FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys, as CowboysCountry.com was first to report, engaged the Pittsburgh Steelers at the start of the recent NFL Draft in trade talk designed to bring an "explosive No. 2 receiver'' to "America's Team.''
Part of the pitch, at one time? Dallas trading back from its No. 12 slot in the selection process.
In the end, Dallas got its trade.
Dallas got its man.
And the Steelers got what they wanted ... which is reportedly not a 2025 first-rounder.
In dealing Pickens to the Cowboys for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 Day 3 pick swap, many think Pittsburgh made its intentions clear: The 2025 season will be more of the same, but 2026 is a target date.
Meaning?
Underdog Fantasy insider James Palmer revealed the key to the Steelers trading Pickens for a 2026 draft pick, rather than keeping him or trading him before/during the 2025 NFL Draft.
"The compensation that they end up getting, this third-round pick in 2026 and this fifth-round pick in 2027 and the comp picks they are going to have in 2027," said Palmer. They are aggressively, to my understanding, going after a quarterback in the 2026 Draft at the top of the draft, which is a better class than this past one."
In other words, one of the reasons Dallas wasn't able to make the Pickens deal until after the draft is because Pittsburgh wasn't interested in the initial pitch of a 2025 first-rounder.
Pittsburgh - still flirting with Aaron Rodgers for this year - is eyeing next year.
There’s no guarantee that Texas' Arch Manning comes out in 2026. But LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and others are highly regarded.
"People were talking about a George Pickens trade during the draft," Palmer said. "(But the Steelers) didn't want 2025 capital, they wanted 2026 capital because that is where the talent is at quarterback."
It’s too early to tell the full impact of the Pickens deal, for both Dallas and Pittsburgh. But we already knew the Cowboys' plan here. And this new detail illuminates what Pittsburgh is thinking.