The Cowboys have purchased themselves extra time.
The Dallas Cowboys have positioned the franchise tag on broad receiver George Pickens.
Pickens, whom the Cowboys acquired final Could in a commerce with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was scheduled to be an unrestricted free company firstly of the brand new NFL 12 months subsequent month.
However the Cowboys have moved to take him off the open market, with the crew asserting its resolution to tag Pickens on Friday.
What does the franchise tag imply for the Cowboys and Pickens?
The franchise tag primarily ties Pickens to a one-year deal price $28million, which is the tag worth for broad receivers this 12 months.
Extra pertinently, it buys the Cowboys time to solely negotiate with Pickens over a contract extension that may maintain the 24-year-old with Dallas for the long-term.
The Cowboys have till 4:00 pm ET on July 15 to signal Pickens to a long-term deal. In the event that they fail to take action, he would play on his franchise tender, supplied he agrees to signal it.
Pickens would want to signal his franchise tender by Week 10 of the 2026 season to have the ability to characteristic within the marketing campaign. Have been he to refuse to take action, the Cowboys would retain his rights and Pickens might be tagged once more in 2027. There isn’t any incentive for Pickens to go down that path.
Why have the Cowboys made this transfer?
That is all about Dallas having that additional time to speak with a participant who was excellent for the Cowboys final season.
Contract negotiations between the Cowboys and their star gamers have steadily devolved into fractious sagas which have mirrored poorly on the organisation.
Within the case of edge rusher Micah Parsons, the failure to return to phrases with him on an extension led to him being dealt to the Inexperienced Bay Packers final offseason, with Dallas shedding arguably one of the best participant on the roster weeks earlier than the season.
Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones has made no secret of how a lot he enjoys these offseason cleaning soap operas. Jones is concentrated on conserving as a lot consideration on his crew as doable always.
In that sense, the fractious negotiations with the likes of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Parsons have achieved their intention.
However, finally, the Cowboys should be within the enterprise of competing for championships, and having Pickens on their roster long-term would enhance their hopes of doing so. Franchise tagging him is step one in direction of getting him tied to an extension.
Ja’Marr Chase is the highest-paid broad receiver within the NFL with a median annual wage of $40.25m. Pickens will not be more likely to get near that quantity, although contract evaluation web site Spotrac locations his market worth at a median annual worth of $30.6m.
Pickens’ prolific 2025
After falling out of favour with the Steelers, Pickens delivered a reminder of his talents with an excellent first season in Dallas.
Focused 139 instances, Pickens caught 93 passes for 1,429 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns, these numbers all represented career-highs for the previous Georgia standout. Pickens additionally accounted for a career-high 73 first downs, averaging 15.4 yards per reception.
Amongst receivers with at the least 50 targets, Pickens ranked tied-ninth with 2.35 yards per route run.
Regardless of Pickens’ glorious performances, Dallas nonetheless missed the playoffs, ending the season with a 7-9-1 file within the first season below head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
Pickens firmly established himself as a real primary beginning wideout with the Cowboys, who will hope he generally is a focus of their offense for a few years to return as they intention to return to prominence within the NFC and try to finish a look forward to a Convention Championship sport look that stretches again to their final Tremendous Bowl season of 1995.
