The Dallas Cowboys appear to have learned a lot from the Micah Parsons fiasco last offseason and didn't let an ongoing contractual issue with George Pickens become a major headline in 2026. Does the problem still exist, and is a solution still needed? Yes, but the ship was steered away from disaster.
July 15 was the deadline for Dallas to get a long-term deal done with Pickens, but it was all quiet coming out of Cowboys HQ. Pickens will play on his $27.3 million franchise tag, which is a huge wad of cash, but surely not the kind of long-term stability that he and his camp so desire.
It seems simple, at least on the surface: Pay a bunch of money to the player who took this offense to another level last year after leading the team in targets, receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns, by a good margin. As Cowboys fans know, though, it's a more complex equation than that.
And an anonymous NFL coach couldn't have put the Pickens dichotomy any better.
NFL coach perfectly encapsulates George Pickens issue Dallas Cowboys are grappling with
Hidden in the top 10 NFL wide receiver rankings that ESPN's Jeremy Fowler compiled by polling executives, coaches and scouts around the league was a quote from an anonymous NFL offensive coach about Pickens, who came in at No. 7 on this list, just one spot behind CeeDee Lamb:
"One of the best I've ever seen at the contested catch," a veteran NFL offensive coach said. "There's such untapped ability there. It's just a consistency issue and where his head's at week to week."
That is the perfect encapsulation of the Cowboys' Pickens conundrum.
On the one hand, Pickens does things on a football field that even some of the best NFL wide receivers can't dream of. When Pickens is on, he's on, and there is no stopping him. Scarier for other teams is the fact that he may not have even reached the peak of his powers yet in his young career.
And yet consistency is an issue for Pickens, who had almost as many games with fewer than 40 receiving yards (4) as games with over 130 (5). That is a wide range of outcomes for a team to expect from a player in a game, especially one who may be getting paid in the ballpark of $40 million annually.
Plus, Pickens came to Dallas with some character or maturity concerns. His actions in Las Vegas before the team's game against the Raiders in Week 11 last year are surely still a talking point amongst the Cowboys' brass, and he has a long way to go in proving himself to the front office.
Not making a big stink about playing on the franchise tag is a good place to start. Sure, it's tough to complain about making $27.3 million for one year of football, but fans have seen these situations go sideways both in Dallas and around the league over the years. Pickens did his part in not letting it.
At the end of the day, the Cowboys have a one-year sample size to work with when it comes to Pickens, and he wasn't even squeaky-clean on or off the field last season. Before investing an ungodly amount of money into him, Dallas needs to do its proper vetting. They've been burned before.
So, while Pickens, at least in terms of what he can do on the field and how high his ceiling appears to be, may be worth a gargantuan contract, can he prove to the Cowboys' decision-makers that he is, without reservation? That is the $40 million question.
Add us as a preferred source on Google