Dallas Cowboys Showing Signs George Pickens Trade Could Happen

The Dallas Cowboys may have shown multiple signs that they are willing to trade wide receiver George Pickens this offseason.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens. | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Dallas Cowboys and wide receiver George Pickens are in an interesting spot going into the 2026 NFL Draft.

On Wednesday, the Cowboys announced that they would not be signing Pickens to a long-term contract extension and instead Pickens would play out the 2026 season on the franchise tag.

“There won't be negotiations on a long-term deal,” Stephen Jones said of Pickens' contract situation.

This is not a surprising outcome at all. The Cowboys have hinted they weren't interested in inking Pickens to a long-term deal and, quite frankly, this is the right move by Dallas. Committing to a long-term deal with the mercurial wideout would have been a risky bet.

But Dallas' announcement, along with the team's reported interest in a first-round wide receiver, could signal that something big is coming.

Is a George Pickens trade coming?

Dallas Cowboys receiver George Pickens. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

While the decision to not extend Pickens wasn't surprising, the timing of the Cowboys' announcement was. After all, the two sides had all the way until July 15 to get something done and you would assume Dallas would've waited until then to give an official update.

Instead, the Cowboys revealed the situation with Pickens on the day before the 2026 NFL Draft and CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones has heard from a source who raises the idea that this could be a signal from Dallas that Pickens is available via trade.

"A different source raised the possibility that the Cowboys are attempting to signal they would be willing to trade Pickens," the CBS Sports reporter said.

Another source wondered if this could be a negotiating tactic to get Pickens and his agent to come to the table with their own offer. However, Jones doesn't think such a tactic would be effective on Pickens' agent, David Mulugheta.

If the Cowboys are indeed interested in trading Pickens and there is a team out there, Jones notes that a trade is unlikely to happen during the draft because Pickens has to sign the tag first, something that isn't likely to happen.

Another sign

Arizona State Sun Devils wide receiver Jordyn Tyson. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

ESPN's Adam Schefter recently reported that the Cowboys "love" Jordyn Tyson and even floated the possibility that Dallas could select him in the first round.

Even Jerry Jones admitted that drafting an offensive player isn't out of the question, even though Dallas clearly has much bigger fish to fry on defense.

"That's alive and well. Given the right circumstances, you have to look at offense," he said of taking an offensive player in Round 1.

We've seen Jones take an offensive player instead of improving the defense before. We only need to go back to 2020, when the Cowboys selected CeeDee Lamb at No. 17 overall.

But this situation feels different. At least the Lamb pick made a bit of sense, not only because he slid further than expected, but also because Dallas didn't have the wide receiver situation it has now.

When you add in all that and how illogical it would be for Dallas to go wide receiver over defense in Round 1, one has to wonder if the Cowboys' reported interest in Tyson is at least partly because the team doesn't plan on Pickens being here in 2026.

It's certainly fair to think about as the Cowboys prepare for a possible scenario where Pickens holds out and becomes a headache the team decides isn't worth dealing with.