salary north of $30 million, and while he and the Cowboys have stated a desire to keep working together, it might not be feasible to pay him while CeeDee Lamb is already making $34 million per year.

To be fair, Dallas has the means to make this deal work, but their front office might be shy about writing the check. There's also the David Mulugheta factor. The super agent was front and center in the Micah Parsons contract negotiation that ended in a blockbuster trade.

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His presence means the solution might not be as easy as using the franchise tag. Mulugheta could always play hardball if a long-term deal isn't done, which is why K.D. Drummond of Cowboys Wire says the idea of another trade could be in the cards.

Drummond didn't predict whether that would happen, but just looked at what compensation could be on the table. To figure this out, he looked at recent wide receiver trades, including Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Marquise Brown, D.J. Moore, Julio Jones, and DK Metcalf.

What value would George Pickens have in a trade?

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens celebrates after a play against the Washington Commanders. | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

By assigning value to the picks acquired in those deals, Drummond came to a decision on his value. Before revealing his projected compensation, Drummond said Pickens compares most favorably to A.J. Brown when he was traded to the Eagles.

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"Pickens doesn't come close to the resume of players like Adams, Hill and Jones at the times of their trades, though all of these players were on the back ends of their career primes (Hill, Adams) or past it (Jones)," Drummond wrote. "His career arc seems much more aligned with where AJ Brown was, though Brown had a horrible QB situation too and was far more productive (at least scoring wise) than Pickens after three years in a bad org."

In the end, Drummond predicted Pickens' value to be between the 18th and 24th pick in the NFL draft. An interesting topic, but finding a way to keep this offense intact for Dak Prescott's prime sounds far more promising.

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