SAN FRANCISCO — Debate all you want about the livelihood and the future of the annual Pro Bowl, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday from inside the Moscone Center, but don’t try to take away the joy of Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens.
“It’s good. I feel like the energy for me being here — there are a lot of first-time Pro Bowl guys here and they’re with none of their teammates,” Pickens said. “So for me, it’s special.”
To be fair, it is his first Pro Bowl after all. There’s another first-time experience on the horizon for Pickens, as well.
Pickens, in the words of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, was everything the Cowboys could’ve hoped for and more this season after they acquired him from Pittsburgh. He had a career year, catching 93 passes for 1,429 yards — third in the NFL — and nine touchdowns. The Cowboys were hoping that Pickens could be the sorely sought-after co-pilot to CeeDee Lamb in Dallas’ air attack. In their first year together, the tandem exceeded aspirations.
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But will it be their only year together?
Pickens is set to hit free agency for the first time. The Cowboys have yet to talk with Pickens’ representation about a potential new deal, two people familiar with the situation told The Dallas Morning News. The Cowboys have repeatedly said — whether it’s Jerry Jones, co-owner Stephen Jones or head coach Brian Schottenheimer — that they would like to retain Pickens, but it will cost them. Pickens has a market value for an annual contract that exceeds $30 million per year, according to Spotrac.
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There’s also the potential for the Cowboys to place the franchise tag on Pickens, a possibility that seems likely if the sides can’t come together on a long-term deal early in the offseason. Teams can place the franchise tag on players between Feb. 17 and March 3. Pickens would then have until July 15 to sign an extension, otherwise he would be limited to a one-year deal with the Cowboys. The projected franchise tag number for wide receivers is a one-year deal valued at over $28 million, according to Over The Cap.
The franchise tag is not exactly player-friendly. It would limit Pickens’ options by preventing him from going to the market. It’s something that could be frustrating.
How would Pickens feel about the Cowboys potentially tagging him?
“I’m not really sure,” Pickens said when asked about it. “It would be my first time. I wouldn’t really know how to react. I would want to just be with the guys … all I can say is I hope for the best. I can’t really control the uncontrollables.”
Some extension negotiations between players and the Cowboys — especially high-profile ones — have provided players with their fair share of frustrations. Two years ago, Lamb missed the entirety of training camp in Oxnard, Calif., while he negotiated a new deal with the Cowboys. Quarterback Dak Prescott, a veteran of negotiations with the Cowboys by this point, signed his latest extension the morning of the 2024 season opener in Cleveland. Micah Parsons, also at the Pro Bowl in San Francisco, was traded to Green Bay when he and the Cowboys couldn’t come to an extension agreement.
“I mean, it’s an every-year conversation,” Prescott said last year at training camp. “Whether it’s myself, Zack Martin, CeeDee Lamb, now Micah Parsons. It’s part of it in a sense. It’s something that I wouldn’t wish anyone was going through. Absolutely not.”
Pickens, when asked about the upcoming negotiations, echoed his mentality about a potential franchise tag. He said it hasn’t been on his mind because that also is out of his control.
Pickens did say that he’s had the chance to reflect on his first year in Dallas now that it’s been a few weeks since it ended.
“I feel like it was just ecstatic for me,” Pickens said, slightly pounding his own chest for emphasis. “It was great. And that’s all I can really say because I’ve never been, me personally, on a team with a lot of guys that make the Pro Bowl. It was just great for me.”
And great for the other receivers, too. Cowboys wide receiver and kick returner KaVontae Turpin also made the Pro Bowl for the third time this year. He said the receiving corps lived up to their hopes this season, too. He thinks next year, with another season together, it could be even better.
“It can be explosive,” Turpin said, “especially if you add Ryan Flournoy and all of them. It can be explosive, especially how Flo came in and played this year. If he comes in and plays with that confidence next year, it’s going to be way better and more wide open, because you can’t hold nobody. You have to pick who you’re going to leave one-on-one with Jake Ferguson. It’s going to be explosive, especially if GP comes back.”
Turpin won’t even let himself think about a situation where Pickens isn’t back in Dallas.
“Nah, nah, he’s staying here,” Turpin said, cutting off a question about Pickens and free agency short. “I don’t want to hear about the free agency. He needs to stay here.”
Time will tell if he ultimately does.
Twitter/X: @JoeJHoyt
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