‘People Say A Lot Of Things’: Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb Shut Down George Pickens Trade Talk

FRISCO, Texas — Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb pushed back Thursday on the idea that the Dallas Cowboys should trade George Pickens before the NFL trade deadline Nov. 10.

Pickens has 39 catches on 62 targets for 533 yards and two touchdowns through eight games, and he caught two passes in Sunday’s 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. He is playing on the franchise tag at $27.2 million after finishing third in the NFL with 1,452 receiving yards last season.

Prescott was not interested in the trade talk.

“People say a lot of things I don’t believe. So I’m not listening to that one either,” Prescott said.

Lamb was more surprised the idea exists at all. He said his production and Pickens’ feed off each other.

“I don’t know why that’s a thing. That’s what I was about to say. But come on, man. Everything that I’ve been able to accomplish has been because of him and what he’s done the year before. And vice versa,” Lamb said.

Lamb leads the NFL with 92 targets and has 60 catches for 709 yards and six touchdowns.

Dak Prescott Calls George Pickens A Great Teammate

Pickens does what is asked of him, whether that is blocking or running a defender off, in Prescott’s description.

“George is a great teammate, and I say that in the sense of he’s going to do whatever’s asked for him. He’s going to do whatever’s called. And if it’s to go block, if it’s to just run a guy off, he’s going to do that,” Prescott said. “He believes in just doing the right thing and the ball will come his way at times. And so that’s not on George.”

Receivers who want the ball are not a problem for Prescott, as long as they know why they were open.

“I’d rather a guy want the ball, not getting the ball, than him come to me and says, yeah, I was covered, I’m glad you didn’t look my way. So that’s something that I’ve never really found hard to deal with. I’ll get it to you when I can,” Prescott explained. “That’s all I ask them to do, is communicate when they see something, but be sure about it. Don’t just say it because you felt like you’re open. Know what you’re open and really know the why of it.”

Getting Pickens involved early will show up in how Dallas scripts the start of Sunday’s game.

“I think if anything, it’s going to really come on this later end of the week and just how we sequence up the starters and the plays, the list that we put together of how we want to start this game. And I think from there, you’ll see,” Prescott said.

CeeDee Lamb Says Pickens Will Be Ready When His Moment Comes

Quiet games are part of it, and Lamb said the only conversation he and Pickens have is about being ready for the next chance.

“Just when his time comes, I just know that he’s going to be ready. And I feel like that’s the only conversation that we have, is just when that moment comes, you can’t really go off of what just happened, because if that’s the case, you’re going to drive yourself into a ditch, to be honest,” Lamb said. “You got to move on, be grown about the situation, come to practice, ready to work again and have the same mentality that you had before the game. Last game, remember how you felt. Use it as fuel.”

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Wednesday that Pickens’ targets fill the back of his call sheet. “George is the guy that we’re focused on knowing we got to get him going more and better,” Schottenheimer said. “And that starts with me as the play caller.”

Pickens was limited in Wednesday’s practice with a hamstring injury. Dallas visits the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at noon CT on FOX.