Steelers Trade George Pickens to Cowboys: A Gamble?

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00:00The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys agree on compensation to trade George Pickens

00:04from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Dallas Cowboys.

00:07On the surface of it, it's a pretty crazy deal because it's basically, let's just call

00:11it a third-round pick that's going to exchange hands, a couple pick swaps in between.

00:15George Pickens is a really talented wide receiver.

00:18But as we all know in sports, they say, well, okay, this guy's really talented.

00:22He's young.

00:23We'll probably get another decade if he's really good.

00:25You got him for a third-round pick, which means two things come immediately into play,

00:29Joe, number one, I want a new contract and I want a lot of money.

00:33Number two, why did that organization didn't want to pay him and traded him for a third-round

00:38pick?

00:38Because we've watched George Pickens make sensational catches, unbelievable one-on-one catches.

00:43The ability to be a dominant number one wide receiver is probably in his toolbox.

00:48But the fact that he's on the move, which means, boy, he quit on the Steelers a couple times.

00:53He didn't feel like playing some odd storylines post-game here.

00:56The Steelers move on from Pickens.

00:58Let's start here before the compensation and what it means for the Cowboys.

01:01Why did the Pittsburgh Steelers, Joe, get rid of George Pickens?

01:05Well, he's in the final year of his rookie contract.

01:10And they basically have not, shocker, they couldn't come to any sort of agreement.

01:15And Pittsburgh pretty much let everyone know that, yeah, we're open to trading them.

01:22Which means, of course, whoever he gets traded to here in Dallas's situation, they're going

01:26to have to figure out a way to be able to sign him to a long-term deal before he even steps

01:30foot for any games, I'm sure.

01:33That's what he'll do.

01:34But it was all about attitude with him, not talent.

01:38And again, if Pittsburgh could not reel him in, we're talking about a guy that on multiple

01:44occasions quit on his team, had shouting matches with fans going after other players.

01:50Like, he's just a loose cannon, and he's got to grow up here a little bit.

01:57Otherwise, you're going to give a guy another contract, a very lucrative contract, and what?

02:02He's going to, you're not going to be able to trust him to be able to stay relevant in

02:07the game?

02:07I, it's a tough spot here for Dallas.

02:11But Pittsburgh, they've seen him and known better than anybody, Donnie, and they just

02:15washed their hands with him.

02:16That's what it tells me.

02:17Yeah, you get DK Metcalf in town, so what was the immediate thoughts?

02:21Like, okay, DK's on one side, and George Pickens is on the other.

02:23Now, all of a sudden, you say you have your formidable one-two combo, and that's like the

02:28big three in the NBA.

02:29Hey, join three guys together to win a championship.

02:31Maybe on its way out at this point, but it seems like right now, the big three, meaning

02:34superstar quarterback, two dominant wide receivers, you're on your way to doing dominant things

02:38in the NFL.

02:39It's like, oh, you know what?

02:40We don't know who the signal caller's going to be, and we just anticipate it's going to be Aaron

02:43Rogers, who wants to go to the Kentucky Derby and go to Egypt and take

02:47Ayahuasca and then show up at training camp, which is probably what's going to happen here.

02:51But understand this, too.

02:52Like, you had Pickens, but he was uncomfortable in his environment, which when Mike Tomlin typically

02:57gets rid of a young wide receiver, it's really worked out in the Steelers' favor in the past.

03:02So now they're doing it once again, saying, this kid's got all the talent in the world.

03:05I can't get through to him anymore.

03:07And he wants more money.

03:08As Mike Tomlin says, right, we want volunteers, not hostages at this point.

03:12It seems like George Pickens was more of a, I feel like a hostage.

03:14I don't get the football, and if I don't get the football, I don't want to play football.

03:17You get the point of that.

03:18From the move for the Dallas Cowboys to get him, you sort of like it, though, because

03:22I always like to say, okay, what's the compensation of third-round pick?

03:25If it really works out for George Pickens, and he's a good wide receiver for the next

03:29five years, no matter what we pay him, that was pretty fair compensation.

03:32We got what we paid for.

03:34But also understand this.

03:35George Pickens believes Joe Ranieri.

03:37He's the true number one wide receiver on his football team.

03:40He's nowhere near that on the Dallas Cowboys.

03:42And also, you do get excited at times where it's like, okay, CeeDee Lamb's like, hey,

03:46man, great.

03:47Got another good wide receiver coming to the team.

03:49I was a wide receiver in the past.

03:51Wide receivers are built differently here.

03:53They have a lot of fun when they're winning and catching the football.

03:56They don't have a lot of fun when they're winning and don't catch the football.

03:59So also, if you are George Pickens, on a contract year where it's like, I want to be paid,

04:04you're not going to have statistics like CeeDee Lamb to get paid here.

04:07How does he move from the Steelers to the Cowboys and say, hey, I'm comfortable here.

04:11I'm just happy to be here, even though I'm nowhere near the number one.

04:16It's and that's going to be the interesting part.

04:19Right.

04:19And Pittsburgh, listen, didn't want to deal with it because it's not like Metcalf ain't

04:24a hothead either.

04:25Right.

04:26So you already brought him in and Pittsburgh's like, can you imagine these two not getting

04:30the ball and and basically going after one another?

04:33So you get rid of Pickens and now Dallas, OK, could it be Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper

04:40of the 90s?

04:42And absolutely could be absolutely unbeatable, but it could also be a total disaster in the

04:48locker room.

04:49The question is, who's going to take this guy under his wing and try to reel him in here

04:54emotionally because he's a train wreck and I never like guys who quit on their team.

04:59And he did that a number of times in his first few years there in Pittsburgh.

05:03It is crazy, too.

05:05And I saw he has like one of the fourth worst percentages of completions per passes his

05:09direction.

05:09Like, what did he catch 59 last year?

05:11But I had like 100 plus targets.

05:13It's like, hey, we understand we're going to throw the football for you to make catches

05:15and you do make sensational catches.

05:17But hey, man, you got to run the one concept that wide receivers usually struggle with a

05:21lot.

05:22And particularly number ones are sometimes when the play isn't designed for like you, the

05:25third option, it's up to you to run your route to take the safety out of play, to

05:29take the cornerback out of play, to take the linebacker out of play.

05:32And if you're not doing that, which he wasn't doing, the entire offense can break down at

05:35that point.

05:36Like, you truly have to be, yes, a number one wide out that gets the football, but be

05:39a team player when you know you're the route decoy and not the front end play here.

05:44And sometimes wide receivers are, why isn't that play coming to me at this point?

05:47George Pickens did a lot of that in Pittsburgh.

05:49But you see the statistics.

05:50You see the numbers and how talented he can be.

05:52And also understand this.

05:53He wasn't really in a true passing offense, per se, in Pittsburgh.

05:56It's like, hey, man, let's run five wides, get after it.

05:59You're going to have a hundred plus catches here.

06:01Let's see if he gets that type of action in Dallas, which again, we're betting against

06:05it simply because CeeDee Lamb is the number one target there and rightfully so.

06:09Let's switch teams here because this isn't about, hey, let me get on the field and play

06:13good football.

06:13It's about jersey numbers.

06:14We're not asking about, you know, George Pickens, what jersey number he will be.

06:17But how about the Cleveland Browns?

06:19What jersey number will Shador Sanders be?

06:21Been number two his whole life.

06:22Didn't get drafted number two overall.

06:24But comes in and goes, I guess I'll settle for 12.

06:27And it's not like number two is, you know, Miles Garrett's number.

06:31Like you have a veteran wide receiver that just joined the team here.

06:35And it's like, okay, I'll take 12.

06:37Are you surprised that Shador settled for number 12?

06:42No.

06:43I mean, again, it's at this point, nothing is guaranteed to him.

06:48If there had been anything guaranteed to him, I can promise you he'd have made a stink

06:53about making sure he got number two.

06:55But at this point, you know, you got to know when to say when.

07:00So take your number and make the team.

07:03And then anything is possible from there.

07:05But right now he's got, what do they call it, Donnie?

07:08Leverage?

07:09He's got none.

07:10Yeah, doesn't have too much leverage as a fifth round pick.

07:12But also, didn't stop somebody from their camp coming out to social media and saying

07:17like, oh, so now the Browns are going to draft him fifth and do him dirty and not let

07:21him get number two, they say, hey, we see you.

07:23That tweet slash social media post was deleted from his camp here.

07:27So, you know, it wasn't just like, yeah, man, I'm happy with 12.

07:30Now they feel like not only they were wrong by the NFL, by the Cleveland Browns, now also

07:34by the Browns not getting drafted earlier, but by him having a different number that he

07:38should not have.

07:39Amazing time.

07:40You got to love to see it.

07:41You got to love to see it.

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