{"id":38141,"date":"2025-05-10T04:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T04:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/38141\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T04:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T04:25:09","slug":"nfl-rumors-insider-reveals-dallas-cowboys-pursued-other-afc-north-wide-receiver-before-landing-george-pickens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/38141\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL rumors: Insider reveals Dallas Cowboys pursued other AFC North wide receiver before landing George Pickens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> were reportedly eyeing a different AFC North wide receiver prior to their blockbuster trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> for George Pickens<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys addressed their desperate need for a WR2 by acquiring Pickens, giving up a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder. Dallas also received a 2027 sixth-round pick in the trade. Pickens recorded 900 receiving yards on 59 catches with three touchdowns last season.<\/p>\n

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At 24, Pickens brings undeniable talent but comes with maturity concerns. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin<\/a> publicly called out Pickens following a Week 13 win over the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> when the receiver committed two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just got to grow up, man,\u201d Tomlin said, via\u00a0ESPN<\/a>. \u201cThis is an emotional game, man. These divisional games are big. He\u2019s got a target on his back because he\u2019s George; he understands that. But he\u2019s got to grow up. He\u2019s got to grow up in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz has now revealed that the Cowboys initially pursued Baltimore Ravens<\/a> wide receiver Rashod Bateman before landing Pickens.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring their pursuit of a receiver, the #Cowboys also looked into a trade for #Ravens WR Rashod Bateman. Those talks didn\u2019t go far, and Dallas ultimately struck a post-draft deal with the #Steelers for George Pickens,\u201d Schultz posted on X, adding that the Cowboys\u2019 search for another receiver was a months-long process.<\/p>\n

Last year, Bateman reached career highs in receiving yards (756) and touchdowns (9) in his four seasons with Baltimore.<\/p>\n

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Bateman is currently under contract with the Ravens through the 2026 season after signing a two-year extension prior to the 2024 season. He\u2019s set to earn $3.75 million this year and $6.5 million next season.<\/p>\n

As for Pickens, he enters the final year of his rookie contract with the Cowboys reportedly planning to let the season play out before deciding whether to sign him to a long-term deal.<\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys were reportedly eyeing a different AFC North wide receiver prior to their blockbuster trade with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[117,7104,256,257,7,467,6085,1255,6,57,13052,2636,1119,1473],"class_list":{"0":"post-38141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-baltimore-ravens","9":"tag-blockbuster-trade","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-george-pickens","14":"tag-jordan-schultz","15":"tag-mike-tomlin","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","18":"tag-rashod-bateman","19":"tag-receiver","20":"tag-the-cowboys","21":"tag-wide-receiver"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114481641990427107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}