George Pickens says he joins the Dallas Cowboys focused more on a future with quarterback Dak Prescott and fellow receiver CeeDee Lamb than a past of why the Pittsburgh Steelers would trade one of their top playmakers in his prime .
Dallas gave up a third-round draft pick next year, and the teams swapped late-round choices in 2027 to end Pickens' three-year stint with the Steelers.
There were enough questionable antics for coach Mike Tomlin to declare bluntly last year that the former Georgia star and 2022 second-round pick needed to grow up. He isn't worried about that perception following him to Dallas.
"I can't really change anyone's opinion of me personally," Pickens said in a conference call with reporters Thursday, a day after the trade was announced. "I feel like everybody in the world has to grow. You get older and older as you grow. We're trying to build a winning culture, which they already have at the Cowboys. I'm just glad to be joining it."
The Cowboys weren't winners last season, finishing 7-10 to end a three-year stretch of 12-5 playoff seasons. All three of those ended without a trip beyond the divisional round of the playoffs. Dallas is the only NFC team that hasn't played in a conference championship game since the 1995 season, when the Cowboys won their fifth Super Bowl title.