Cowboys secure star receiver George Pickens with franchise tag. Did a savvy signing show good faith to his agent?
The worst-kept secret of the offseason is now out, with the Dallas Cowboys placing the non-exclusive franchise tag on Pro Bowl receiver George Pickens.
For regular readers here, you know that our own Mike Fisher has been reporting since November 27 that this was the likely route, with sources telling Fish it was the "easy" path, at least initially.
Now, with Pickens locked away for the 2026 season at least, he and the Cowboys have until July 15 to come to terms on a long-term deal.
Otherwise, Pickens plays the 2026 season on the tag, at roughly $27.3 million. ...
Unless his side wants to "play dirty'' and stage a nasty holdout.
It makes sense for Dallas to tag Pickens early, thus assuring his status with the franchise, but also as a placeholder, as negotiations can continue until July 1`5.
"We couldn't take the chance on losing him," Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said via DLLS_Cowboys' Clarence Hill Jr. "George was fired up, excited. He said I don't want to play anywhere but with the Cowboys. That's what we suspected. It was all good."
They couldn't take the chance of losing him.
That's the key sentence there, and it proves how valuable the Cowboys view Pickens to be.
But there is another aspect of what's happening inside The Star when it comes to agent David Mulugheta, who infamously helped engineer Micah Parsons' bitter departure from here last year (in a trade to Green Bay) and who now reps Pickens.
The Cowboys don't want this to be ugly. Jerry Jones has promised to play nice with this agent.
And on Tuesday, they signed Broncos safety P.J. Locke, a University of Texas native. Oh, and they gave him a one-year deal at $5 million ...
And for the supposedly "cheap'' Cowboys, isn't that a little steep for a backup safety?
It is. Unless you are trying to play so nice in the Pickens/Mulugheta negotiations that you decided to show good faith in the Locke/Mulugheta negotiations by throwing that camp an olive branch.
The Cowboys don't want to lose George Pickens, in body and mind and soul. ... and we wonder if signing another of his agent's clients to a handsome deal reflects that desire.