FRISCO, Texas – Finding CeeDee Lamb a partner in the wide receiver room has been one of if not the biggest priorities for the Cowboys this offseason. On Wednesday, they found their guy when trading for Pittsburgh's George Pickens, who comes into town ready to turn to the next chapter of his career.
"I'm just here to work," Pickens said. "Whatever role finds me best is where I'm going to find myself."
For the Steelers, Pickens was the leading receiver in two out of his three NFL seasons after being selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Georgia. While his role will likely be different with the Cowboys alongside Lamb, he's not one to assign labels like "WR1" or "WR2."
"You guys making a 1A and 1B and all this, honestly that's the first time I've heard of any of that stuff," Pickens said. "I feel like two receivers are kind of normal. When I used to watch football, there was always a good receiver and then there was another good receiver on the side of him. I just feel like we're going to work off each other very well."
Both Lamb and Pickens have known each other for some time now, working together at times during the offseason through mutual connections.
"Just training," Pickens said of how he met Lamb. "No recruiting visits or anything like that, but all of us receivers kind of have certain trainers and some of us have the same trainers, so definitely training together previously."
Now, the two get to train together to play on the same team come Sunday. Pickens feels like he and Lamb's play styles compliment one another well, with his style being more down the field, contested catch on the outside and Lamb's being more over the middle, create after the catch.
"It excites me a lot, because in the game of football, we can work off each other," Pickens said. "There's no 'Oh he gets the ball, I get the ball,' we're working off each other. That's why I always come back to building a winning culture, and that's kind of what we've been talking about in Dallas."
At the end of the day, every wide receiver in the league is going to selfishly want the ball in their hands. Who wouldn't? With Lamb and Pickens uniting, it gives them both an opportunity to flourish since defenses can only divert so much attention to one before the other gets open.
"CeeDee is a super dynamic receiver, super dynamic person, player," Pickens said. "I just feel like schematically you won't be able to double everybody, so that'll be a great thing for me and him."
