Cowboys writers address team's mentality about George Pickens contract situation

While the Dallas Cowboys retained the rights for wide receiver George Pickens via the franchise tag earlier this offseason, signing him to a multiyear deal likely became more expensive for the club after Seattle Seahawks star Jaxon Smith-Njigba reset the market for players at the position by agreeing to a four-year, $168.6M deal that included $120M guaranteed. 

A recent report indicated that Pickens will eventually have to accept playing on the one-year tender attached to the tag. For a Thursday mailbag, Patrik Walker and Tommy Yarrish of the Cowboys' website seemed to say plenty about the team's mentality regarding the Pickens situation. 

Are Cowboys "sweating bullets" over George Pickens saga?

"As far as leverage for the Cowboys goes," Walker wrote, "they've got most of it regardless of anything. Either a team ponies up a first-round pick for the benefit of paying Pickens a huge contract, or teams shy away from it. He is held to the franchise tag as a worst-case scenario, and a multiyear deal as a best-case scenario, if one can be done before [the July 15 deadline]. Either way, while the Cowboys remain actively engaged in trying to get a deal done sooner than later, they aren't exactly sweating bullets right now."

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated is among the NFL insiders who have suggested teams won't part ways with draft assets for the right to pay Pickens after he reportedly caused headaches for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cowboys over the past handful of seasons. Even if Pickens doesn't participate in Dallas' voluntary offseason program, he would have to settle for playing on the tag unless he is willing to forfeit money by sitting out games. 

Are Cowboys "in a hurry" to make George Pickens happy?

"The Cowboys have ultimately said their goal is to keep Pickens around in the long-term," Yarrish added, "but they're not necessarily in a hurry to do so as they have the option to tag him this year as well as next year at 120% of the tag cost at the WR position. Sure, Pickens has the option to perform a hold-in to try and gain some leverage, but ultimately it's highly unlikely in my opinion that he misses games during the season, as historically that hasn't worked out very well. One way or another, I expect Pickens to be on the field Week 1 for the Cowboys in 2026 as things currently stand."

Situations can obviously change, as Pickens could try to make things ugly behind the scenes over the next few months. That said, it sounds like people within the Cowboys expect that he will be catching passes thrown by quarterback Dak Prescott during the regular-season opener in September.