The Buffalo Bills have options to fix their wide receiver issues this offseason, though the most sure-fire way to solve the problem would likely come via trade. In that regard, Bills Mafia has their eyes on wideouts like Philadelphia Eagle A.J. Brown and Jacksonville Jaguar Brian Thomas, Jr.
However, those aren’t the only receivers who could be had on the trading block. In fact, one of the top free-agent wide receivers could be acquired in a tag-and-trade scenario. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox believes the Bills are at the top of the list among teams that should pull the trigger on a trade for Dallas Cowboys receiver George Pickens.
According to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, the Cowboys are expected to place the franchise tag on Pickens.
Sure, the Bills could reasonably be seen as a strong destination for Pickens, but his career highlights why it wouldn’t be the right move.
George Pickens would cost Buffalo Bills WR1 money without WR1 certainty
The Bills don’t just need help at wide receiver; they need a true No. 1 wideout. Despite the booming first season in Dallas from Pickens, a No. 1 receiver, he is not. At least, not yet.
A second-round pick out of Georgia in 2022 by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pickens was thrust into WR1 duties early in his career with the Steel City franchise and floundered. In 2023, Pickens was the de facto No.1 option as Diontae Johnson’s downward spiral began, and in 2024, he was undoubtedly the No. 1 option. In those two seasons, he caught a total of eight touchdowns and picked up his first 1,000-yard season.
However, over those two seasons, Pickens earned his ticket out of Pittsburgh, as several sideline crash-outs and questionable effort pushed the Steelers into replacing him with DK Metcalf in 2025.
If Pickens were in Buffalo, Bills Mafia would have little reason to expect anything more than what he provided Pittsburgh. Sure, Buffalo has Josh Allen as opposed to the collective mess Pittsburgh has had under center since Pickens was drafted. But there’s no discounting that Pickens enjoyed a career season in Dallas because he wasn’t the top target in the offense.
Pickens played well in two of the three games CeeDee Lamb missed due to injuries, though the Cowboys were unable to win those games despite his hefty production. Then, late in the season as losses began stacking for Dallas, Pickens regressed. From December onward, Pickens caught just one touchdown pass and eclipsed 50 yards twice in five games.
Of course, Pickens would offer Buffalo something they currently lack, a deep threat who can win on 50-50 balls down the field. Allen and Pickens would surely do some serious damage to opposing defenses. But that is just as contingent on having enough pieces around the offense to draw attention away from the soon-to-be 25-year-old wideout.
Still, Pickens is an extremely expensive player to be so stuck in the limbo of whether he will blossom into superstardom or continue to be a problem child on the sideline. If the Cowboys do tag Pickens as expected, he’ll have just over $28 million coming his way in 2025. If he’s traded afterward, his new team would need to sign him to an undoubtedly expensive long-term contract.
Buffalo has the means to absorb the 2025 hit and to configure the money to lock him down, but it’d be a heavy investment for a player who hasn’t proven his reliability to an equal standard of his playing ability, which again, is not at WR1 status just yet.