Cowboys to Place Franchise Tag on George Pickens After Pro Bowl Season

Wide receiver George Pickens will reportedly be sticking around the Cowboys for at least one more year.

Dallas plans to apply the franchise tag to Pickens, according to a Saturday evening report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The franchise tag binds a player to a team for a set salary for a period of one year, and is generally (though not exclusively) used to restrict a player’s exposure to the open market while he negotiates a long-term contract with his current team.

Per Schefter, tagging Pickens will set back the Cowboys $28 million. He made $3.7 million in 2025, the final year of his rookie deal.

In ‘25, Pickens posted some of the best numbers of his four-year career after coming over via trade from the Steelers on May 7. He caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns—figures that ranked third, eighth and eighth in the NFL, respectively. His numbers earned him the first Pro Bowl selection of his career.

Accordingly, Dallas finished second in the league in total offense and seventh in scoring offense. One of the worst defenses in the league, however, doomed the Cowboys to a 7-9-1 record for their first back-to-back losing seasons since the early 2000s.

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