No holdout for George Pickens
While the writing was certainly on the wall that George Pickens did not plan to hold out, we still needed confirmation after he didn’t attend the voluntary portion of the offseason program.
Not only did Pickens show up to minicamp, he also flat-out said he was not going to hold out.
“Uh, no, I’m definitely here now,” Pickens confirmed. “Like I said, the group of guys that’s with the Cowboys kind of prevents you [from holding out]. If you know guys, and are going to guys’ house[s], you’re talking. I talk to Dak [Prescott]. I’m still throwing with Dak. He’s definitely gonna make you not want to hold out.”
There were multiple avenues this situation could have gone down after Dallas slapped the tag on Pickens and told him he would not get a long-term deal.
Pickens not pushing back was one of the best possible ones for the Cowboys. Trading him off the tag would have been the another.
Not much of a left tackle competition
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said at OTAs that there would be a competition at left tackle between Tyler Guyton and Nate Thomas, and Cowboys fans were happy to hear that because Guyton had struggled over two seasons.
However, after minicamp we discovered that Guyton has been seeing all of the first-team reps at left tackle, which paints the picture that the left tackle battle isn’t much of a battle at all.
“It’s a competition between Tyler Guyton and Nate Thomas, but Guyton is the clear favorite,” The Athletic’s Jon Machota reported. “He was the one running with the first-team through minicamp practices. As long as he can stay healthy, Guyton should hold down that spot in his third season.”
We can’t say we’re necessarily surprised that Guyton is on track to be the starter at left tackle, but we expected more of a true competition between he and Thomas.