George Pickens’ price tag increases after Monday’s news

So here we are, another offseason and Jerry Jones is taking his sweet time in getting George Pickens signed to an extension, and guess what? His price tag is increasing once again after Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s new deal this morning.

Yes, JSN is the offensive player of the year, and has had 3,000 yards in the last two years, but Pickens was only 300 yards behind him and had one less touchdown a year ago, so let’s just say the money he would have gotten yesterday is less than what he would get tomorrow.

Pickens has been enjoying the offseason, clearly. He and CeeDee Lamb have been spending a lot of time together. See the photo below.

That is a great thing not only for the Cowboys, but for Pickens himselves, everyone talked about all the issues he would cause, and he hasn’t, not once.

Price Tag Now?

So let’s dive into this a little bit, shall we? the Seattle Seahawks came to terms with 2025 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a four-year, $168.6 million contract extension.

JSN’s new deal will pay him an average of $42.15 million per season. We know Pickens is not going to make over $40 million a season. That is fair to assume.

He won offensive player of the year, and has had over 3,000 yards in the last two years combined, but it makes Pickens’ price go up a little more to get it close.

Highest paid receivers in the NFL on a per-year basis:

Jaxon Smith-Njigba: $42.15M Ja’Marr Chase: $40.25M Justin Jefferson: $35M CeeDee Lamb: $34M DK Metcalf: $33M Garrett Wilson: $32.5M.

My guess would be that George is going to get over $30 million, and he would be under CeeDee Lamb at $34M on a per-year basis, but probably over Garrett Wilson.

Highest paid receivers in the NFL on a per-year basis:

🏈Jaxon Smith-Njigba: $42.15M
🏈Ja’Marr Chase: $40.25M
🏈Justin Jefferson: $35M
🏈CeeDee Lamb: $34M
🏈DK Metcalf: $33M
🏈Garrett Wilson: $32.5M https://t.co/eqDxUvdEzZ

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 23, 2026

It is hard to predict that, but we know how the market goes, and having the same agent as Micah Parsons, he is going to try and get every single penny that he can from Jerry Jones and the Cowboys.

Either way, this proves once again that Jerry Jones waits way too long to pay his guys. I will give him credit for getting the deal done with Javonte Williams way earlier than normal, but you knew Pickens would cost more than him and have not done a single thing to try and get it done.

At the end of the day, this offense will need Pickens, and they looked great last year and will bring nearly every single player back outside of Jalen Tolbert who signed with the Dolphins, but if the defense can even manage to be below average instead of the worst in football a year ago, they have a chance.

The market on these guys keeps going up and Jerry is sitting on his hands again. This deal could have been done a month ago and all this team would have to worry about is the NFL draft, now with the price tag going up, do we think that Pickens will play on the tag which is worth $27.9 million?

The price of George Pickens' next contract likely just went up after the Seahawks made JSN the highest-paid receiver in NFL history…@1053SS, @rjchoppy and @BobbyBeltTX react to the deal and discuss how it may impact the #DallasCowboys' negotiations with GP3⤵️ pic.twitter.com/qZk3pw9bQp

— 105.3 The FAN (@1053thefan) March 23, 2026

I think back to the Dez Bryant situation. They are being handled much differently. Dez was very loud about not playing unless he was signed and before the season started he signed that deal with Dallas.

I would like to think GP will get his money, but I would like a two or three-year deal for him and not a four or five-year deal. Those are just to long for wide outs that get the ball that much.

Defense and signing GP should be the rest of the issues that this front office works on as they move into the summer months.