Lord, have mercy. It's the saga that never ends.
Just a couple of days ago, ESPN's Adam Schefter appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and offered up quite the bombshell of an update on Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens. In fact, Schefter went so far as to say Pickens would demand a trade if he didn't receive a multi-year deal.
But then, after the clip was posted to McAfee's social media, it was deleted a few minutes later. That caused all of us, here, to ask the question: What is going on?
Fast forward 48 hours, and yet another insider went on McAfee's show. This time, it was another well-respected name in NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. And straight from Rapsheet, we got to hear this:
"George Pickens has told the Cowboys that he intends to sign the franchise tag," Rapoport said. "He is accepting the franchise tag, so not signing it yet isn't that big of a deal."
Ian Rapoport downplays George Pickens not yet signing his franchise tag with the Dallas Cowboys
For those wondering, the post has not yet been deleted.
Feels like a funny but important detail.
So, here we are. Pickens has not signed his franchise tag. Although we've heard a few rumblings that Pickens had signed it, even as far back as before the 2026 NFL Draft, it is safe to say that we can trust Rapoport's reporting.
But if we can trust Rapoport, and we should also be able to trust Schefter, then seriously ... what is actually happening?
It's been a couple of days, but the question still remains: Why did McAfee delete the post with Schefter's update?
There has to be one logical answer to this, and that is the notion that Rapoport is correct while Schefter might have been given bad information. The Schefter bit wouldn't have been deleted had it been true.
This is merely Rapoport confirming what most of us already thought to be true, while Schefter had to have been given false information. It's as simple as that.
So, once again, we are in the same spot as we were just a short while ago. Pickens intends to sign the tag, but he hasn't officially signed yet.
And, as Cowboys fans know good and well, these types of situations can end in a variety of ways. It doesn't matter what is said and by whom. In the end, we just cannot believe a thing until it's signed, sealed and delivered.
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