Cowboys owner Jerry Jones's praise sparks a $40 million contract rumor, but is it just clickbait regarding George Pickens?
FRISCO - Jerry Jones is once again guilty of hyperbole?
You don’t say! Why, I never!
Jerry Jones has now locked in George Pickens to getting a new Dallas Cowboys contract worth $40 million per year?
Who says? Because … no. Never.
Pickens has experienced mostly ups in Dallas this year, with his poorest game of the season coming in an early December 44-30 loss at Detroit. The Pro Bowl receiver (by the numbers) caught only five of his nine targets for 37 yards and seemed to jog his way through the outing in a semi-interested way.
His response on social media to critics was NSFW (until he wisely removed the post). And his effort caused Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer to meet one-on-one with the gifted Pickens.
“We talked a little about it,” Schottenheimer said. “In his words, he goes, ‘Hey, Schotty, I didn’t play my best game.’ Unfortunately, none of us played our best game. That’s real. But I don’t worry about George and his love for football and playing this game.”
Also unworried? Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who on 105.3 The Fan insisted that “I don’t have the concern about him as far as his competing and helping us win football games on the field, at all …
“He brings enough pluses to the table to frankly live with what’s going on, this type of criticism. The criticism in my mind is, is he a competitor, and when he gets out there, can he come down with the ball? Does he compete when he’s out there? A-triple-plus.”
Yes, that is a bloated grade for a very good player who after last spring’s trade from a Steelers team that was tired of his antics is having a career year. His numbers have been outstanding, his behavior hasn't been much of an issue and PFF grades him as the No. 6 receiver in the NFL.
And it’s probably not a coincidence that Pickens, 24, is in the final season of his rookie deal and is therefore motivated to perform and to behave as he’s about to hit free agency.
And that’s where “the nationals and the casuals’’ come in with bloated panic, overwrought concerns and blatant clickbait.
Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk.com has absorbed all of the above info and about a month ago started “reporting’’ that Jones has suddenly created a situation “that will require $40 million per year’’ to keep Pickens.
Florio’s full quote: “Congratulations, Jerry. You’re successfully painting yourself into a corner that will require $40 million per year in new money to escape.’’
We have already written that Pickens’s agent, David Mulugheta, will be loaded with ammunition at the negotiating table due to the Cowboys’ long-ago announcement that Pickens is essentially the equal to star CeeDee Lamb, who makes $34 million APY - the third-highest total at his position in the NFL.
So Florio is correct - but is not original - in his thoughts about the “triple-A-plus’’ quote being useful to the agent.
But again, the quote is hyperbolic. There is no thing as a “triple-A-plus’’ grade. Not for Jim Brown, not for Lawrence Taylor, not for Tom Brady.
Jesus, if he played football? Maybe.
So … where is Florio getting this “$40 million’’ number, which would tie him with the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase with the biggest number in NFL history?
Florio is pulling it out of his … imagination. He’s making it up.
And he’s wrong.
Florio writes that as a result of the “triple-A-plus’’ quote, “Pickens will have the upper hand in the relationship.’’ That’s absolutely untrue, because as we reported recently, Dallas has already constructed its contractual plan and that plan features using the franchise tag to retain Pickens in 2026.
And that tag number isn’t $40 million. It’s not even close to that. It’s $28 million.
If the two sides are unable to work out a long-term deal between now and March 3, the Cowboys will place the franchise tag on Pickens - you can virtually book that. Then the two sides can continue to negotiate to mid-July, and if no new deal is achieved, Pickens’ has a contract.
And it’s for $28 million. No hyperbole. No panic. No clickbait.