While the exact nature of George Pickens‘ future with the Cowboys remains a bit cloudy, another sign came Tuesday that the wide receiver is very likely to continue his NFL career in Dallas.
Pickens is seeking a long-term contract, and club officials have expressed a desire to achieve this. However, the franchise tag is currently all that ties the wide receiver to the Cowboys for next season.
Dallas has until July 15 to come to terms on a new deal with Pickens, while playing on the tag would be worth $27.29 million if he played on it in 2026. But another option for the Cowboys would be to trade Pickens if it was determined a long-term deal could not be reached.
Have the Cowboys been offered anything deemed worthwhile for their leading receiver from last season?
“You hate to get into things like that, but no, we’ve had no one call with interest in George Pickens,” Cowboys COO and co-owner Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM) on Tuesday.
Team owner Jerry Jones said at the league’s annual meetings the club is content with Pickens playing on the franchise tag for the 2026 season. But why even say you want Pickens here long-term without starting any real contract talks?
“Well, I don’t and won’t get into our planning and structure of our team and our cap but the franchise tag is an integral part of all teams, but certainly an integral part of our strategy over the next two or three years as we look at how to keep the best players we can have relative to the cap,” Jerry Jones said.
Contract negotiations lingering over an offseason are nothing new for the Cowboys — see Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliott and others. But as we saw last season with Micah Parsons, teams may never know just how those extended talks could play out.