{"id":184308,"date":"2026-02-28T08:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/184308\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T08:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:44:18","slug":"dallas-cowboys-make-final-decision-on-star-receiver-george-pickens-as-he-heads-towards-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/184308\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys make final decision on star receiver George Pickens as he heads towards free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JAKE FENNER, US SPORTS WRITER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 08:22 EST, 27 February 2026 | Updated: 11:29 EST, 27 February 2026 <\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys<\/a>\u00a0have placed the franchise tag on star wide receiver George Pickens.<\/p>\n

Pickens became a star in Dallas after being traded there by the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> along with a sixth round pick in exchange for a third-rounder and a fifth-rounder before the start of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

He’d go on to have the best statistical season of his career in Dallas as he formed a formidable partnership with CeeDee Lamb.<\/p>\n

Pickens played all 17 games for Dallas and hauled in a career-high 93 catches, 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns.<\/p>\n

In the process, Pickens earned his first NFL honors – being named to the Pro Bowl as well as the All-Pro second-team.<\/p>\n

After such a strong season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Cowboys are keeping the University of Georgia product on their roster.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys have placed the franchise tag on their star wide receiver George Pickens<\/p>\n

\"Pickens <\/p>\n

Pickens put up the best numbers of his career in 2025 after being traded from the Steelers<\/p>\n

\"He <\/p>\n

He formed a formidable partnership with CeeDee Lamb (88) in a strong Cowboys offense<\/p>\n

But the Cowboys are facing a seriously tough summer for their roster as their current makeup has them at a projected -$56million in cap space – the worst in the league.<\/p>\n

With tons of re-structuring and trades on the way, signing Pickens to a long-term deal is a luxury at this point. It’s also nowhere near close to being their top priority.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, by placing the tag on him,\u00a0the Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones buy themselves some time to work out a deal with the star pass catcher.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the 2026 season, the projected franchise tag contract cost would see Pickens earn $28,824,000 per OverTheCap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Placing the tag on Pickens could also lead to a potential trade being worked out if Dallas feels the need to move on from him.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Dallas Cowboys make final decision on star receiver George Pickens as he heads towards free agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JAKE FENNER, US SPORTS WRITER Published: 08:22 EST, 27 February 2026 | Updated: 11:29 EST, 27 February…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[738,102,113,104,103,80,739],"class_list":{"0":"post-184308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas-headlines","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184308","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=184308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}