Dallas Cowboys star receiver George Pickens has officially signed his franchise tag, locking him in for at least one more season with the team.
Pickens has been vocal about wanting to get paid this offseason, and unless Dallas has a change of heart, that’s unlikely to happen until the 2027 offseason.
During an appearance on the “Rich Eisen Show” on Friday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero laid out what’s likely to happen next with Pickens and the Cowboys.
“By signing it, you’ve locked in your worst-case scenario is you make $27.3 million for one season, and they’re either tagging you again in 2027 for like $33 million or you hit the free-agent market — or, of course, you could work out a contract with them in the meantime,” Pelissero said.
“The downside would be well now if you don’t show up for minicamp or training camp, you’re going to have to pay fines, you’re going to lose money. … But for George Pickens, he was probably showing up rather than giving away any sizable chunks of money in training camp anyway.
What It Means
Because it’s now a week past the 2026 NFL draft, the chances of a trade seem minimal — but not impossible — because any draft capital would come a year into the future.
As we saw last year when the Cowboys traded edge-rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round picks plus Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark, a deal can happen if the right price is met, however.
The good news for Pickens is if he is traded, he at least has a say in where it will be.
Because he signed his tender, Pickens can refuse to sign a long-term deal with any team Dallas speaks with, which would essentially tank any potential trade — similar to two years ago when Brandon Aiyuk refused to sign an extension with the Cleveland Browns, which nuked the deal the San Francisco 49ers agreed to that would have sent Amari Cooper plus a draft pick back to SF.
Pelissero agrees that a trade is the least likely scenario in this situation.
“I would say what’s more likely at this point is George Pickens playing on the tender…but there’s certainly a possibility that if somebody offers the right package for George Pickens [a trade could happen],” Pelissero added. “…Pickens, like most players, would prefer to get a deal. If that deal is not coming in Dallas, that preference would be to get a deal someplace else.”
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