The George Pickens trade immediately puts Brian Schottenheimer under pressure as Dallas Cowboys head coach in the perfect way
From the moment Brian Schottenheimer walked into the building as head coach for the first time, his message has been very clear: The Dallas Cowboys are betting on high character and strong leadership traits. How does trading for wide receiver George Pickens fit that, exactly? Though the football reasons behind the move earns the trade a […]
From the moment Brian Schottenheimer walked into the building as head coach for the first time, his message has been very clear: The Dallas Cowboys are betting on high character and strong leadership traits.
How does trading for wide receiver George Pickens fit that, exactly? Though the football reasons behind the move earns the trade a very positive grade, the deal puts Schottenheimer under immediate pressure.
The former Pittsburgh Steeler is well known as the stereotypical diva wide receiver around the league, mostly for his on-field behavior and fiery press conferences.
Simply put, he's a high-maintainance player and as he now joins a team in which he will clearly not be WR1 due to CeeDee Lamb's presence on the team. How things will play out is a huge mystery.
But if it's going to work out, it will be in large part due to Schottenheimer and the message he's sending to the locker room. If landing many rookies in the NFL Draft with strong leadership traits combined with the leadership already on the team translates into the right environment for players, then dealing with Pickens' antics should be doable and even easy.
As Voch Lombardi pointed out on X following the news: "You don’t build a leadership culture to keep divas out. . . You build leadership so they can lead the divas."
With that in mind, Schottenheimer's messaging and attempt to build his style of culture will be put to the test right away. The good news? It'll be put to the test with a player who backs it up in actual football terms. Pickens is a wide receiver who can win by himself thanks to his contested catch abilities and will go a long way in helping free up Lamb.
The bad news? If it doesn't work out, Schottenheimer's messaging could be rendered irrelevant very early into his tenure. But I can tell you this: The Cowboys head coach would absolutely prefer this hand being dealt than walking into the season without a true WR2.
Now it's time for Schotty to play the flop well.
