The Dallas Cowboys traded for George Pickens before the 2025 regular season and things couldn’t have worked out better for both sides. Pickens posted career numbers across the board and the Cowboys offense ranked among the best in the NFL in plenty of passing metrics.
Heading into the 2026 offseason, Pickens is an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any franchise. But it appears best for these two sides to keep things going. Matt Harmon and Joel Smyth discuss the prospects of Pickens staying put in Dallas and why it’s the best-case scenario for fantasy football managers.
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Even with CeeDee Lamb as the alpha receiver for Dallas, Pickens was able to turn in a WR4 overall finish in fantasy football. He finished the season with 93 catches on 137 targets for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. Lamb would miss a few games but played in 14 contests, racking up 75 catches for 1,077 yards but just three scores. It was clear QB Dak Prescott preferred Pickens as the two developed chemistry throughout the season.
Smyth points out that there’s a lot of stability in Dallas that should be appealing for Pickens moving forward. There are also plenty of decent names out in free agency when it comes to wide receiver this offseason. Smyth takes a look at the WR free-agent class and breaks down which teams are in need of a wideout, plus best outcomes for some of the top names, including Pickens.
If the Cowboys can bring Pickens back with Dak, Lamb and the rest of the offense and coaching staff in place, we should see another strong finish from the group in 2026.
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Yahoo analyst Justin Boone has Pickens potentially regressing a bit as the WR11 overall in his early fantasy football rankings for 2026. Regardless, Pickens should make for a quality WR1 option next season.
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