The BEST Version Of George Pickens Is Coming Out With The Cowboys...

AtoZ Sports

Mauricio Rodriguez and Dallas Cowboys insider Joe Hoyt talk about the addition and arrival of WR George Pickens, and what it has been like so far. Pickens comes with a history of ego and maturity issues, despite being incredibly talented. So far, things seem to be going well, and his addition to the wide receiver room is a big boost.

Transcript

00:00So George Pickens is the biggest story of the Cowboys right now and we talked to one of the

00:05best Cowboys insiders in the game to get the latest insight. What is up everyone it's Mauricio

00:14Rodriguez here at ADZ Sports Dallas. We're going to jump right into the content because I talked

00:19to Joe Hoyt the new Cowboys reporter for Dallas Morning News and we discussed George Pickens and

00:26why we should expect big things from him in Dallas in 2025. I think the one name that has caught the

00:34most attention the entire offseason has been wide receiver George Pickens obviously is the big get

00:40he is the massive get I would say a controversial player because all of the attitude behavior stuff

00:45stemming from his days as a Pittsburgh Steeler player everything that we've heard though from

00:50the Cowboys has been positive. What have you seen obviously you've been there at practices and

00:56everything all the media availability what have you seen from George Pickens as far as how the team is

01:03reacting to his arrival? Yeah I think it's a great question because Pickens kind of comes with a

01:09laundry list a little bit of you know things in terms of having Pittsburgh he had a lot of confidence

01:14big ego you know I mean you have Mike Tomlin who has been committed to try and kind of doing these

01:19reclamation project kind of guys with receivers that are very talented but a little bit you know

01:24kind of edgy for a lack of better term and he said hey man he's got to grow up in a hurry and I think

01:28to be honest with you maybe those words in the trade probably actually adhere to the mind of George

01:33Pickens because all we've seen so far in Dallas is a grown-up version of George Pickens all we've seen

01:39is a very you know short spoken but well-spoken very I'm not going to give you the media much because

01:46I'm just going to kind of stick to the script stick to the programming and I'm not going to let words

01:50kind of be the thing that that shows off for me I'm not going to let actions in terms of you know

01:55demonstrative stuff be the thing that kind of tells my story I'm gonna let my play tell the story and

01:59I'll tell you what man like he he he's one of those guys when you get off the bus you notice him

02:05and then when you see him actually out there in minicamp and again granted off you know all they're

02:09doing is helmet stuff right now they're not on pads yet but this is a guy in terms of talent you can

02:14clearly see that this is I think the most talented wide receiver running mate CeeDee Lamb has had you

02:20know obviously Amari Cooper you know is another name there but when you think of Amari in terms of

02:24where he was also at that point in his career you think of a guy who is very you know technical very

02:29savvy and very knows how to get open in terms of pure talent dude like there was a uh it was in one of

02:36the uh minicamp uh seven on seven drills you know Dak he dropped back you know felt some pressures he

02:42had to roll out and George Pickens made this catch where he worked back to the the front pylon and

02:48almost did like not an Odell one-handed but in the same way where you kind of extend back

02:52and it was an incredible catch and the first thought I had is man in the two years I've covered this team

02:58I have not seen anyone not named CeeDee Lamb make that kind of catch so I think in terms of George

03:04Pickens coming in here he's saying all the right things I think early on he's done all the right things

03:09the question with him is what happens when all the right things on the field maybe don't go

03:13perfect what happens when 15 targets go CeeDee Lamb's way and two go George Pickens way

03:18is he really comfortable kind of being the one B to the one A you know as of right now all the

03:25indications are that he's ready to kind of take that role I'm curious to see when adversity strikes

03:29but this is a elite town man and I think the Cowboys you know they took a risk as he pointed out but

03:35there's a lot of reward potential here man yeah so much to unpack there just because you mentioned

03:40him being short-spoken and uh man it's noticeable we watch obviously the Cowboys interviews in the

03:46locker room and he's just he's just there so he isn't fined right he's not gonna he's not giving

03:51you guys anything I don't really remember watching many of his interviews when he was a stealer so I

03:58don't know if that's like uh the same way that he approached them over at Pittsburgh but I remember at the

04:04very least him having some explosive quotes here and there right him going after teammates going

04:09after coaches and as you said maybe in the context of the season because everyone everyone can be very

04:15professional when it's you and there's nothing to worry about but as soon as that first loss hits

04:20and as you said maybe in a game where all the targets went CeeDee's way and not his that is gonna

04:26be so interesting to watch like does that a mindset kind of shift or is it hiding right now what is

04:33gonna happen but there's definitely been some differences right in how he talks to the media

04:37yeah no doubt um I mean you've talked about explosive quotes I go back to there's a quote

04:43they had in um a ringer profile of him by Kevin Clark who's fantastic and to put it succinctly and

04:50to paraphrase you know his quote was hey I'm the best guy that in the NFL I'm the most talented dude

04:56I want the ball at all times and if I don't get the ball I'm gonna go for heads in terms of

05:00blocking I'm gonna try to take like it it's night and day compared to what we've seen so far

05:06you know there was even an incident where we were talking with him and someone brought up like hey

05:10you know um the speed with the Dallas Cowboys offense you know it's there's a lot of speed

05:15there and I almost saw George Pickens eyes light up because I think that he realized hey there's

05:20that's a talking point that I can cling on to and now use the rest of the interview because dude the

05:24whole rest of the interview he's like yeah man I just love it here I love the speed you know

05:28love the speed the speed love the speed um but you know I think too because I think at this point

05:36you start to wonder okay is this just a program response or is this the new George Pickens I'll

05:40say this though him and CeeDee Lamb had a past relationship and I think you know it's almost

05:45like when you get around you know a good friend or you get in a good environment and all of a sudden

05:50you know maybe the best of you comes out because of someone else I could almost see a little bit of

05:55that happening here or at least the hope that that's happening there's those two have been you

06:00know kind of tied at the hip almost they've been really good friends clearly there was a you know

06:05one of the things Brian Schottenheimer's kind of instituted is hey at least early on in minicamp um

06:10is like you got you know every play you got to run to the end zone if you got a chance to kind of make

06:14it there right but not only the person with the ball runs the end zone but someone runs with

06:18in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens having the two running together the end zone there was one point

06:23George Pickens had you know a nice touchdown catch that kind of would have been a touchdown catch

06:27ran to the end zone and this is the most we've heard from George Pickens so far all we heard was

06:31giggle and laughing and CeeDee Lamb dapped him up and they started laughing together because it was

06:36such a nice play so I think the the real George Pickens is lying under there but I think having someone

06:44like CeeDee Lamb with him and then having kind of what happened in Pittsburgh it almost makes the best

06:49version of that at this moment coming you know again we'll see what happens when the season starts

06:54and you know but I think that those two together CeeDee Lamb can almost be kind of the foil or the

06:59conduit that helps maybe bring the best George Pickens out I believe man that's that's certainly

07:04exciting and as you say like we from the outside looking in you hear all of these uh stories there

07:10was also the push-up thing where CeeDee dropped a football and then he went to do push-ups with them

07:15and and it's kind of like exciting but then also you get that you know that warning voice in your

07:20head where it's like it's just minicamp don't get too excited uh now as far as the talent goes you

07:26mentioned it we have not seen this in a long time not even with Amari Cooper because of the differences

07:30of how he won as a wide receiver Brandon Cooks was obviously here in a very different part of his

07:37career uh and didn't really ever I mean he worked out at times but never quite how the Cowboys

07:44envisioned him to at least in my opinion when you look at how he did with Dak Prescott during those

07:51early practices we heard that he was the guy that he was going to the most do you feel like that is

07:56true was was that was going on in minicamp and OTAs was there like a clear I don't want to say

08:02like an emphasis on Dak Prescott just targeting George Pickens I don't know if I'd say there was an

08:07emphasis um I think Dak was kind of spreading it around um you know I think that there was one day

08:12where I maybe registered one George Pickens catch uh and only maybe one target um but I do think

08:18that you know in terms of their connection that is something that is pivotal moving forward you know

08:22they're going to go on you know Dak's annual retreat soon and I think that I wouldn't be surprised if

08:27George Pickens is catching a couple extra balls out when they're doing things there um I think that

08:32this is a connection that needs to be on point especially when you consider that Dak Prescott is

08:39going to be throwing a lot of deep balls a lot of maybe back shoulder throws George Pickens I think

08:42that's where George Pickens can really use a 6-3 frame you know use that kind of Mr. Fantastic

08:47athleticism and in length that you know made him such a good target in Pittsburgh despite not having

08:53great quarterback options now that he has a top 10 caliber quarterback with him I think that that

08:58connection is going to be pivotal for the Cowboys moving forward and I think that that's something that

09:02he's already shown the willingness to kind of invest in I think Dak is obviously showing the

09:06willingness to it's going to be a pivotal pivotal connection between those two um and especially

09:11in terms of also I think it's going to be a pivotal connection with how C.D. Lamb and George Pickens

09:15kind of balance off each other one thing I kind of did able to kind of get out of George Pickens I

09:20believe and I don't think it was just a talking point um you know they talked 1A 1B I think that

09:26they're using those two kind of interchangeably so far if you kind of watch you know it's not just

09:30hey you're the X and then you're going to be yeah you know a slot and you're going to be on the

09:35outside I saw a lot of motion between those two and kind of a lot of interchangeability between

09:39those two so I wouldn't be surprised to see George Pickens in a C.D. Lamb role or C.D. Lamb in a

09:44George Pickens role come fall too and Cowboys fans are right to be excited about George Pickens

09:49let's see how that plays out follow us for more Cowboys content but also check out Joe Hoyt over at

09:54Joe Jay Hoyt in X

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