What George Pickens Being Only NFL Player on Franchise Tag Means for Cowboys Future

George Pickens is the last remaining player on the franchise tag in the NFL. Here's what it means for the Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

And then there was one: Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens is now the only player in the NFL on the franchise tag.

That was cemented on Tuesday, when the Atlanta Falcons agreed to a three-year, $54 million contract extension with tight end Kyle Pitts.

Pitts is the second player who was tagged this offseason to get an extension, with the other being Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones, who was slapped with the transition tag before getting a two-year, $88 million contract.

We already know Pickens is unlikely to receive a long term contract and higge payday because the Cowboys have made it quite clear they have no interest in signing Pickens to a contract extension this year, something Pickens is content with for 2026.

What Pickens and the tag means for Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The down side of Pickens being on the tag is that his entire $27.3 million salary counts against the Cowboys' salary cap, which gives Dallas far less wiggle room with their salary cap than the first year of an extension would have afforded.

But the Cowboys are being strategic to avoid the risk of a long-term commitment to the mercurial wideout, who still needs to prove he is a changed man after his years worth of behavior issues with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We got a glimpse of those issues last season, when Pickens was:

• benched for a drive for missing the team bus
• fined for being late to team meetings and
• when he was accused of not giving full effort on more than one occasion.

Another positive for the Cowboys having Pickens on the franchise tag is they haven't committed a large chunk of their long term salary cap to the wide receiver position. WR Cee Dee Lamb is already a significant hit to their cap, having signed a 4 year $136 million dollar contract with the Cowboys in 2024, including $100 million guaranteed with an average annual salary of $34 million.

Adding significantly more dollars to the wide receiver position is simply not an approach the Cowboys can take because it would greatly limit the team's ability to improve other areas of the team that are more important than sporting an elite wide receiver duo.

What the tag means for Pickens' Cowboys future

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

We don't expect the Cowboys to extend Pickens in 2027, either, for the reasons we just laid out. Instead, absent a trade, we anticipate Dallas tagging him again.

The problem with that approach is we don't think Pickens will be as amenable to the tag the second time around, which could lead to a holdout. In order to avoid that scenario, the Cowboys should trade Pickens after placing the tag on him again.

The caveat there is that teams are not going to be interested in trading for Pickens unless he fully proves he's not the problem child he was in Pittsburgh.

His ability to show growing maturity will also impact Pickens' chances of getting the lucrative, long-term deal he's seeking post-trade, from the team that acquires him.

One way or the other, the Cowboys having Pickens play out the 2026 season on the tag means the two sides will be back in the same boat when the 2027 offseason rolls around.

However, next time around, we expect things to go very differently and the end result will likely be Pickens playing elsewhere.