George Pickens’ All-Pro talent is undeniable, but his lack of discipline is creating a leadership crisis for quarterback Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. That’s something former Patriots player Julian Edelman can’t fathom, considering how strict things were in Foxborough. With Tom Brady at the helm and Bill Belichick ruling with an iron fist, there was no scope for bratty behavior.

“It depends on your leadership of your team. I was at a place where that stuff didn’t happen,” Edelman said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd show. “If guys were going to come into the locker room and be a-holes and divas, they weren’t there very long.

“Then they look at the best player on the team, the highest paid player on the team, Tom Brady, who works his tail off, who gets coached hard, who does all the little things before, after, and during practice. When you have a great group of leaders that everyone believes in, I don’t think those things happen.”

Pickens’ numbers jump off the page: 1,212 yards and 8 touchdowns, one of the most dangerous receivers in the league this season. But so do the warning signs. Missed curfew after a casino night in Vegas. On-field incidents that led to six fines this year. It’s not just one thing. It’s a pattern, both on Sundays and during the week.

That said, calling Dallas a team without leadership isn’t entirely fair. Dak Prescott is one of the more vocal leaders in the league, and his role in the locker room has mattered, especially for head coach Brian Schottenheimer. Prescott has taken leadership seriously, even academically. He earned a bachelor’s degree in educational psychology and followed it with a master’s in workforce leadership.

In fact, in 2021, Michael Irvin wasn’t saying Dak Prescott is Tom Brady in terms of rings or resume. Instead, he was pointing to how the younger player carries himself as the quarterback of the Cowboys. His point was simple: Prescott leads the huddle, sets the tone, and commands respect in a way that mirrors what Brady did for years. He believed Prescott was “the closest thing to Tom Brady.”

But so far, his leadership hasn’t changed Pickens. And that circles back to Edelman’s point, that, in New England, those issues rarely surfaced in the first place.

Brady was in the building early. Around 6:30 a.m., he’d already be in the weight room. Teammates would arrive at 6:45, thinking they were beating the clock, with the first meeting set for 8. That standard set a tone. It wasn’t about checking boxes or punching a time card; it was about how you worked, every day.

“I always define leadership as, do you care about your teammates or coworkers, and do you care what we’re trying to accomplish?” Brady said in May. “That, to me, is great leadership. And there are a lot of people that go about those in different ways.”

It carried over. Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, now an NBC analyst, has talked about how Brady’s presence shaped the locker room.

“To see Tom continually lead this team and show the confidence, the young guys appreciate that. They want Tom to be proud of them. When you catch balls, and Tom is proud of you, that makes them feel good,” he said back in 2011.

The results followed. In Brady’s 20 seasons as the Patriots’ starter, they finished top five in points per game 11 times.

But the real takeaway wasn’t just the titles. It was the culture they built around accountability, trust, and respect. That’s what Edelman is pointing to. And right now, that doesn’t feel like the environment in Dallas. So, are the Cowboys doing anything to change that?

Have the Cowboys taken any measures for Pickens’ behavior?

The discipline issues around George Pickens came into sharper focus when the Cowboys went to Las Vegas to play the Raiders in Week 11. Pickens and CeeDee Lamb broke curfew that weekend. Lamb later admitted they were out late at a casino the night before the game.

Coach Brian Schottenheimer addressed it right away. Lamb and Pickens both sat out the opening series as a consequence. But was it enough? Once the first drive passed, both receivers were right back in their usual spots, running the same routes, playing the same roles. It was handled, and then it moved on, almost as if nothing happened.

But other issues cropped up. Two weeks ago, against Detroit, George Pickens was flagged again, this time for a facemask. It was his sixth fine of the season. The production that day didn’t help his case either: 5 catches, 37 yards, no touchdowns. There were moments where he looked disengaged, and that’s where coaches start to worry.

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Schottenheimer has also acknowledged that timeliness has been a problem at times. He didn’t get into details, but multiple sources have reported that Pickens has been fined for being late. Still, the Cowboys haven’t treated it as a major concern.

“He might miss a team bus or be late on occasion, but [the Cowboys] can live with that. He’s been a hard worker and has been accountable, and that’s been the important part,” a source told ESPN earlier this month.

Letting some minor tardiness slide isn’t unusual in the league. But the on-field penalties and the visible lapses are harder to ignore. Schottenheimer has a balancing act ahead. If Dallas sees George Pickens as part of the long-term plan, finding a way to clean up the discipline matters. More so if they want to revamp the culture under Prescott’s leadership.