MOBILE, Ala. — As the Dallas Cowboys scoured defensive coaches to replace coordinator Matt Eberflus, they expected to glean a plan for defensive improvement from the candidates.
The Cowboys knew they wanted to employ more five-man fronts next season to capitalize on their trio of talented defensive tackles.
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They knew they wanted to strengthen their coverage in the secondary, limiting the explosive plays they had allowed in 2025.
What the Cowboys expected less, but nevertheless learned more from interviewing defensive coordinators: the value of wide receiver George Pickens.
“Talking to those defensive guys that we brought in, we were tough on them,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones told Yahoo Sports during Senior Bowl practice. “They start saying, ‘Oh my God, when we had to play you, that was a problem.’ They have to decide, “Hey, put your best cornerback on one and double team the other,” or do a lot of moving stuff like they did…
“(The candidates) said, ‘Your offense has caused a lot of problems.'”
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The Cowboys dealt the Pittsburgh Steelers a third-round pick in 2026 (and traded a fifth for a sixth in 2027) to acquire Pickens in May, although they already had a No. 1 receiver in four-time Pro Bowler CeeDee Lamb. In the season that followed, Lamb had another 1,077 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 14 games. But Pickens recorded a career-high 1,429 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 17 games.
With this duo, quarterback Dak Prescott led the league with 404 completed passes, ranking second with 600 attempts and third with 4,552 passing yards. The Cowboys ranked second in overall offensive production and seventh in scoring.
The Cowboys knew when they traded for Pickens that there was only one year left on the talented but mercurial player’s contract. A trial season followed, to determine whether Pickens had thrived in head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s offense and to determine whether he would stay out of trouble. Pickens was on the bench to start the Las Vegas Raiders game after missing curfew on the road trip following a series of late arrivals to meetings.
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He returned to play 45 of 67 offensive snaps and caught nine of 11 targets for 144 yards and a touchdown.
The Cowboys must decide now how much they value Pickens and how to act based on that value. If Dallas wants to keep Pickens in 2026 but doesn’t yet feel confident enough to offer a long-term deal, the club could give him the franchise tag. A franchise tag could also buy time from March to July to negotiate a multi-year deal.
Executives and talent evaluators from several teams at Senior Bowl practices told Yahoo Sports this week that they would keep Pickens if they were the Cowboys, although they disagreed on how they would approach the continued union. Some preferred a multi-year deal over a franchise expected to cost $28 million, according to Over The Cap, all of which would hit the cap in 2026. Others preferred to see Pickens’ off-the-field behavior another season before a long-term commitment, with one NFC executive saying the “cost of certainty” on the difference in average annual value would be worth it. Another NFC executive questioned whether Pickens’ cost would make Lamb a trade candidate in 2026 or 2027, with the executive projecting Pickens would command a price range similar to Lamb’s $34 million average annual value.
Jones wasn’t looking to negotiate publicly, but he expressed confidence they would keep Pickens after his current contract expired.
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“It’s just something we’ll have to work on,” Jones told Yahoo Sports during Senior Bowl practice. “Obviously we think George is going to come back and we can make it happen. But at the same time we want to be open-minded to everything.”
George Pickens is eyeing a big raise after one season with the Cowboys. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
(Cooper Neill via Getty Images)
Why the Cowboys believe Christian Parker can save their defense
Facing the third-worst defense in yards allowed, the Cowboys finished 7-9-1 in Schottenheimer’s first season as head coach. Dallas hopes and anticipates Hires Eagles defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Christian Parker, 34 coordinating their defense will change that.
In 13 seasons as coach, including seven in the NFL, Parker learned defense from some of the league’s best coordinators, Vic Fangio and Vance Joseph. Parker communicated in interviews a philosophy reflecting each of their influences but also some of his own twists, Jones said. The Cowboys liked Parker’s vision for individual players like edge rusher DeMarvion Overshown, cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. and cornerback DaRon Bland as well as his plans to employ five-man fronts.
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“The biggest thing is we started doing it, but we weren’t able to do it much in camp, so it was a little bit on the fly, but with a lot of five-man fronts,” Jones said. “When we ran those five-man fronts, (it) creates a lot of duels for our best players, the big three plus (Donovan) Ezeiruaku and whether it’s a (Jadeveon Clowney) or someone like that.
“The things you can do with exotic pressures… obviously interests us a lot. We felt like we could have done a better job last year getting more pressure and we obviously need to cover better.”
The trade of three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers a week before kickoff has challenged the Cowboys’ defense this season. A slow acclimation to Eberflus’ principles, including his zone coverage assignments, further left Dallas’ defenders often misaligned. Some improvement followed the trade deadline acquisition of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, bolstering an interior defensive front that already included Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark. But growth has not been linear.
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The Cowboys have two first-round picks, 12th and 20th overall, in April. Edge Rusher and Cornerback are their top needs and targets, although they don’t believe in passing up a much more talented player for a position of need, as they showed when selecting Lamb in 2020.
With Parker in-house, the Cowboys are optimistic about their ability to develop players. The Philadelphia Eagles selected cornerback Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in 2024, needing rapid acclimation from each after salary cap resources shifted heavily toward the offense.
Parker not only helped young defensive backs improve their technique in areas they had already worked at in college, former colleagues say. He helped DeJean master spatial awareness and route feel to become a first-team All-Pro cornerback during his sophomore year, although he played outside cornerback in college. And Parker helped Mitchell understand the nuances of press coverage, improving his footwork, transition skills and physicality at the point of attack.
Colleagues from previous stops are delighted with Parker’s schematic and emotional intelligence.
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“He’s a genius,” a former colleague told Yahoo Sports. “Talking about someone who has a real understanding of the game, a holistic view of the concept, he understands the whys of things and he’s able to teach them. It’s extremely relevant. And he’s able to teach those whys.
“He has principles that he stands by, but he’s also reasonable. So let’s say they have a veteran player who’s used to learning one thing one way. He’s not so stubborn that he’ll say, ‘No, you have to do it.’
“If it seems reasonable to him, he will be friendly.”
