Bad George Pickens Shows Up In Week 14

By Jared Smola | Updated on Fri, Dec 5 2025 1:55 PM UTC

The Cowboys racked up 416 total yards and 376 passing yards in Thursday night's 44-30 loss to the Lions. WR George Pickens came away with just five catches for 37 yards and 0 TDs. It was an even more disappointing outcome considering WR CeeDee Lamb missed almost the entire second half with a concussion. Pickens saw bracket coverage on most plays after Lamb exited. But he also ran a bunch of half-hearted routes and was not attacking the ball like we know he's capable of. Pickens ran a lazy slant on Dallas' first offensive snap of the second half that was broken up by CB Amik Robertson and intercepted by LB Derrick Barnes.

What They're Saying

Former Seahawks CB and current Amazon Prime analyst Richard Sherman called Pickens out after the game.

“George Pickens, throughout the game, especially late in the game, just looked uninterested. Uninterested in playing football,” Sherman said. “And that’s what you can’t have. If you’re going to be a superstar, if you want to be the best receive 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, you can’t just disappear in these games, or else you’re not going to have an impact.”

2025 Fantasy Football Impact

Let this serve as a reminder that there's a human element to this game. We can project player performance based on talent, past production, and matchups. But motivation is a variable that's impossible to work into a projection.

Pickens has been highly engaged for most of this season, which made Thursday night's performance in a must-win game even more surprising.

Fantasy owners will have no choice but to keep Pickens locked into starting lineups and hope the good version shows back up the rest of the way.

Dallas has negative WR matchups the next two weeks against the Vikings and Chargers. But both games are at home, so weather won't be a factor.

Week 17 brings a road game against the Commanders' 24th-ranked WR defense.

Jared Smola, Lead Analyst

Jared has been with Draft Sharks since 2007. He’s now Lead Analyst, heading up the preseason and weekly projections that fuel your Draft War Room and in-season tools. He currently ranks ninth among 173 analysts in draft rankings accuracy.