George Pickens Cowboys Trade-Deadline Exclusive: What's Present & Future In Dallas?

What did the Dallas Cowboys do on Tuesday's NFL trade deadline day as it relates to a potential blockbuster deal for wide receiver George Pickens?

I'm told they didn't even field a serious phone call on the subject.

And amid all the rumors and the whispers and the conspiracy theories, what did Pickens himself do all day?

He was inside The Star. 

Working.

Despite the fact that Tuesday was the players' day off.

This exclusive nugget flies in the face of Pickens naysayers who question his commitment to Dallas and his fit with the Cowboys.

Yes, coach Brian Schottenheimer has urged him - privately and publicly - to step him his level of intensity when it comes to every little on-field detail.

But overall?

Pickens remains a happy camper here, as he was last spring and summer when he expressed no disgruntlement with being franchise-tagged at $27 million rather than being the recipient of a long-term deal.

And the Cowboys are happy with Pickens as well, with echoes of what owner Jerry Jones said at training camp about the controversial wideout who came here a year ago in a trade with Pittsburgh.

“He can come out here and have the year that he’s talented enough and mentally prepared to have,'' Jones said in August, "and that contract would be a lot bigger (in 2027) than it would’ve been (in 2026).”

Even with that prediction, there are no sure bets here; COO Stephen Jones continues to express the "poor-me'' position of claiming that paying two stud receivers like CeeDee Lamb (already making $34 million per year) and Pickens is virtually impossible.

“I don’t know of any teams that really can pay two top receivers top of the market, so that’s gonna be a real difficult situation as we move forward,” Jones said this summer.

Of course, that's simply not true. Teams don't (and shouldn't) pay top dollar to two running backs or to two quarterbacks or to two centers.

But there is plenty of precedent for paying two receivers. And the "challenges''? They're the same "challenges'' as if a team spend big on any two players - a receiver and a tight end, a cornerback and a running back, a safety and a tackle.

What's the difference?

Maybe in the future, Pickens gets tagged again next spring (at $33 million) and the two sides negotiate happily from there. Maybe they tag him and he reacts with displeasure. Maybe they go another way and he departs, leaving Dallas with a third-round compensatory pick.

But for the present? Let's calm the controversy.

Pickens sat out the the team’s win at Indianapolis last week amid speculation that maybe his inactivity was about something other than his hamstring issue.

Jerry Jones emphatically shut that down.

“100-percent injury related, Jones told 105.3 The Fan. "Put that to rest.''

Good. And now I'll put to rest another issue: On Tuesday, Pickens could've been protesting, pouting or planning his escape from Dallas.

Instead ... he was inside The Star. Working.