Pickens sees 11 targets, goes for 82 yards vs. BAL

The Cowboys face the Eagles in Week 7’s Monday Night Football game, giving Pickens an extra day to recover. ESPN’s Todd Archer said yesterday that Pickens has been icing his shoulder in-game during the Cowboys’ last two games. He encouragingly practiced in full today. Start him as a WR2 as usual this week.

Reliable ESPN beat reporter Todd Archer notes that Pickens has had ice on his shoulder during the Cowboys’ last two games. He does not think that this injury threatens Pickens’ Week 7 availability. Thanks, Todd. Ideally, Pickens jumps back up to full participation tomorrow, and we head into Sunday carefree. Stay tuned.

Pickens was targeted just once in the first half as the Cowboys were held under 100 yards of total offense before the break. He would remain quiet through the third quarter, adding a single catch to his ledger on two additional targets before seeing eight looks in the final frame with the Cowboys in desperation mode. The 11 targets finished second on the team to CeeDee Lamb’s 18 while the 73 yards slightly edged the 70 of Lamb. Pickens remains an upside WR2 ahead of a divisional matchup against the inside-funnel Eagles’ secondary in Week 7.

Pickens was the primary target throughout the game against the single-high-heavy Buccaneers, scoring a late fourth quarter touchdown to cap off his first impressive fantasy outing of the young season. Furthermore, fellow receiver CeeDee Lamb departed the game in the fourth quarter with a quad injury that he was unable to play through, potentially setting up Pickens for immense volume in a Week 6 meeting with the Packers at Lambeau. Fantasy managers have patiently watched as Lamb stole the show through the first four games of 2026, but it now appears as if Pickens will have his time to shine, pending the severity of Lamb’s soft tissue injury. Pickens is a WR2 with Lamb active and a surefire WR1 with Lamb out.

He had a 53-yard mossing of Kamari Lassiter in the third quarter to set up a big Cowboys drive, and also wound up drawing two different penalties against Lassiter in the end zone to sustain a touchdown drive, one on fourth down. Pickens isn’t playing poorly, but the Cowboys simply are feeding CeeDee Lamb and it’s hard to argue with the results. Eventually the touchdown worm will turn and Pickens will be back on the WR2 line against the Bucs in Week 5.

At some point, things will break in Pickens’ favor, but it was not to be in Sunday’s win over the Commanders, despite Dak Prescott throwing for 279-4-0 and having just five incompletions on the day. Pickens hasn’t generated any explosive plays yet, with his longest catch of the season coming on a 12-yard gain in the second quarter of today’s game. He’s still averaging 7.0 targets through the first two weeks of the season, so hopefully the big plays will follow soon. He should be treated as a high-end WR2 in next week’s game against the Ravens.

Pickens picked up two early receptions on the team’s first two possessions, contributing further by drawing a defensive pass interference penalty that would set up a CeeDee Lamb touchdown in the second quarter. An untimely drop on third down near the end of the first quarter halted any momentum he had in the box score as he would go on to notch a lone additional catch the rest of the game. The Cowboys managed only 52 offensive plays as they were dominated in both total offense and time of possession, while watching their defense allow the Giants to go 9-of-10 on third down. It is likely we see much more inspiring fantasy production the remainder of the season as Pickens plays out the year on the franchise tag. He enters a Week 2 home showdown against the Commanders as an upside WR2.

The July 15th deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term deals came and went without Pickens signing a new deal. Cowboys executive vice president Steven Jones had said in April that “there won’t be negotiations on a long-term deal” with Pickens. The 25-year-old wide receiver showed up for mandatory minicamp and does not plan to hold out of training camp, either. He will play on a $27.3 million franchise tag and will either reach a contract extension after the season or enter unrestricted free agency in 2027. Pickens will be the WR2 across from CeeDee Lamb in 2026; both have ceilings in the fantasy WR1 range.

Solak’s prediction was among his bold predictions for the 2026 NFL season. Prescott having a shot at 5,000 yards, Solak said, would hinge on the Cowboys remaining a fast-paced offense in 2026. Last season the Cowboys led the league in play clock remaining at the snap and offensive plays per game, leading to 600 passes for Dak — a career high. The wideout duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb won’t hurt matters for Prescott, who has eclipsed 4,500 passing yards three times in his NFL career. Pickens’ downfield ability was reflected in Prescott finishing sixth in deep ball accuracy last season. “The volume will be there for Prescott to not just lead the league in passing in 2026 but to once again challenge for the 5,000-yard milestone,” Solak said. Quarterbacks have thrown for more than 5,000 yards just 14 times in league history.

Schottenheimer began this section of the press conference by saying that he was very pleased with Pickens’ playbook preparedness when he showed up for mandatory minicamp this week. He did not attend organized team activities, so this is great to hear. Regarding Pickens’ pre-snap alignment, he will not just play X-receiver this season — Schottenheimer notes that Pickens does not like doing that anyway. Schottenheimer plans to line Pickens up in the slot, and isolated on the front side, on the same side as the tight end. Pickens logged just 77 slot snaps last season and 891 out wide. Giving him more opportunities to run routes against safeties and linebackers from the slot will increase his fantasy-scoring floor and ceiling. Schottenheimer also plans to expand Pickens’ route tree and build elements of the offense around his strengths, noting Pickens’ slant route successes last season in particular. He’s a WR1.