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The Las Vegas Raiders have Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty, but are lacking that No. 1 wideout. With Fernando Mendoza projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Silver and Black might want to find him a reliable wide receiver.
Free agency doesn’t have anyone that could be considered a No. 1 guy, and the Raiders could draft someone, but they will need time to develop. As a result, could Las Vegas go the trade route to find the go-to guy for Mendoza if they select him?
One name that could be available and last season showed he can be a go-to guy is the Dallas Cowboys‘ George Pickens. On the Feb. 27 edition of “First Things First,” co-host Nick Wright urged the Cowboys to consider fielding trade offers, which would be an ideal scenario for the Raiders to fill that need for a top wide receiver.
“What can happen is [Pickens] can negotiate with the team, and then that team can go to Dallas and be like, ‘What do you want for him?’ And that’s what should happen. Listen, Jerry Jones, you won the George Pickens trade. You got George Pickens for essentially a third-round pick.
“You got a super productive year at $3 million, and now you are able to trade him for assuredly a second-round pick. What a great trade. You turned a third-round pick into a second-round pick and a super productive season from a player. Perfect. That’s what you should do.”
Pickens finished the 2025 season with 93 catches for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns across 17 games, earning the first Pro Bowl selection of his career, per StatMuse.
Cowboys Warned Not to Have Saga With George Pickens
Moreover, Wright believes the Cowboys should trade Pickens to address other needs and avoid the situation becoming a saga.
“[The Cowboys] have other glaring needs,” Wright added. “You don’t actually have this huge surplus of draft capital post the Micah [Parsons] trade anymore because you then made the Quinnen Williams trade.
“You also already have a very expensive wide receiver who, even though he wasn’t last year, is better than George Pickens, I believe CeeDee Lamb is a better, more reliable player than George Pickens.
“I like this move as a placeholder to a trade. I will not like this move at all if they don’t entertain trades and this turns into a four-month offseason saga because George Pickens is not going to report under the franchise tag.”
Raiders-Cowboys Trade Pitch From ESPN NFL Insider
As for Las Vegas’ involvement in Pickens, on Feb. 20, ESPN published trade pitches from its insiders, and Dan Graziano notes that a blockbuster move involving Maxx Crosby and George Pickens makes sense for the Raiders and Cowboys.
Graziano’s offer sees the Raiders getting Pickens and a 2026 first-round pick (No. 20 overall). Meanwhile, the Cowboys would receive Crosby and a 2026 second-round pick (No. 36 overall).
“The Cowboys likely aren’t going to fork over a long-term, top-of-market deal for Pickens, and franchise-tagging him could cause more problems than it solves (as it did last year with edge rusher Micah Parsons),” Graziano wrote.
“They get back Crosby, who will make around $30 million per year for the next two years and would replace Parsons. Then, Dallas could look elsewhere for its No. 2 wide receiver.”
Eduardo Razo Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo
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