{"id":737106,"date":"2026-02-08T02:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T02:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/737106\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T02:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T02:57:12","slug":"conflicting-report-emerges-on-dallas-cowboys-franchise-tagging-george-pickens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/737106\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflicting report emerges on Dallas Cowboys franchise tagging George Pickens"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter was first to report on the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 plans to use the franchise tag on wide receiver George Pickens<\/a>. But a conflicting report has now emerged from Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n

Watkins says there has been no communication between the Cowboys and the people representing Pickens. He added that the NFL Combine in Indianapolis might be where the communication begins on the matter. An interesting twist in another big-time contract negotiation involving Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cCowboys have not spoken to George Pickens\u2019 reps about new contract or placing franchise tag on him according to a person with knowledge of the process,\u201d Watkins said<\/a> via X. \u201cPickens reps normally speak with teams at the combine about such measures and that should be the case now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some more color on the situation came from Watkins in a follow-up tweet. The thought process behind applying the tag to Pickens was explained, while also pointing out a potential downside. Watkins also added to the report, saying he does believe Pickens will eventually be tagged despite no current communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect Cowboys to tag George Pickens, it\u2019s part of the process of keeping a player under team control,\u201d Watkins said<\/a> via X. \u201cThe issue is getting a deal done and if that tag prompts Pickens to stay away from facility until a deal is done. Cowboys in same boat as always with some of these contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, a person with knowledge of the process expects the Cowboys to place the franchise tag on George Pickens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cowboys have between Feb. 17 and March 3 to officially place the tag on Pickens. If they do, he will receive a fully guaranteed $28 million contract for the season. The possibility of signing a long-term extension would not be out of the equation.<\/p>\n

Jerry Jones wants to keep George Pickens on Dallas Cowboys<\/p>\n

Throughout the offseason, ownership expressed its desire to get a deal together. That includes owner\u00a0Jerry Jones, who said he\u2019d like to see Pickens stay in Dallas for the forseeable future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m talking to Geroge all the time by virtue of my excitement for him,\u201d Jones said,\u00a0via DallasCowboys.com\u2019s Tommy Yarrish<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s better than, as far as what he contributed to our team, showing the potential that he could contribute. I\u2019m looking forward to getting things worked out so George can be a Cowboy a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

On3\u2019s George Pickens contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter was first to report on the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 plans to use the franchise tag on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,12819,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-737106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-george-pickens-19-hoover","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116032768788781155","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}