The NFL trade deadline is a little under two weeks away, and the debate over whether the Dallas Cowboys will be buyers or sellers is still going strong.

At 3-4, everything is on the table. Dallas could be 5-4 by the time the deadline arrives. It could also still be sitting below .500, considering the Cowboys have strung together a winning streak just once under coach Brian Schottenheimer, a three-game run last season.

A good chunk of the fan base has a clear stance: if the Cowboys aren’t 5-4 at the deadline, they should at least consider selling and start thinking about the future. And the name that comes up first in that conversation is wide receiver George Pickens.

A recent list from ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler and analyst Matt Bowen suggests that isn’t happening.

George Pickens is nowhere to be found

Bowen and Fowler recently put together a list of the top 25 trade candidates ahead of the deadline, complete with team fits. Fowler provided the insider perspective for the article. I went through it for one reason: to find out which Cowboys players made the cut.

Pickens seemed like a lock. He’s in a contract year, and Dallas didn’t commit to him long-term this offseason. On top of that, Fowler himself reported earlier this week that the Kansas City Chiefs have been calling around the league in search of a wide receiver. Plenty of people immediately connected the dots to Pickens as a possibility.

So I looked for him among the 25 names. He has to be there, right?

He’s not. He isn’t among the 17 players on the honorable mention list, either.

That matters because Fowler is as plugged in as it gets. Every year, he polls executives, coaches, and scouts to rank players at each position. He has broken several major stories around the league, and he has consistently had a good feel for what’s happening in Dallas.

To not include one of the most talked-about names ahead of the trade deadline is no small thing. To me, it seems like Fowler knows the Cowboys won’t be moving him no matter their record at the deadline. Keep in mind, the list includes seven wide receivers.

Maybe it’s a little bit of nothing. To me, though, it’s further confirmation that the Cowboys won’t be sellers at the deadline—which owner and general manager Jerry Jones publicly claimed earlier this month. 

History says the Cowboys don’t sell

If you ask me, Dallas isn’t punting on this season regardless of its record. The NFC East is wide open, and the New York Giants are the only team in the division that looks like it’s on the way up.

History backs that up, too.

When Dak Prescott went down with what turned out to be a season-ending injury in 2024, the Cowboys bought anyway. They sent a fourth-round pick to acquire wide receiver Jonathan Mingo. Last season, with one of the worst defenses in the league, Dallas went out and traded for Quinnen Williams.

To be fair, both moves came with a long-term plan. Mingo had two years left on his contract at the time, while Williams is young and received an extension from the Cowboys. Still, you could have argued Dallas should have been a seller in both of those seasons. 

So I don’t expect the record to stop the Cowboys from buying. Whether they actually will buy is another discussion entirely.

Two winnable games stand in the way

Personally, I think a 5-4 record means you have to buy. Put some assets into this thing. Maybe Dallas even goes a little overboard and lands a player who can help in 2027.

That’s tougher to pull off because it requires more trade compensation. A player’s value isn’t only about his on-field performance but also about his contract control. And that’s been the trend for the Cowboys. When they trade for someone in season, they want a player who will stick around for more than half a year.

The first step is beating the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. One week later comes a matchup with a debilitated Indianapolis Colts team that has been holding a fire sale. Indianapolis already traded away defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and guard Quenton Nelson. The Colts are thinking about the future, and they no longer look scary on the schedule.

Granted, with this Dallas defense, every opponent looks scary. But these are winnable games, and if the Cowboys take care of business and get to 5-4, they should be buyers at the deadline. For now, it doesn’t sound like anyone in the league expects them to deal away Pickens or anyone else for that matter.