The Dallas Cowboys' explosive wide receiver is putting the finishing touches on a Pro Bowl season, and possibly All-Pro nod. His future, however, still looms in the balance.
Now is the time of year that we start playing the "if" game.
The Dallas Cowboys can compete next year if they hire a new defensive coordinator and draft well...
Brian Schottenheimer can produce a winning culture if some bad apples don't spoil the rest of the batch...
And the biggest one of all now that the Cowboys are turning toward the offseason and not the postseason...
What happens if George Pickens is not put on the franchise tag? And what does it look like if he is?
The Cowboys' star wide receiver had a career-resurgent season, for the most part cleaning his image of an erratic gamble by proving he can coexist with another star wideout, and even produce like a No. 1 option - which he's done for much of this season.
Teams did not want to take a swing on Pickens when he was up for sale in Pittsburgh, but Dallas was desperate to complement CeeDee Lamb and headline an offense that was a mystery outside of Lamb and Dak Prescott.
Pickens' debut season with the Cowboys was spectacular. He'll finish in the top-five for receiving yards and touchdowns among all NFL wide receivers. Adding free agent home run Javonte Williams in the backfield also helped the Cowboys have one of the league's most potent offensive attacks. All signs point to a continuation of those trends in 2026...
If those players are retained.
Pickens is on the final year of his rookie contract and Williams signed just a one-year free agency deal last spring. We figure the running back market won't take up too much of Jerry Jones' cap pie, but its another story with the wide receivers, especially given that Lamb already makes upwards of $35 million annually at the position.
The general expectation is that Pickens will be put on the team's franchise tag, which pays him a salary of $28 million for next season. That's about what his performance on the field would suggest as an annual value in any other contract, too, give or take a few million to get closer to $30M.
But yes ... his signing remains an "if" because that's simply just how things go around here.
Dallas still has Week 18 at the New York Giants to worry about before turning full attention to the next season's books, but given Jones' history of controversial dealings in scenarios like this, some outlets cannot help themself playing the "if" game before the season's even over.
And as expected, Pickens is the main character in these speculations.
Bleacher Report listed a pool of teams that would be interested in Pickens if he is not tagged by Dallas. Lamar Jackon's Ravens, Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs (though the QB is injured), the rebuilding Raiders and the rebounding Commanders are all included.
This is nice and all, but you can make an easy argument that any team in the NFL would be interested in a dynamic soon-to-be-25-year-old budding superstar at receiver.
That is ... if he's available.
"He's an outstanding - let me emphasize this again - outstanding teammate," Jones said about Pickens. "He brings energy to the team even when he's not making some of those great receptions.
"Bottom line, it's working, and it's precious to have it here right at this time with what we're trying to do with Dak and how we're trying to maximize having him."
To be transparent, we were having these same types of discussions about Micah Parsons a year ago, and how it'd be crazy for there to be another scenario where he's not in a Cowboys uniform. We saw how that transpired.
But, once again, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. George Pickens needs to stay with the Dallas Cowboys.