In the event George Pickens is not re-signed by the Dallas Cowboys, would Jerry Jones try to strike gold a second time?
George Pickens carried what can be most respectfully categorized as "baggage" leading up to his trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Dallas Cowboys this past offseason.
The deep-ball wide receiver had talent that exploded off the page, but it was matched by an equally explosive personality - on and off the field. Pickens built a hot-head reputation that Pittsburgh simply got tired of and packed up to Dallas in exchange for two mid-to-late-round draft picks.
The move turned out to be a gold stike for the Cowboys, who paired All-Pro CeeDee Lamb with a fourth-year wideout in Pickens, who cleaned up his maturity concerns and balled out with the third-most receiving yards in the NFL and a career-high in touchdown grabs; he became an All-Pro for the first time.
It was a performance that couldn't come at a better time for the former Georgia Bulldog. He now enters free agency for the first time and could command an average annual salary upwards of $30 million from whatever team he intends to sign with.
Of course, Jerry Jones & Co. want to make this happen in The Star, and they can do so before anyone else picks up the phone by placing Pickens on the $28 million franchise tag.
But in the event that that idea falls through, one suggestion - rather insanely - thinks the Cowboys should try to hit gold a second time.
Writer Daniel Arwas of Heavy thinks San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is an "out-of-the-box" option that'd make sense for the Cowboys to pursue.
Don't get me wrong, Aiyuk is a special talent and has proven All-Pro potential throughout his career. But he carries with him a baggage similar to what plagued Pickens before this season. There's no need to gamble on a personal revolution again when it's avoidable.
Additionally, his game might not be sharp. Aiyuk missed the entire 2025 season as he tore his ACL. Then there's the personality concerns. Throughout that recovery, he clashed with 49ers management to the point where general manager John Lynch was blunt in explaining the feud to reporters.
"I think it’s safe to say that he’s played his last snap with the Niners,” Lynch said this week. "It’s unfortunate. A situation that just went awry. And I will look long and hard at what could have been done differently, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And I think that this was a case where that happened."
Arwas thinks Pickens' stellar season could price him out of what Dallas would be most willing to sign him at, but Aiyuk's last contract doesn't make him that much more affordable in the alternative.
After his Second-Team All-Pro season in 2023, Aiyuk signed a four-year $120 million contract with San Francisco. He will be made available one way or another this offseason - and the Niners could swallow a chunk of that cash to offload him for good - but the various risks are not worth what would be minor cap savings for Dallas.
There is no telling how well Aiyuk, 27, will return from the ACL or mesh with the Cowboys' offensive cornerstones Lamb and Dak Prescott, either. Those were factors Pickens made incredible impressions on, as he and CeeDee were buddy-buddy all throughout the season. Pickens also remained healthy for the entire season to help Prescott orchestrate a top offense in the NFL.
Signing Aiyuk? That's restarting the entire process and hoping for a similar result. The NFL doesn't let teams get lucky like that more than once.
The Cowboys had one of the worst defenses of all time in 2025 despite their awesome offense. It was a unit so bad that they could do no better than a 7-9-1 mark that missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Simply put, there is no time for experiments.
Dallas would certainly need to audible if Pickens is not in the Silver and Blue by the end of the spring, but the franchise tag is an opportunity to avoid getting there and stick to what's already worked.
