Pickens finished with seven catches for 130 yards with a touchdown, and he now has a team-leading and career-best 88 catches for 1,342 yards and nine TDs this season. After being traded to Dallas from the Pittsburgh Steelers in the offseason, he is playing on the last year of his rookie deal and will be a free agent.
Despite his production, members of the Fox NFL crew said they still weren’t sure if the Cowboys should pay him.
Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens is pushed out of bounds by Chargers cornerback Benjamin St-Juste after making a catch Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Amanda McCoy amccoy@star-telegram.com
Terry Bradshaw, a Steelers legend who’s been especially critical of Pickens since he left the black and gold, maintained his stance against the Georgia product.
“I don’t care how great you are individually, but to win championships, everybody has to play for everyone. You just can’t have one guy going, ‘Well, I need my numbers. If I don’t get my numbers, I’m not running routes,’” Bradshaw said. “I’ve done things with Pickens when he was supposed to be in there [when he was in Pittsburgh]. He never shows up, never shows up, and it’s one of the reasons people got rid of Pickens.”
Fox host Curt Menefee said Pickens was an easy target and instead called out the Cowboys’ defense, but Super Bowl champion Michael Strahan agreed with Bradshaw.
“Nobody’s picking on Pickens, no pun intended,” Strahan said. “I just think he is a guy who when you look and you go, so much talent, the team could really use him in the future, is he gonna be there? What is their commitment to him going to be? Maybe because I’m getting a little bit older, when somebody kinda shows you who they are and how they operate, that's who they are and how they operate. So if I pay you all this money, and then you don’t show up, and you do this, that’s on me.”
Pickens has had a career year for the Cowboys, but has been plagued in recent weeks by questions about his effort and how that colors if the Cowboys should pay him like a top receiver in the league.
What the Cowboys do with Pickens will have a massive impact on the team’s offense next season, whether they retain him on a long-term deal, put the franchise tag on him or let him go.
Game schedule dates, times, locations
NEXT UP: Game dates, times, locations, channel
Rangers ▶
May 15 Houston 2, Rangers 0
May 16 Houston 4, Rangers 1
May 17 Rangers 8, Houston 0
May 18 Colorado 7, Rangers 6
May 19 Rangers 10, Colorado 0
May 20 Rangers 5, Colorado 4
May 22 at L.A. Angels, 8:38 p.m., CW
May 23 at L.A. Angels, 9:05 p.m., RSN
May 24 at L.A. Angels, 6:20 p.m., NBC Sports, Peacock
May 25 vs. Houston, 6:05 p.m., RSN
May 26 vs. Houston, 7:05 p.m., RSN
May 27 vs. Houston, 7:05 p.m., RSN
May 28 vs. Houston, 7:05 p.m., RSN
TCU Baseball ▶
May 8 TCU 3, Utah 0
May 9 TCU 3, Utah 1
May 10 TCU 4, Utah 3
May 14 West Virginia 2, TCU 0
May 15 TCU 4, West Virginia 0
May 16 West Virginia 6, TCU 4
Big 12 Tournament (at Surprise, Ariz.)
May 20 No. 11 Kanas State 9, No. 7 TCU 4 (second round)
Wings▶
May 9 Wings 107, Indiana 104
May 12 Atlanta 77, Wings 72
May 14 Minnesota 90, Wings 86
May 18 Wings 92, Washington 69
May 20 Wings 99, Chicago 89
May 22 at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m., Ion
May 24 at New York, 2:30 p.m., NBC, Peacock
May 28 vs. Las Vegas, 7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
June 1 vs. Seattle, 7 p.m., KFAA, USA
June 5 at Los Angeles, 9 p.m., Ion
TCU Football ▶
2026 season
Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), 11 a.m., ESPN
Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, TBA
Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, TBA
Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA
Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA
Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA
Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA
Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA
Nov. 6 at Arizona, TBA
Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA
Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA
Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN
Cowboys ▶
Sept. 13 at N.Y. Giants, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Sept. 20 vs. Washington, 3:25 p.m., Fox
Sept. 27 vs. Baltimore (at Rio de Janeiro), 3:25 p.m., CBS
Oct. 4 at Houston, 12 p.m., Fox
Oct. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from USC. He’s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.
