A trade, quickly followed by a long-term contract, would.
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The Cowboys need defensive help in the worst way to improve a unit that ranked last in the NFL by allowing a team-high 511 points. And they have two first-round picks to greatly help the defense.
They surely wouldn’t consider using one on an offense that ranks second in yards and seventh in points. Good?
“That’s alive and well. Given the right circumstances, you have to look at the offense,” Jerry Jones said, via Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
In 2020, CeeDee Lamb fell to No. 17 and the Cowboys, despite needing defensive help, selected the Oklahoma wide receiver. Lamb is a better player than any of the first-round defensive players drafted after the Cowboys’ selection that year. Only Patrick Queen has made the Pro Bowl among that group of defenders.
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The Cowboys have the 12th and 20th picks this year.
They had Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson and Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate among their top 30 pre-draft visitors. Tyson could be an option at 12 and Tate an option at 20.
Executive vice president Stephen Jones was asked how the decision not to reward Pickens with a long-term contract affects the Cowboys’ draft strategy.
“That’s all part of the big picture,” said Stephen Jones, via Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press. “Certainly, you’re always looking at that. It’s like we did when we took CeeDee Lamb. We had some really good receivers on this team, but we took him. It certainly wouldn’t be any different if we look at the board and our number is called to pick, and we’ll make that decision at that time. We’re certainly not opposed to taking the best player on our board. Typically, that’s where we’ve had our most success doing that. Like Jerry said, we were all ready to go defensive in that particular draft. and CeeDee Lamb was sitting there and that was the guy we went with. He turned out to be a great pick for us.”
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Stephen Jones declined to address whether the team would notify Pickens if it decides to go with a wide receiver.
“We don’t want to get into the weeds like that today,” he said. “We’ll have a lot of options, and we’ll obviously address those types of situations if they come up. We certainly went over all of our contingencies and how we would handle something or what we would do. But getting into the details of that, I don’t think would be productive today.”