George Pickens and Richard Sherman Credit: © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK; © Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
By Sam Neumann on

Richard Sherman had some things to say about George Pickens after Thursday night’s game, and none of them were subtle. “Uninterested in playing football” is how the former Seattle Seahawks All-Pro put it, pointing to several snaps where Pickens barely got out of his stance and showed little urgency in a 44–30 loss to the Detroit Lions.

“The big story here is George Pickens,” Sherman claimed during Prime Video’s postgame show. “George Pickens, throughout the game, especially late in the game, just looked uninterested. Uninterested in playing football. And that’s what you can’t have. If you’re going to be a superstar, if you want to be the best receiver in the National Football League, you can’t ever be disengaged. It doesn’t matter if the game’s going your way or not going your way.”

Pickens finished with five catches for 37 yards in a game where the Cowboys desperately needed him to step up after CeeDee Lamb left with a concussion in the third quarter. Instead, he looked like a receiver stuck in neutral, with Sherman highlighting several routes where Pickens jogged through his assignments rather than driving toward the ball.

“You can’t just disappear in these games, or else you’re not gonna have impact,” Sherman said. “You’re the guy. You’re the guy. CeeDee Lamb is not in this game. He’s out. You can’t be the guy and half-ass it. I’m sorry. It’s unacceptable.”

Pickens is playing on the final year of his rookie deal. ESPN reported this week that people around the league expect him to target the $30 million-plus range that nine receivers currently make. The Cowboys have been interested in keeping him, and there was buzz before Thursday that he “ain’t leaving” Dallas.

The early signs are that Dallas is not afraid of the franchise tag number. “He ain’t leaving,” a team source predicted.

“If you’re the Dallas Cowboys and you’re looking at him and you’re looking to pay him big-time receiver money, $40 million, you gotta look at this tape and say, ‘Hey, is this a guy we can trust paying $40 million to show up regardless of circumstance?'” Sherman asked. “I don’t know.”

Pickens has been tremendous this season. He came over from Pittsburgh in May and posted career highs with 78 catches, 1,179 yards, and eight touchdowns through 13 games. He’s been one of the best receivers in football and has shown he can handle being the top guy when Lamb was out earlier in the year.

Sherman knows what makes a great receiver because he spent his career facing the best ones in the league. When he says someone looked disengaged, people listen. When he says that disengagement should matter in contract talks, those questions follow a player around.

And it followed Pickens around in the immediate aftermath of Thursday’s loss.

“For myself personally, you can’t just disappear,” he told reporters. He also pointed to the defensive attention he saw with Lamb out and suggested Sherman, a former defensive back, would understand that.

Dallas has a mini-bye before it faces Minnesota on Sunday Night Football in Week 15. The Cowboys need to win out and get help just to make the playoffs. They also need to figure out which version of Pickens they’re getting the rest of the way. The one who torched defenses for 1,100-plus yards, or the one who put up 37 yards and cruised through routes on Thursday night. Sherman made it clear which one showed up in Detroit, and he made it clear what that should mean when the Cowboys decide whether to pay him.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann