{"id":770155,"date":"2026-02-23T01:41:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T01:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/770155\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T01:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T01:41:27","slug":"cowboys-insider-predicts-george-pickens-120-million-contract-does-dallas-trust-wr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/770155\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys Insider Predicts George Pickens $120 Million Contract; Does Dallas Trust WR?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It can be easy to forget that when the Dallas Cowboys traded for George Pickens last offseason, it was seen as a huge risk.<\/p>\n

Given George’s “antics” during his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, there was a sense that the move could blow up in Dallas’ face.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Well, under Brian Schottenheimer, it didn’t.<\/p>\n

Pickens would post 1,429 yards and 9 TDs en route to his first Pro Bowl nod as he developed into Dallas’ top offensive weapon in 2025.<\/p>\n

Now, an impending free agent, the big discussion point is what the Cowboys should do with Pickens and his contract.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Christian Parker Reveals Major Key To Dallas Cowboys Move<\/a><\/p>\n

We know that the Cowboys’ plan, thanks to our own Mike Fisher, is to franchise tag him, which would give Pickens roughly $28 million for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

But what about a long-term deal? Insider Fisher predicts that could be four years and $120 million total. Yes, that would cost at least $30 million APY, but it would ease Pickens’ cap impact.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

However, has Pickens done enough to warrant that sort of faith from Dallas?<\/p>\n

ESPN’s Damien Woody thinks the Cowboys should want to see more.<\/p>\n

“I would tag him,” Woody said on GetUp<\/a>. “I would bascially say, show me again because I’m not dismissing the years he spent in Pittsburgh. It’s one thing to do it in a contract year, and you put up that type of season. I still need to see you do it again before I fully commit long-term to a player like George Pickens.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Christian Parker Reveals Cowboys ‘Excitement’ For Defensive Line Room<\/a><\/p>\n

Once again, George’s reputation precedes him.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

But is what Woody said the smart thing to do? There is a risk that Pickens doesn’t play on the tag or even sign it, and then a whole can of worms gets opened up.<\/p>\n

Given what he did for the offense in 2025, the Cowboys would be smart to keep Pickens around, but at an APY over $30 million?<\/p>\n

That is the question Dallas has to ask itself.<\/p>\n

Is what they saw from Pickens both on and off the field last season, given them enough confidence that George has turned the corner both professionally and personally?<\/p>\n

Because when you are talking about paying a player over $30 million a season, there can’t be any doubts over said player.<\/p>\n

Pickens quietened the skeptics in 2025, but it appears that if he wants the long-term deal he’s after, he might have to do it again.<\/p>\n

Whether he likes it or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It can be easy to forget that when the Dallas Cowboys traded for George Pickens last offseason, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[2886,230,229,257,2461,28958,7,467,6,57,1119],"class_list":{"0":"post-770155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-brian-schottenheimer","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-damien-woody","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-george-pickens","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","18":"tag-the-cowboys"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116117404623508561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770155","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=770155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}