When the Dallas Cowboys acquired wide receiver George Pickens in an offseason trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, there was no telling how things would go.
After all, despite his clear talent, Pickens was routinely a head ache for the Steelers, who shipped him off as a result of his constant behavioral issues.
While Pickens hasn't been perfect over 11 games with the Cowboys (he was benched for missing the team bus in Week 11), he has far exceeded expectations, and so much so an argument can be made that he's the team's No. 1 wide receiver.
Entering Week 13, Pickens has 1,054 receiving yards, which ranks second in the NFL behind the Seattle Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is operating in a different universe than every other receiver in the NFL right now.
Pickens is also just 86 yards shy of tying his personal best with six games left to play.
The Cowboys will have a tough decision to make on Pickens after the season, as he's slated to be a free agent.
Pickens' production says it's a no-brainer for the Cowboys to extend him, but Dallas is also paying big money to fellow wideout CeeDee Lamb.
Despite that, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is clearly moving in the direction of keeping Pickens in 2026.
"Of course, of course we are proud to have him and I don't even want to play games with it, we'd love to have him on the team," Jones said when asked if the team feels strongly about keeping Pickens, per The Athletic's Jon Machota.
Jones was then asked if he would consider talking to Pickens' agent right now about getting something done. To nobody's surprise, Jones isn't exactly keen on talking to anyone's agent.
"I don't just try to spend my day messing with agents as you well know," Jones said with a laugh. "I'm proud he's having the season he's having. It exceeds anything we could have hoped for."
Pickens' showing has been even more important when you consider the struggles Lamb has had this season. Not only did he miss multiple games due to injury, but Lamb has been a drop machine in 2025.
A Pickens extension is setting up to be expensive and that will likely lead to a tough negotiation.
However, the Cowboys also have the option to give Pickens the franchise tag, which will buy Dallas more time and allow the team to trade the wideout if negotiations hit a wall that the two sides can't get past.
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