The Steelers and Cowboys made an unexpected trade Wednesday morning, with Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick being sent to Dallas in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Cowboys have been seeking another playmaking receiver to play alongside Lamb for many years and Pickens should be an excellent fit with the Cowboys’ offense. Last season with the Steelers, Pickens led the team with a 26.5% target share and finished with 59 catches for 900 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The Cowboys ranked 26th in YPA (6.4) and 20th in deep pass percentage last season (9.3%), but with Pickens, those numbers will dramatically increase. The 24-year-old is an outstanding outside receiver who is one of the best deep threats in the NFL. Last season, Pickens led the league in air yards (1,401) and in receiving yards on targets over 20+ yards (577) by a solid margin.
Meanwhile, Lamb is primarily a slot receiver who is a superstar in that role—50% of his routes came from the slot last season—and he and Pickens should counter each other perfectly. With Pickens operating downfield and a player that will garner heavy attention in that area, Lamb is naturally going to see less defensive attention and dominate in the middle of the field and in short yard situations. Lamb handled a large 27.7% target share last season and Pickens’ presence is going to hurt that number slightly, but Lamb should still continue to be Dallas’ main weapon and be one of the league leaders in target share. Pickens stealing defensive attention from Lamb outweighs the likely small decrease in usage for the receiver and Lamb will be a consensus top-six pick in all fantasy football drafts this summer, especially for PPR formats.
Not only should Pickens help Lamb, but Pickens’ arrival should be a huge boost for Prescott. Among 44 qualifying quarterbacks last season, Prescott ranked 23rd in YPA (6.9) and 16th in aDOT (8.3), which is a result of the Cowboys lacking a reliable deep threat. Prescott’s YPA should dramatically increase with Pickens in town and Prescott should get back to being one of the league leaders in passing yards in 2025, barring another injury that cuts his season short.
Prescott only played in eight games last season due to a hamstring injury, but he had played in at least 16 games in six of his first eight seasons before this. Coming off the injury, Prescott should get slept on in fantasy drafts and he will be one of the best late round quarterbacks to peruse.
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