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George Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys
One of the themes that emerged from what is now a combined Super Bowl/Pro Bowl week no doubt centered on Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens. After a season in which he posted 1,429 yards and 93 catches, plus nine touchdowns, there’s good reason for that. With free agency looming, it is a good time for Pickens to be loved.
Fellow wide receiver CeeDee Lamb called Pickens his, “brother,” and said he would be happy if Pickens wound up getting a bigger contract than he did–a four-year, $136 million contract he signed in 2024. Lamb also claimed he spent Pro Bowl week fighting off rival star players from recruiting Pickens, including former Cowboys star Micah Parsons.
Dak Prescott was asked repeatedly about Pickens’ free agency and said that if the player and owner Jerry Jones could not come together on a deal, he would “get involved” to try to force it to happen. Emmitt Smith was asked whether he’d re-sign Pickens and said, “Hell, yeah.”
And one nugget of breaking news from Adam Schefter was that the Cowboys would put the franchise tag on Pickens this offseason, which is a bit like breaking the news that Tuesday follows Monday. But there it is.
George Pickens’ Reputation in Pittsburgh Was Shoddy
Amid a rising tide of decidedly pro-George Pickens sentiment, though, comes SI.com insider Albert Breer, who pumps the brakes on Pickens fever. And while it is not a popular sentiment given the way Pickens just played on the field and the way his teammates seem to love him on it, Breer points out that Pickens spent three years in Pittsburgh cultivating a bad reputation on his work ethic and team approach.
Breer notes that giving Pickens a one-year, $29 million franchise tag deal is fine, but to pay him the projected four years and $122 million he is projected to get by Spotrac, or an even bigger deal than Lamb, has considerable risk. Pickens could return to the version of himself that got him run out of Pittsburgh in a trade for a third-round pick.
Cowboys Urged to Show Caution on Big Contract
Writes Breer: “Last year, he found himself in a situation fighting for his career. Dumped by the Steelers, he had a reputation for being a bad apple that was earned over three years, a time in which his team decided that it couldn’t trust him enough to give the big second contract every young player is after. … Pickens had every reason to straighten up and fly right—and to his credit, he did.
“But does that mean he’s permanently turned the corner? The track record of players like this in positions like this is very spotty.”
Cowboys Have Limited Options With George Pickens Once Franchise Tag Hits
Now, Breer also does seem to understand the dynamics here. If the Cowboys tag Pickens, they will have until July to work out a new deal for him. Basically, that gives them a few months with very little in terms of team activity to decide whether to pay him. There’s probably not going to be much new information popping out of that.
The Cowboys could play hardball with Pickens and force him to either play on the tag deal or sit out. That won’t be great for chemistry. It could push Pickens to seek a trade. That approach has its risks, too.
But, Breer notes, it’s a matter of whether you trust that whatever happened with Pickens in Pittsburgh can be ignored completely. “If I were the Cowboys, I wouldn’t be there yet,” he wrote.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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