{"id":175907,"date":"2026-02-23T00:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/175907\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T00:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:08:13","slug":"would-george-pickens-report-to-dallas-cowboys-offseason-program-under-the-franchise-tag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/175907\/","title":{"rendered":"Would George Pickens report to Dallas Cowboys\u2019 offseason program under the franchise tag?"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones<\/a> told The Dallas Morning News on Sunday the club wants wide receiver George Pickens<\/a> for the offseason program if he\u2019s under the franchise tag.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys are expected to place the franchise tag on Pickens<\/a> before the March 3 deadline, but both sides have mutual interest in the star receiver returning. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe always want guys here,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe\u2019ve franchised players before, obviously we want him here working with the team. It will work itself out in the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Pickens gets franchised, there\u2019s a strong possibility he will not report to the offseason programs as the team engages in contract talks with his agents.<\/p>\n

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Last year, edge rusher Micah Parsons did show up for offseason programs while in contract talks with club officials. Parsons also reported to training camp on time, but conducted a hold-in<\/a> and was eventually traded.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2025, Pickens earned his first Pro Bowl berth and was named second-team All-Pro by setting career-highs in catches (93), yards (1,429) and touchdowns (nine). If the Cowboys place the franchise tag on Pickens, it\u2019s projected at $28 million. Team officials plan on speaking with Pickens\u2019 agents at the NFL scouting combine this week.<\/p>\n

After the Cowboys acquired Pickens, his representatives were hopeful for a contract averaging $30 million if he produced. After producing, Pickens looks poised to join his teammate, CeeDee Lamb<\/a>, in getting one of the largest contracts at his position.<\/p>\n

Lamb, at $136 million, has the third-largest contract at his position behind Ja\u2019Marr Chase ($161 million) and Justin Jefferson ($140 million). Chase has the highest average salary at $40 million. What could also play a factor in Pickens\u2019 contract is Seattle\u2019s Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Rockwall native<\/a> told Ch. 8 (WFAA-TV) he wants to be the highest-paid receiver in the NFL. Smith-Njigba led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards for the Super Bowl champion Seahawks.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones told The Dallas Morning News on Sunday the club wants wide receiver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1638,1044,102,113,104,103,5962,80,154,17183],"class_list":{"0":"post-175907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-brief","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallas-headlines","13":"tag-dallas-news","14":"tag-george-pickens","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-stephen-jones"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}