GeorgePickens

News: 1 day agoPickens brought in five of nine targets for 37 yards in the Cowboys' 44-30 loss to the Lions on Thursday night.

Spin: It was a largely forgettable night for Pickens, who somehow finished with his lowest yardage total since Week 1 on a night when Dak Prescott threw for a season-high 376 yards on 47 pass attempts and CeeDee Lamb left the game early in the second half due to a concussion. Pickens did reach the five-catch threshold for the sixth straight game, but he also had a ball bounce off his hands on the first play of the second half that resulted in a Lions interception. Pickens also appeared to have a chance to come down with a deep throw from Prescott just before the two-minute warning but never appeared to make an attempt to catch the ball, and he'd been flagged for a facemask penalty earlier in the contest as well to wipe out a reception. Naturally, the good has far outweighed the bad when it comes to Pickens' debut Cowboys campaign, but he'll need to bounce back in a Week 15 home matchup against the Vikings on Sunday night, Dec. 14, especially if Lamb remains out.

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.