Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (right) and chief operating officer Stephen Jones take their seats for an opening press conference at training camp on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Oxnard, Calif.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
OXNARD, Calif. — Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — the bringer of headlines, the crafter of viral quotes, and a self-described stirrer of news — made a surprising admission during Monday’s “state of the union” news conference. That quiet, drama-free start to training camp you hear (or don’t)? He actually likes it, as contradictory as it might be to his track record.
“I like the idea that the word is that we have had a quiet offseason relative to, dare I say, off the field noise or chatter, whatever you want to call it,” Jones said. “I like that. That hasn’t been the case.”
And Jones and the Cowboys, as well as the player with the biggest potential to attract that drama, deserve credit for that strange quietness.
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Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens traveled with the team Monday to California. Pickens said at mandatory minicamp — when he showed up for that, too — that he planned to participate in training camp despite receiving the franchise tag. He explicitly said he would not do a hold in and go to practice but not participate. As of Tuesday afternoon, there’s been no indication that Pickens plans to change his mind.
That one-year, $27.3 million deal without the potential for an extension appears good enough for him.
It’s not out of the question things could’ve been different, even if it was always unlikely. This is the same Pickens, after all, who was traded from Pittsburgh shortly after former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin declared that he needed to grow up. This is the same Pickens who was prolific last season in a breakout year, finishing with career highs in every major receiving category, despite being fined multiple times for being late to meetings or for missing the team bus on the way to the road game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Despite that reputation, the Cowboys, led by head coach Brian Schottenheimer, have preached Pickens’ love for the sport and for how things went on the field last year with the Cowboys. Ultimately, Pickens proved them right with how he handled the franchise tag.
For what it’s worth: Jones appreciates it.
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“The way we have worked this out is the way it fit. I’m proud that he will work it that way. I’m proud that he will,” Jones replied after the first Pickens question, which was asked 25 minutes and 30 seconds into Tuesday’s news conference. “I hope that he comes out here and is the most prolific, successful receiver in the NFL this year. Now, how would you like to be a free agent with his credentials and step out there and have a year like that? I wish all of that, because if that happens, then that was good for us and we did it the way we thought was best for everybody concerned.”
As Jones alluded, it’s also worth noting Pickens’ leverage doesn’t lie in this offseason, but rather next offseason with a successful second act in Dallas. The Cowboys, technically, allowed Pickens to explore the open market. They gave him the non-exclusive franchise tag, allowing him to talk with other teams. If another team had wanted, they could’ve signed Pickens to an offer sheet, putting the pressure on the Cowboys to match. The one caveat: If the Cowboys didn’t match, then the other team would surrender two first-round picks to the Cowboys. At that high of a cost, there were no takers.
If Pickens can replicate last year’s success, the market would undoubtedly reward him. Or maybe the Cowboys would.
“This can be a very win-win thing that we’ve done here: us, George and George being on the team,” Jones said. “Make no mistake about it: George could be a Cowboy for the rest of his career and that would be a long time. Make no mistake about it. This just fit for us, and thank goodness it fit for him and we got it done.”
This drama-free situation is not only contradictory to the past of both Jones and Pickens, but also to the Cowboys and their stars in general. It was less than a year ago when quarterback Dak Prescott, a two-time negotiator combatant with the Cowboys, lamented the annual drama that comes with training camp and the team’s negotiations with their stars. Prescott pointed to negotiations with Zack Martin, or Ezekiel Elliott, or CeeDee Lamb as examples. And, of course, with Micah Parsons.
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The back-and-forth shots and lack of negotiation process between Parsons and the Cowboys dominated training camp last year. Even the Cowboys’ groundbreaking decision to trade Parsons a week before the season didn’t stop the drama. In Week 6 this season, when the Cowboys are scheduled to face the Packers, it will surely be a talking point.
This training camp feels different.
“Those are, really, two completely different situations and different people,” Jones said of the negotiations between Parsons, who had leverage, and Pickens. “I want to give Schotty really accolade for how he worked through this with George in terms of not him, but how he helped us communicate and work through it.
“It’s not uncommon with these teams around the NFL to have this tension going on regarding players and contracts and things. We of course this is not uncommon to have happen. [The Parsons negotiations] gave us an opportunity, the process, an opportunity to make some decisions last year. A lot of people disagree with some of the decisions that we made, but it gave us an opportunity to make some decisions. I think going forward we’re going to see some of the positive-ness of those decisions reflected in this year’s football team.”
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The decisions — from both the Cowboys and Pickens — should mean a different sound to this year’s training camp, too.
“I personally like the fact that the perception is that it’s been a quiet, non-confrontational offseason,” Jones said. “That’s good.”