Cowboys expected to place franchise tag on WR George Pickens

It has been a very fast start to the offseason for the Dallas Cowboys for the first time in a long time.

It started with hiring Christian Parker and the rest of his staff, and now it continues with news that Dallas are expected to place the franchise tag on George Pickens, a move that I thought would happen at least for the time being.

The front office of the Cowboys have done everything the correct way to start this offseason, and once the new league year officially starts in March, they will have a lot more work to do.

Get A Deal Done

The projected cost of the one-year, fully guaranteed franchise tag for Pickens will be roughly $28 million. Now remember Pickens has to sign the deal to play on it for one full year.

If he does not sign it, he doesn’t play, but my guess is that they will try and make sure a long-term type deal does get done.

But the Cowboys want to lock in Pickens for at least next season and, as owner Jerry Jones told the team’s website, for “a long time.”

The Cowboys will be able to apply the franchise tag to Pickens anytime between Feb. 17 and March 3, but the tag undoubtedly is coming, if for no other reason than to serve as a placeholder for the start of negotiations designed to keep him in Dallas.

The franchise tag is a place holder to keep a player off the free agent market, giving a team more time to negotiate a possible long term deal.
It also restricts movement and keeps the money down compared to a free for all wide open market.
George pickens is not going to be happy…

— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) February 8, 2026

Pickens had a career year, catching 90 passes for 1,409 and nine touchdowns.

The only issue I worry about is that Pickens has the same agent as Micah Parsons, and we all know how badly things went with these two, and I don’t think anyone thought that Parsons would ever be traded, and yet we found out the hard way.

Spotrac predicts Pickens could sign a four-year, $122,425,436 contract that carries an AAV of $30.6 million.

If we go off of the highest-paid wide receivers from 2025, that hypothetical contract would make Pickens the No. 7 highest-paid wideout in the NFL.

Keep in mind that the Cowboys already have the No. 1 highest-paid quarterback in Dak Prescott, No. 3 highest-paid wide receiver in Lamb and the highest-paid offensive guard in Tyler Smith.

Again, the cap number is a myth, and it is projected to rise to between $301.2 million and $305.7 million per team, representing a significant $22 million to $26.5 million increase over the 2025 cap of $279.2 million.

This continues an upward trend, with the 2026 cap expected to be nearly $100 million higher than it was in 2022!

The good news is that Pickens, CeeDee Lamb and Dak seem to have a really solid relationship and for Pickens I think that is key.

Everyone thought he would be a disaster when they traded for him, but having someone like Dak as a leader has settled him down a bit. He and Lamb had one issue with being late while in Vegas, but other than that and one or two penalties, he was just about as good as anyone could have asked for!

If they do get Pickens signed, with Lamb and the way that Ryan Flournoy finished the year, the Cowboys wide receiver room very well could be the best in football.

Jalen Tolbert will be a prime cut target for Dallas, and I would be just fine with that. You sign Pickens and maybe Javonte Williams and then you can spend the rest of the offseason worrying about the defensive side of the ball.

You use both first round picks on defense, and maybe try and add one or two guys in free agency and bolster that side of the ball and then we can have some legit conversations about this football team in 2026.