The Dallas Cowboys have not had any contract extension talks with wide receiver George Pickens. News on this front was reported on Monday by Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News, and as it is Super Bowl week the news on all Cowboys fronts is likely only just getting started.
“Club officials have held preliminary discussions with pending free agent running back Javonte Williams, but talks are on hold until Williams finalizes hiring an agent.
However, the biggest pending free agent on the team,
and maybe in the league, is wide receiver George Pickens.
The Cowboys have not held any contract talks with Pickens’ agent, two people briefed on the situation told The Dallas Morning News.
Not having talks with Pickens at this point isn’t concerning, but after what transpired last offseason, when club officials failed to reach a deal with star pass rusher Micah Parsons, eventually leading to a trade, the thought of getting a deal done sooner rather than later seems prudent.”
It is understandable for Watkins to characterize the lack of contract negotiations to this point between the Cowboys and Pickens as not concerning, but he does couch that with the reality of who the Cowboys have been in recent seasons and how it came to a head with Micah Parsons ultimately getting traded away a week before last season began.
The Cowboys traded for Pickens knowing that he was in a contract year and chose to roll the dice. He delivered an incredible year and has seemingly established a high amount of leverage. Wandering into these kinds of situations is precarious for any team, but the Cowboys have a reputation in this space which is why we advocated here at BTB for them to extend Pickens right after acquiring him.
Much has been made, fairly so, about how the Cowboys seem to be moving about differently this offseason. They hired a new defensive coordinator in Christian Parker, someone who carries a lot of traits about him that run counter to the way that Dallas has operated with respect to hiring coaches. They are, literally speaking, doing things differently in some capacity.
It would behoove Dallas to apply a different disposition to how they handle contract extensions, too. Clearly, as evidenced by Javonte Williams, conversations can happen regarding new deals for players at this time of year, and history with Parsons, Dak Prescott (several times), CeeDee Lamb, DeMarcus Lawrence and others is all enough data to prove that different is as needed as it would be nice to see.
Keep in mind that unlike most of those situations, Pickens’ current deal with the Cowboys is set to expire. He will be a free agent leaving only a few possibilities.
- George Pickens leaves in free agency
- The Cowboys get a long-term deal done with Pickens
- Dallas places the franchise tag on Pickens, some amount of time passes, and they get a long-term deal done or not
- If there is no long-term deal done with the franchise tag route by mid-July, Pickens must play the season out on the tag or sit out, no negotiations can happen beyond that point
