Summary
George Pickens transformed into a fantasy football star in 2025, defying prior skepticism with a 17.2 PPR PPG season for the Dallas Cowboys, including 93 catches and nine touchdowns. This breakout, partly due to CeeDee Lamb's injury, established Pickens as a top receiver. Looking to 2026, the author projects Pickens to remain a WR1, expecting both he and a healthy Lamb to average around 16 PPG with Dak Prescott leading a high-powered offense. Given his current WR11 expert ranking compared to Lamb's WR5, Pickens is highlighted as a superior value pick, potentially outscoring Lamb again and offering significant upside for fantasy managers.
Green Bay Packers v Dallas Cowboys
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 28: George Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys catches a pass for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the second quarter in the game at AT&T Stadium on September 28, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images) ... More
Since George Pickens was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, I was never a huge fan of him for fantasy football. Just because a player is a good NFL talent does not always mean they’re going to translate as well to fantasy football production.
It’s not that Pickens has been a bad fantasy football option, but what makes a player a good or bad pick is their ADP. For years, it felt like where you had to draft Pickens was much too high.
2025 is where I was completely wrong in avoiding Pickens. Last year was the breakout for Pickens as he had 17.2 PPG in a PPR format. Before that, Pickens never even had a season with 12.5 PPG or more. Some could argue that regression is coming, but the situation is now different.
As someone who plays in a PPR format, that's a big reason why I was never a fan of Pickens. Despite racking up solid yardage totals, Pickens never had more than 65 catches in a year before 2025.
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During that 2025 season, which was the first season Pickens played for the Dallas Cowboys, he had 93 catches, 137 targets, 1,429 yards, and nine touchdowns.
Part of this big year was that although CeeDee Lamb played in 14 games, he went down early in the year due to an ankle injury.
Lamb had been a fantasy football star up to that point with at least 17 PPG from 2022 to 2024. Last year Lamb had just 14.3 PPG.
George Pickens Fantasy Football Outlook in 2026
The big question with Pickens is if he can still produce at an elite level even if Lamb takes a step up. My answer to that is yes, and I’m expecting just a slight dip, but Pickens can still finish as a WR1 in fantasy football.
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Based on what I’ve seen from both wide receivers, my expectation is both produce at a similar rate, around the 16 PPG range. I would be quite surprised if one significantly outproduces the other.
To me, Pickens now has the best quarterback play of his career in Dak Prescott, and this offense is built to support two top fantasy options. When you get past Pickens and Lamb, Jake Ferguson had the third most yards on the team with 600.
There’s no reason to expect that to change in 2026, as the Cowboys did not bring in any notable receivers over the summer that would challenge either of the two receivers for significant targets.
George Pickens 2026 Fantasy Football Ranking
Between Lamb and Pickens, I’m drafting Pickens this year in 2026 fantasy football. The reason is that per FantasyPros expert consensus PPR rankings, Lamb is the WR5 and Pickens is at WR11.
For the overall rankings, Lamb sits at seven with Pickens at 18. I’m not expecting CeeDee Lamb to outscore Pickens to justify that difference in where you have to take each in fantasy football, and there’s a shot George Pickens has more PPG than Lamb once again.