INDIANAPOLIS – One of the biggest talking points for the Cowboys going into the week of the NFL Combine was wide receiver George Pickens, who entered the offseason as a pending free agent.

The Cowboys made a decision on Pickens Friday, placing the non-exclusive franchise tag on the Pro Bowl wide receiver. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he spoke to Pickens to let him know the move was coming and the two shared a positive conversation.

“I expressed to him how valuable a part of the team that we think he is, I think he is,” Jones said. “The kind of contribution he can make, he’ll continue to get better working Dak, working with the other receivers. So we talked about the future, we both reiterated how good it was for him to be here, and know that what we have in place assures that he will be here.”

Should Pickens eventually end up signing and playing on the tag, the Cowboys would owe Pickens $27.3 million for the 2026 season. Both sides have until July 15 to come to a long-term contract extension agreement, and Jones is confident that point can be reached.

“So often when we’ve done franchise News – All News,Featured – Offseason | 2026,News – Free Agency Tracker,News – Draft Central | 2026,Jerry Jones, we get long term deals done,” Jones said. “That’s a lot of confidence there. We really get a lot of deals done because we want them to be a part of the future beyond the franchise year for it to be there… There’s no question, that’s why I’m trying to be real clear: Without a question, this is an expression on our part of what kind of person we think he is, what kind of player we think he is.”

Pickens is represented by agent David Mulugheta, the same agent that represented former Cowboy Micah Parsons a year ago. After negotiations between the Cowboys and Mulugheta for Parsons couldn’t materialize into a contract, there were questions about whether or not a deal could be worked out with Pickens because of it.

From Jones’ perspective, that won’t stand to be an issue this time around.

“I can clearly work with his agent. Not clearly to you, but clearly to me. I have no issues,” Jones said. “We haven’t met, as you well know, but we haven’t met. But to the end that we can have discussion about him and other players that he represents, we understand the angst that’s there, how he’s representing and his goals of maximizing the dollars. And he clearly is accomplished enough to know the alternative to that is our job of managing the club and the salary cap and getting as much mileage out of the cap as we can.”

One of the next checkpoints coming up in the process is the offseason program and whether or not Pickens will participate if he hasn’t signed to a long-term deal. Jones believes it would benefit Pickens to be present for the program.

“The idea of saying, ‘Well, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that,’ all of it is in my mind, George’s best interest to come in and help us win and have a better season than we had last year,” Jones said. “What I do know… is that we are sold on his ability to be a part of a team.”

Another high-profile free agent, albeit a restricted free agent compared to Pickens, is kicker Brandon Aubrey. Jones said that the Cowboys would like to make Aubrey the highest paid kicker in the NFL and keep him in Dallas.

“I think he’s outstanding,” Jones said. “Love his story, love the fact that the story is with the Cowboys. We feel good that what we are talking about is an appreciation of what he can do for us. That’s a way of, not trying to negotiate with anything I might say here, but we’ve got a good offer on the table for him.”