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 ▶
June 29 Rangers 6, Cleveland 3
June 30 Rangers 4, Cleveland 2
July 1 Cleveland 9, Rangers 4
July 2 Rangers 10, Detroit 4
July 4 Detroit 3, Rangers 0
July 5 Detroit 6, Rangers 3
July 7 vs. L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m., RSN
July 8 vs. L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m., RSN
July 9 vs. L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m., RSN
July 10 vs. Houston, 7:05 p.m., CW
July 11 vs. Houston, 6:05 p.m., RSN
July 12 vs. Houston, 1:35 p.m., RSN
All-Star break
Wings▶
June 22 Wings 112, Seattle 110 (OT)
June 25 Las Vegas 99, Wings 84
June 28 Minnesota 85, Wings 77
July 2 Wings 86, Connecticut 83
July 5 Wings 89, Toronto 76
July 7 at New York, 7 p.m., ESPN
July 10 vs. Toronto (at Montreal), 6:30 p.m., Ion
July 12 vs. Chicago (at American Airlines Center), 6 p.m., ESPN, Disney+
July 16 vs. New York, 8 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
July 19 vs. Los Angeles, 12 p.m., ABC
TCU Football ▶
2026 season
Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), 11 a.m., ESPN
Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, 7 p.m., ESPNU
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, 9:15 p.m., ESPN
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
Oct. 18 at Green Bay, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Oct. 26 at Philadelphia, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
Nov. 1 vs. Arizona, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 8 at Indianapolis, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, 3:25 p.m., Fox
Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee, 12 p.m., Fox
Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox
Dec. 7 at Seattle, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
Dec. 20 at L.A. Rams, 3:25 p.m., CBS
Dec. 27 vs. Jacksonville, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Jan. 3 vs. N.Y. Giants, 12 p.m., Fox
Jan. 9 or 10 at Washington, TBA
World Cup ▶
All local matches at AT&T Stadium
Group stage
June 14 Japan 2, Netherlands 2 (Group F)
June 17 England 4, Croatia 2 (Group L)
June 22 Argentina 2, Austria 0 (Group J)
June 25 Japan 1, Sweden 1 (Group F)
June 27 Argentina 3, Jordan 1 (Group J)
Knockout round
June 30 Norway 2, Ivory Coast 1 (round of 32)
July 3 Egypt 1, Australia 1 (Egypt wins 4-2 on PKs) (round of 32)
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.
