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USATSI

Dallas went into free agency and the NFL Draft in need of a wide receiver and did nothing of significance, which was a surprise. That changed Wednesday when the Cowboys traded with the Steelers for George Pickens in exchange for draft pick compensation, notably Pittsburgh getting a third-round pick.

Pickens now gets to play with the best quarterback of his career in Dak Prescott, and he will be the No. 2 receiver in Dallas opposite CeeDee Lamb. And DK Metcalf, who was traded to the Steelers this offseason from the Seahawks, is now the clear alpha in Pittsburgh's receiving corps.

Let's break down this trade from a Fantasy perspective. I think it's great for both teams.

Pickens, 24, has been stuck with subpar quarterbacks for most of his three-year career, including Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Mitchell Trubisky, Justin Fields and an older Russell Wilson. Pickens' best production came with Wilson last season, and hopefully, that carries over to this year with Prescott.

Pickens scored at least 16.4 PPR points in four of his first six games with Wilson in 2024, and Pickens averaged 16.1 PPR points per game during that span. If you project his stats over a full season from those six games then Pickens would have had 82 catches for 1,379 yards and nine touchdowns.

He suffered a hamstring injury and missed three games after those six outings and struggled upon his return. Then, in his final game with the Steelers in the playoff loss to Baltimore in the wild-card round, Pickens had five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown on five targets.

Had he stayed in Pittsburgh, Pickens would have been sharing the field with Metcalf and dealing with more quarterback concerns. While we expect the Steelers to sign Aaron Rodgers at some point, that's not a guarantee. And I like Pickens better in Dallas even if he's sharing the field with CeeDee Lamb, mostly because of Prescott.

The Cowboys don't have many vacated targets to replace from last season since their biggest loss this offseason was Brandin Cooks, who signed in New Orleans. Cooks only had 26 catches for 259 yards and three touchdowns on 54 targets, but Prescott missed nine games with a hamstring injury. And Cooks was 31 years old.

Pickens -- as long as he's not a headcase -- should get enough opportunities in favorable situations playing opposite Lamb to be considered a high-end No. 3 Fantasy receiver in the majority of leagues. I would plan to draft him as early as Round 6.

Lamb gets a slight downgrade with the addition of Pickens, but I wouldn't panic about his Fantasy value. Lamb was my No. 2 receiver prior to this trade, and I'm only going to drop him to No. 3 behind Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. Lamb remains a top-10 overall pick in all leagues.

He will still dominate targets and hopefully return to his 2023 level of production given his health and a full season from Prescott. Lamb battled a shoulder injury last year and averaged 17.6 PPR points per game, but in 2023 he was at 23.7 PPR points and still has that upside.

The biggest upgrade for anyone in this trade goes to Prescott, who is now worth drafting as a low-end No. 1 Fantasy quarterback with a mid-round pick. He'll be 32 in July and is coming off the hamstring injury, but he was exceptional in 2023 when he averaged 24.4 Fantasy points per game.

He's hit that average in four of the past six seasons, and now he has a standout receiving corps with Lamb, Pickens, and Jake Ferguson, along with -- for now -- a suspect run game. And the offensive line should be solid, even after future Hall of Famer Zack Martin retired.

As for Ferguson, he gets the biggest downgrade with the addition of Pickens. Prior to the trade, it was easy to target Ferguson as a late-round tight end with upside since he was expected to be second on the team in targets behind Lamb.

Ferguson can still be a No. 1 Fantasy tight end -- he averaged 10.4 PPR points per game in 2023 with a healthy Prescott -- but his path to success is now murky thanks to Pickens. Ferguson is only worth drafting with a late-round flier in most leagues.

In Pittsburgh, we can fully evaluate Metcalf once the quarterback situation is settled, but this move helps his Fantasy value. He was always going to be the No. 1 receiver for the Steelers following his trade from Seattle when he signed a five-year, $150 million extension, but he and Pickens had a similar skill set.

That problem is gone. And, depending on the quarterback in Pittsburgh, I would draft Metcalf as early as Round 5 as a high-end No. 3 Fantasy receiver in all leagues.

He's coming off a disappointing 2024 campaign with just 66 catches for 992 yards and five touchdowns on 108 targets. And his 12.1 PPR points per game was his lowest total since his rookie season in 2019.

But there's still plenty of potential for Metcalf, especially if the Steelers sign Rodgers. Mike Tomlin was glowing about Metcalf at the NFL owners meeting in March.

"There's very little on the football field from a wide receiver perspective that he can't do," Tomlin said. "He's got short game, he's got long game, he's a combat catch guy, he's got run after, he's a devastating run blocker. We're really excited about the addition of DK Metcalf. And we're going to use all of those talents."

For now, we can also call Pat Freiermuth a winner with Pickens gone. There's no standout No. 2 receiver for the Steelers, so Freiermuth could be second on the team in targets behind Metcalf. Freiermuth averaged 9.9 PPR points per game and is worth a late-round flier in all leagues.