Pickens is a Cowboy in 2026, but will he remain with the franchise beyond that?
When the Dallas Cowboys traded for George Pickens last offseason, many wondered exactly what the future would look like.
Was George going to be a Cowboy for one season? Or would he stick around long-term? The Cowboys wouldn't give up draft capital for a player they wanted, only to let him leave, right?
Well, after George's Pro Bowl season, and easily the best of his career as he totaled 1,429 yards and 9 TDs from 93 receptions, attention turned to what Dallas would do with him this offseason.
Well, Dallas made it clear early that it wouldn't negotiate with Pickens, instead slapping the franchise tag ($27.3 million in 2026) on him, and now George will play under it this season.
So, no big, long-term extension that some thought could surpass CeeDee Lamb's deal ($34 million APY), and now many think 2026 will be George's last in a Cowboys uniform.
Why? Because Pickens' value is too rich right now for what Dallas wants to pay.
And Louis Riddick, who was on ESPN's GetUp, he thinks it is all shaping up to end one way for Pickens in Dallas.
"You have to understand where Dallas is coming from," Riddick said. "They have more information than anyone else, they were the ones who were with him every single day last year, they know he produced, they know he had a heck of a season, they know that if he were to hit the open market, what he would command.
"To me, this sounds like a situation that is setting up for 2026 to be George's last season in Dallas, there's really no other way to look at it."
To be paying Dak Prescott near the top of the market, and CeeDee the same, can Dallas afford to do it with Pickens? Absolutely, they can. The question is, do they want to?
We've seen the Cincinnati Bengals go all-in on offense, and the defense suffers with Joe Burrow struggling to make the playoffs. Maybe that is in the back of Dallas' mind?
So having three players on one side of the ball making near top-of-the-market money would be a bold decision, but extending Pickens now would save Dallas roughly $20 million in cap space, yet they chose not to.
The Cowboys want to see more from Pickens and in doing so, likely priced themselves out of keeping him beyond 2026.
