The Dallas Cowboys have a George Pickens problem. That’s not fun to say about one of the best players on the roster, and arguably the best player in Cowboys training camp this summer.

Pickens looked poised to build on a fantastic 2025 season. Instead, Dallas has failed to get him going through the first six weeks. To be clear, this is more of a coaching problem than a player problem, however.

During the preseason, the Cowboys talked about moving Pickens around and finding many more ways to get him the football. The theory was that they didn’t really know who Pickens was when they traded for him in 2025. As the season went on, they discovered he’s a more complete receiver than they expected.

So far, Dallas hasn’t delivered on any of it.

The effort concerns are fair, but so is this

I understand the complaints on social media about Pickens’ effort. When he isn’t the intended target, his routes can look lazy, and it sometimes seems like he takes plays off. You can find those moments on tape. Some of those concerns are fair.

However, the Cowboys could do something about it by getting him involved in a manufactured way.

Dallas likes to say it takes whatever the defense gives it. That works in the NFL, but you also need ways to manufacture touches for your best players. The Cowboys try to do that with CeeDee Lamb. When defenses converge on Lamb, though, I don’t see a plan for Pickens beyond asking him to win one-on-one on a comeback, a curl, or a go route.

Pickens is expected to win those matchups. I’m not making excuses for him. But how about moving him around like you promised?

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer acknowledged the issue on Monday.

“We need to [move him around],” Schottenheimer said Monday. “I think that’s fair. We need to move them around more. Again, I think when you look at GP, he’s able to move around. We just got to do a better job of moving around with the design. 

I’m glad he recognizes it. I’m also skeptical about how they plan to fix it.

The numbers show the opposite of what Dallas promised

In 2025, Pickens lined up out wide on 89.7% of his snaps and in the slot 10.3% of the time. That was already one of the highest rates for an outside receiver in the NFL.

In 2026, that number has gone up to 92.5%.

The counterargument was that moving him around doesn’t necessarily mean more slot snaps. It means not leaving him as the isolated receiver. Well, Pickens was the isolated receiver on 57% of his targets last year. This year, that number sits at 67%.

Against the Green Bay Packers, seven of his targets came with him isolated. And there’s almost no pre-snap motion with him before targets.

The Cowboys are moving Pickens around less and becoming way more predictable with a player they’re paying $27 million in 2026. Same routes, same concepts, no innovation.

Getting him going would also help Dallas combat the blitz. Right now, the only answer appears to be slants. Motion would help a lot. The offense has been static all season, which is wild considering Schottenheimer talked about using motion to gain leverage from the moment he became head coach in 2025.

Schottenheimer’s explanation feels like an excuse

Schottenheimer’s reasoning is that the Cowboys keep playing from behind, which keeps them from using motions and shifts in an effort to avoid the clock running down. To me, that’s deflecting to the defense. Dallas wasn’t in a 2-minute drill in the third quarter against Green Bay, but it played like it was.

It’s the same reasoning he’s used to describe why the Cowboys abandoned the run game on Sunday night. After Javonte Williams’ touchdown, the Cowboys threw on 37 of 38 plays.

Yes, they were playing catch-up. But that wasn’t hurry-up, abandon-the-run territory, and it’s on Schottenheimer as the play caller to see the difference.

There’s plenty that falls on the players, including Dak Prescott getting rattled by pressure and failing to slow the game down around him. But this coaching staff is asking its quarterback to drop back without motion and without blitz answers beyond a slant here and there, while asking one of its best players to simply win his matchup. It’s unfair to Pickens, and it’s unfair to Prescott.

The Cowboys get a long-ish week before facing the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. They didn’t make adjustments during their last long week, so I’m not sold they’ll find answers now.

It’s time to prove it on the field.