{"id":764384,"date":"2026-02-20T11:12:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764384\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T11:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:12:43","slug":"begin-talks-with-george-pickens-free-agent-shopping-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764384\/","title":{"rendered":"Begin talks with George Pickens, free agent shopping and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cowboys<\/a> head to the NFL Scouting Combine with the coaching staff finalized and business to take care of<\/a>. Over the next week, the franchise will visit Indianapolis to speak with agents and college prospects. There\u2019s much to accomplish:<\/p>\n

Begin George Pickens talks<\/p>\n

The Cowboys normally start a majority of their contract talks with player agents while on the team bus parked near downtown Indianapolis. This is where the team can present a formal contract offer to wide receiver George Pickens<\/a>. Of course, the team plans to keep Pickens for the 2026 season by placing the franchise tag on him<\/a>. The club has until March 3 to do this. Getting off to a strong start in contract talks, regardless of whether the franchise tag is applied, is key to making sure Pickens reports on time for the offseason program and training camp in July. Pickens seeks a contract of at least $30 million per season, which isn\u2019t out of line considering the franchise tag is projected at $28 million.<\/p>\n

Finish Javonte Williams talks<\/p>\n

The Cowboys front office has taken criticism for not finishing deals with its star players in a timely manner. Well, the Cowboys have tried to take care of business with running back Javonte Williams, but he switched agents and currently doesn\u2019t have one. When the season ended, Cowboys officials started talks with Williams\u2019 agent at the time, then had to halt discussions with the agent change. The question is what to pay Williams?<\/a> Williams made $3 million last season. After producing a career year with 1,201 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, Williams is looking for a raise. No problem. At least nine running backs average $10 million per season. Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, now entering year 2, is averaging $8.9 million. The Rams\u2019 Kyren Williams signed a contract extension last year worth $33 million with $23 million guaranteed over three years. Is that a good baseline for Williams?<\/p>\n

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Related<\/p>\n

\"DallasTake care of the kicker, kinda<\/p>\n

Brandon Aubrey enters free agency, of sorts<\/a>. He\u2019s a restricted free agent so the Cowboys can place either a first-round tender (projected $8.1 million) or second-round tender (projected $5.8 million) on him. Players want security, so reaching a long-term deal with a kicker who has made 88.2% of his field goals in his career seems vital. The Chiefs\u2019 Harrison Butker has the highest total guaranteed money ($17.7 million) for a kicker in the league. Aubrey, a three-time Pro Bowler, has been fantastic for the Cowboys. As the team creates salary cap space for an expected large deal for George Pickens, should a nice chunk of that space go to the kicker?<\/p>\n

Edge rushers, edge rushers and more edge rushers<\/p>\n

The Cowboys need an edge rusher. An elite one. Last year, their two best edge rushers, James Houston and Jadeveon Clowney, showed up after the offseason programs were concluded. Both are free agents now. The Cowboys want to bring both back. Here\u2019s what Jerry Jones said of Clowney just before the Super Bowl: \u201cI\u2019ll tell you what. We liked [Clowney]. He really came on. He gives you some flexibility here as far as the draft is concerned. In my mind, he really played well.\u201d If the Cowboys can re-sign Clowney on a one-year deal and draft an edge rusher at No. 12 or No. 20, then you\u2019re looking at something. The NFL draft might see four edge rushers taken among the top 15 picks. With new defensive coordinator Christian Parker looking to use a base 3-4 defense<\/a>, could Ohio State\u2019s Arvell Reese be a prime target at No. 12? He\u2019s projected to go off the board before Dallas is on the clock. The Cowboys also have last year\u2019s second-round pick, Donovan Ezeiruaku, who emerged as a better run defender than expected. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"NewFill the hole at middle linebacker<\/p>\n

In the last two years, defensive coordinators Mike Zimmer and Matt Eberflus had the team sign inside linebackers Eric Kendricks and Jack Sanborn to become the main signal callers. Both were met with uneven results. Last season, Dallas traded for Logan Wilson to take over as middle linebacker<\/a>, but it didn\u2019t happen. Eberflus stuck with Kenneth Murray, who was playing out of position. What Parker does at middle linebacker will be watched closely, particularly if he signs a veteran. The draft has some good off-ball linebackers such as Sonny Styles (Ohio State), but finding that middle linebacker in free agency is important. Denver\u2019s Alex Singleton played in a 3-4 scheme and is a free agent. He could be a fit for the Cowboys if he doesn\u2019t re-sign with the Broncos. Nakobe Dean (Philadelphia) is another possibility, having played for Parker.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cowboys head to the NFL Scouting Combine with the coaching staff finalized and business to take care…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[6203,96665,230,229,257,2461,7,467,4893,1274,2883,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-764384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-brandon-aubrey","9":"tag-christian-parker","10":"tag-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-dallascowboys","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-george-pickens","16":"tag-jadeveon-clowney","17":"tag-javonte-williams","18":"tag-jerry-jones","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116102664396094074","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764384","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=764384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}