George Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys
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The numbers on Cowboys star George Pickens have been less than stellar through two games, especially for a player coming off a season in which he caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards, both of which were career highs. Pickens hoped to parlay that into a big payday in NFL free agency this offseason, but the Cowboys instead put the franchise tag on him, and he is instead playing on a one-year contract (albeit worth a healthy $27.3 million),
Pickens wants to prove himself worthy of a big, long-term deal for the winter of 2027, but that’s not likely to happen at the pace he is on–Pickens has nine catches for 68 yards this season in two games. He has had opportunities–he dropped a potential big play in Week 1 against the Giants–but for the most part, he is living off short receptions.
George Pickens Posts Meme
Pickens, though, has not been complaining about his lack of production. Quite the opposite, in fact: He has been garnering double teams, to the benefit of fellow star CeeDee Lamb, and told reporters this week that as long as the team is winning, he is going to be happy to play his role, no matter his individual numbers.
But does he mean it? Or is Pickens just going out of his way to be accommodating in a contract year? He posted a meme of the rapper 50 Cent this week that had some wondering whether Pickens is actually ready to stop being the good guy and start demanding the ball.
Message to Cowboys?
As veteran Cowboys beat man Clarence Hill of DLLS Cowboys wondered on the site’s podcast, perhaps the Pickens meme was a sort of message–he can’t control whether the ball goes to him, but he’d like it to go his way more.
From Hill: “I think Pickens is trying to say the right thing. As I said last year, he’s trying to do the right thing, he is trying to say the right thing, he is going over the top saying the right thing. You know he wants to get off. He wants to have that big game. He talked about it at the end of training camp, he walked off talking about, ‘I’m putting the league on notice.’ He knows what is at stake. He knows that him having a great season, putting up big numbers, gets him to his overall goal. He said the right thing.
“They send messages, subliminal messages, overt messages, intentional messages through their social media. It’s real stuff. He chose to put that meme out there.”
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Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including "Fun City," "Before Wrigley became Wrigley," and "Facing Michael Jordan." More about Sean Deveney
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