The Cowboys are in a tough spot.
They want to keep receiver George Pickens, but they don’t want to pay him fair market value.
And so they plan to use the collectively negotiated device that gives each team the power to prevent one free agent per year from becoming a free agent.
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They know they’re taking a calculated risk by landing Pickens for around $28 million in 2026, when the top rate at the receiver position has risen to $40 million. He will be allowed to stay away from everything during the offseason, training camp and preseason. He can only show up a few days before Week 1 and get the full amount of his franchise offer (unless the Cowboys rescind it).
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones addressed the situation with reporters Monday, and he was asked about the potential complications of Pickens’ decision to respond to the team’s reliance on CBA terms by doing the same thing.
“It crosses your mind” Jones said, via Todd Archer of ESPN.com. “I mean a lot of guys that we’ve identified have been involved in everything, Dak (Prescott) leading the way. He played under two of them. He never missed anything. I hope that will be the case here.”
It’s different for a quarterback. Prescott knew he had to be fully invested in order to keep his value high. Players in other positions can, and often do, take a different approach.
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Pickens had a spectacular season in Dallas. Paired with a high-end quarterback for the first time in his career, Pickens generated 1,429 receiving yards and earned second-team All-Pro honors. If he was available to be signed by anyone, what would he get?
Thanks to the franchise tag, no one will know.
The Cowboys may be betting that Pickens will take a massive increase in salary (he made $3.656 million in 2025) and have another big year in hopes of doing it again. But the Cowboys could just touch him up, with a 20% raise over his 2026 salary.
There is another way Pickens plays. He can show up late, take his $28 million and not practice or play due to a chronic problem from years of playing football. That’s what Micah Parsons did last year, and it worked.
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The problem for Pickens is that he cannot sign a long-term deal if he is traded after July 15. Pickens won’t be able to checkmate the Cowboys like Parsons did.
And even if the Cowboys are willing to convert the tag into a long-term deal, the starting point will be two years on the franchise tag (as was the case for Dez Bryant). But with the label so far from the market, that may not be enough for Pickens.
Perhaps Pickens’ best play is demanding a trade the moment he gets hit and sticking with it until he gets a market-level deal from the Cowboys. He can also say that he won’t play under the label no matter what.
The Cowboys will be banking on Pickens not giving up $28 million for 2026. There’s a chance they’ll be wrong.
