{"id":780550,"date":"2026-02-27T19:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780550\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T19:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:49:15","slug":"cowboys-place-franchise-tag-on-wr-george-pickens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780550\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys place franchise tag on WR George Pickens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Cowboys <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/steelers-trading-wr-george-pickens-to-cowboys\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">acquired<\/a> Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick from the Pittsburgh Steelers last March for a 2026 third-rounder and a 2027 seventh-round selection.<\/p>\n<p>Pickens, a former second-round pick, went on to have his most prolific campaign in 2025, generating 93 catches, 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. Ensuring that production didn&#8217;t leave the building was a priority for Dallas. With Pickens and <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/ceedee-lamb\/\" title=\"CeeDee Lamb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CeeDee Lamb<\/a> together, <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/dak-prescott\/\" title=\"Dak Prescott\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dak Prescott<\/a> has the firepower for the Cowboys to remain an explosive, top-tier offense in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The question spinning forward is whether the Cowboys, who are currently over the salary cap, can strike a long-term deal with Pickens. Eight wide receivers make $30-plus million per season, including Lamb&#8217;s $34 million, meaning Pickens should be looking at a massive pay day on a multi-year extension. Another option to consider is trading Pickens while he&#8217;s on the franchise tag &#8212; the player needs to sign the franchise tender for that to happen.<\/p>\n<p>Until Pickens signs the franchise tender, or a separate extension before July 15, he is not considered under contract and couldn&#8217;t be fined for missing any mandatory work this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cowboys acquired Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick from the Pittsburgh Steelers last March for a 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1227,257,7,467,88,6,609,4267],"class_list":{"0":"post-780550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-around-the-nfl","9":"tag-dallas-cowboys","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-george-pickens","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-no-minute","15":"tag-offseason-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116144332206079208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780550","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=780550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}