How Cowboys could use 'excited' CeeDee Lamb, schematically freed George Pickens vs. Eagles in Week 1

FRISCO, Texas -- The last time the Dallas Cowboys had two Pro Bowl-caliber talents at wide receiver was the 2021 season with Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb.

That's when quarterback Dak Prescott threw for a career-high 37 touchdowns, and Dallas led the NFL in scoring offense (31.2 points per game) en route to a 12-5, NFC East-winning campaign. Now, the Cowboys have the potential for offensive fireworks again just days away from opening the 2025 NFL season at the Super Bowl LIX champion Eagles on Thursday. 

Lamb, who produced his first 1,000-yard season in 2021 with 1,102 yards receiving in his second NFL season, recognizes that potential with new Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens, which is why the present-day All-Pro is jubilant to take the field with the 24-year-old ex-Pittsburgh Steeler. 

"I'm very excited. I can't even put it into words," Lamb said Monday. "I tell my camp back at home -- my brothers, my family, my friends -- how excited I am.  Obviously I don't want to keep expressing it to the media. I'll let you guys do that, but for us we've got to go out there and do what we do, every day, as we've been doing and just continue that on throughout the season."

Pickens concurs. He's been looking forward to lining up alongside Lamb in a real game for months since he became a Cowboy in May following being traded to Dallas along with a 2027 sixth-round pick from the Steelers in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.  

"A lot," Pickens said of his excitement to line up with Lamb. "The anticipation as I've always watched him. I always played against him, so ready to play with him. ... Not really to prove anything, kind of just do what I've always been doing just in a different system. So I'm ready to kind of just show you guys a different version. ... I'm ready to play with CeeDee. I'm ready to play with Dak." 

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Lamb, who led the NFL with 135 catches in 2023 and Pickens' respective talents are certainly in the same zip code. The 24-year-old Pickens' 16.7 yards per reception average across the last two years, paces the entire NFL among 61 players with at least 110 catches since 2023. Prescott feels Pickens' fit into the Cowboys' attack to be very clean thus far. 

"Yeah. I mean, from Day 1, he made it easy, man. He's a guy that gets open, big target, runs hard, plays like a team player. So whether it's the run [blocking] or not, he's doing his job," Prescott said Sunday. "And it's been easy, and it's only gotten better and better and better. It's really because of the player he is, and the buy in that he's had into this offense. Whether it's learning, learning more and asking for more because he's mastered that. Super excited to have another guy like that out there."

Much of Pickens' anticipation stems from being more than just the vertical, downfield deep threat and being handed a much more expansive route tree in new Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer's offense -- one that has featured a high-level of motion and cut splits in practice all offseason. 

"I would probably say definitely, [being] in a different scheme," Pickens said of feeling free in a new playbook. "That's probably what they always wanted to see. You know other people, fans of different teams, so people definitely want to see me in a different scheme. ... Super excited. That's [versatility] kind of what I was talking about with this scheme. Different routes, different route concepts to get me open, to get CeeDee open and get a lot of guys open. We got a lot of weapons, so I don't naturally just come open by other guys just running their routes. So definitely ready" 

Pickens' reception heat map, via TruMedia, indicates a bright, glowing yellow along the sidelines where he was a big-play deep threat as his gaudy 16.7 yards per catch average indicates. It also shows a significant drop in route volume over the middle of the field. 

He somewhat attributes that to playing under Steelers coach Mike Tomlin coming up as a defensive coordinator and having traditional offenses. Meanwhile, Schottenheimer, a career offensive coordinator who will call the plays in 2025, has taken a crash course in the Shanahan, zone-blocking scheme that also involves heavy doses of motion to blend a more new age attack. 

"Me being a receiver, schematically. Yeah, most definitely," Pickens said when asked if he felt freed by the trade. ... "Just a different totem pole on the team. The Steelers are heavy on their defense. Coach T [Mike Tomlin] is a defensive guy. He's always been that way. Then here, Schotty is the complete opposite." 

Pickens, a former second-round pick who is preparing for the last year of his rookie deal in 2025, has taken notes from Lamb about his technique running routes over the middle, an area where the Dallas resident All-Pro is the league's best. Lamb leads the NFL in catches (114) and receiving yards (1,377) out of the slot since 2023. That's why his reception heat map in 2024 from TruMedia below is glowing highlighter yellow over the middle of the field. 

"Just intermediate [route] stuff," Pickens said in the spring. "He's got great feet, stepping in certain places. He steps in place a lot, which means he can get where he's going fast and in a short space. And he's tall [6-2]. A lot of people don't know he's kind of tall."  

Lamb, who is entering his sixth NFL season in 2025, agreed he and Pickens' relationship possesses similarities to how eager he was when he was learning from Cooper, a five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver, in his first two seasons from 2020 to 2021. He now has an all-around distribution of production thanks to that tutelage. 

"I'm a student of the game, and shoutout [Amari] Coop[er] bro. I'm going to give him his flowers for as long as I'm here," Lamb said. "I don't know if I would have been as successful running routes as I am now, but I've learned so much from him in two-and-a-half years. I've learned a lot. Again, shout out to him. He taught me how to be a professional, a receiver and to be dominant in this position."

Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs, who has used reps with the scout team against both Lamb and Pickens to get back from his second major knee injury this offseason, confirmed Pickens' seamless acclimation to the Cowboys offense that both Prescott and Lamb raved about. 

"It's been really good [going against Pickens in practice]. Hell of a player. Big size," Diggs said after practice on Monday. "I like going on scout team because I can get those reps against those guys and stuff like that. So [it's] been really good. He's going to be a great addition to the Dallas offense, and you know they're going to make a lot of plays."

As for his locker room fit, it's worth discussing considering Tomlin chastised Pickens publicly last season, saying the wide receiver needed to "grow up." However, Pickens has been nothing but a model citizen and "nothing but incredible" in the words of Schottenheimer thus far in Dallas.

"It feels like he's been here from Day 1. Everyone's cool. He's a great kid," Diggs said. "Always smiling. ... I talk to him every day. We hang out being here, playing ping pong, doing everything. ... I just can't wait to see what he's doing on the field."

Neither can Cowboys All-Pro return man/wide receiver KaVontae Turpin. When he lines up with the first-team offense along the line of scrimmage in practice and sees one of Lamb or Pickens to either side of him, a single idea jumps to the forefront: domination. 

"I feel like we're going to go out there and dominate," Turpin said Sunday. "I just feel like that's the feeling in the building. ... I just feel like I'm free, man. I feel like I'm one on one with somebody because of those two guys out there. I'm going to try to go out there and beat whoever is in front of me. I don't care who it is. I'm just trying to go out there and dominate."

Pickens was accustomed to being double-teamed with regularity in Pittsburgh, but he knows he'll see single coverage with regularity with the Cowboys thanks to the presence of Lamb. 

"Super excited, and it affects a lot. I can tell definitely when I'm running routes prior to where I was running routes," Pickens said. "You can see double the stars, doubling me. Here, you got CeeDee, me Turp [KaVontae Turpin], JT [Jalen Tolbert], so you have to focus on a lot of guys." 

In practice all throughout the offseason, Schottenheimer has emphasized offensive players running all the way down the field to celebrate with their teammates that score touchdowns. That's given Lamb and Pickens time to craft a number of different celebrations, which is needed since Lamb has been on the receiving end of a number of celebration fines over the years. Perhaps a few will make their debut along with the new Dallas duo on Thursday night in Philadelphia. 

"Still working on that. They [the NFL] create a new fine every day," Pickens said. "So yeah, we're still working on it. We got a lot of them for sure."