GeorgePickens

News: 6 days agoPickens caught five of nine targets for 68 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's 40-37 overtime win over the Giants.

Spin: While he took a back seat to CeeDee Lamb (9-112-0 on 11 targets) and tight end Jake Ferguson (9-78-0 on 12 targets) in terms of volume, Pickens came up big for the Cowboys with a six-yard TD grab from Dak Prescott with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter that gave the team a 34-30 lead -- and which proved to be only the fourth-last score of the afternoon in a wild back-and-forth affair. It was Pickens' first trip to the end zone for Dallas after a fairly quiet debut, but he could be headed for even bigger numbers in Week 3 against a Bears secondary that just got lit up for four receiving touchdowns by the Lions' top WR duo of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams.

ESPN Fantasy Projection: Pickens was traded to the Cowboys after spending his first three seasons in Pittsburgh. Perhaps the change of scenery will get him to the next level, as he's thus far been an exciting playmaker but not yet a consistent fantasy option. Pickens handled a career-high 26% target share (15th among WRs) last season, but he missed three games and found the end zone only three times despite seeing 12 end zone targets (12th most). Pickens has finished 37th or worse in fantasy PPG all three seasons while playing a volatile field-stretcher role (top 15 in aDOT all three years). He will certainly benefit from improved QB play (Dak Prescott), but he now has legitimate target competition from CeeDee Lamb. We likely haven't seen Pickens' best work, but there's enough uncertainty here that the 24-year-old should be valued as a midrange WR3.