The Dallas Cowboys have 22 players (UFA/RFA) who will officially hit the open market in a little less than two months. Today, we kick off a series examining each of the Cowboys’ impending free agents,
reviewing their 2025 campaign and predicting what will be next for each player.
We start our free agent profile series with a bang, taking a look at arguably Dallas’ best offensive player last season, wide receiver George Pickens.
2025 Regular Season Stats: 17G, 93 Receptions, 67.9% Catch Percentage, 1,429 Receiving Yards, 15.4 Y/Rec, 65.0% Receiving Success Rate, 9 TDs
Year Review: Coming into the 2025 regular season, George Pickens was undoubtedly the biggest potential X-Factor on the Cowboys roster. Dallas took a big gamble when it acquired the talented wideout in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers during the offseason. During his three-year tenure in Pittsburgh, Pickens flashed immense on-field potential. Still, numerous sideline altercations and a lack of consistency both on and off the field kept him from being one of the league’s best receivers.
One of the reasons the Cowboys acquired Pickens was that they knew they didn’t need him to be a true number one. With All-Pro wideout CeeDee Lamb on their offense, Dallas just needed Pickens to be Robin to their Batman. Even though there was plenty of optimism about the Lamb/Pickens duo, no one could have predicted just how much the wideout would exceed expectations during his first season in Dallas.
You could make a legitimate argument that Pickens was one of the five best receivers in all of football last season. The former second-round pick finished the season third in the NFL in receiving yards (1,429) and Y/Rec (15.4), and sixth in receptions (93), receiving grade (87.2), and receiving touchdowns (9). Pickens posted career-highs in nearly every statistical category, and for the first time in his four-year NFL career, put together consistent, dominant play week after week.
During the season, as Pickens went, so did the Cowboys. Pickens recorded 60 or fewer receiving yards in just five games last season, and the Cowboys were 1-4 in those matchups. When Pickens went over 80 receiving yards in a game, Dallas was 4-2-1 with their offense averaging 31 points per game over those seven contests.
All in all, Pickens’ 2025 campaign went as well as anyone could have ever imagined. We finally saw the former Georgia Bulldog put it all together at the highest level, making Dallas’ offseason trade to acquire the wideout look like one of their best acquisitions in the last decade.
Free Agency Outlook: Thankfully for the Cowboys, they can place either the franchise tag ($28M) or the transition tag ($24.3M) on the talented wideout this spring. The Cowboys will almost certainly place the franchise tag on Pickens as they look to work out a long-term deal to keep him in Dallas for the next few seasons.
Dallas’s ability to franchise tag Pickens likely means he won’t get a chance to see what teams would be willing to offer him on the open market. If, for some reason, the Cowboys wanted to let him explore his options, there would almost certainly be numerous interested teams. Spotrac projects Pickens’ value on the open market to be worth four years, $122M, an average of a little over $30M a year.
While Dallas absolutely will not let Pickens hit free agency and walk away with nothing in return, there is a small chance they could see what teams would be willing to offer in a trade for the talented, dynamic wideout. For the Cowboys to entertain any offer, a team would likely have to give up at least two premium picks in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft, plus more.
There is a 100% chance Pickens won’t get a chance to hit the open market this spring, but if he and the Cowboys are unable to agree on a long-term deal and he plays this season on the franchise tag, it’s almost a guarantee he will test his value as a free agent in the spring of 2027.
Cowboys Verdict: The most likely scenario this offseason is the Cowboys franchise tag Pickens before the March 3rd deadline and work on a long-term deal to keep him a Cowboy and lower his $28M 2026 cap number. One potential wrinkle in the situation could be that Pickens is represented by David Mulugheta, who also represented Micah Parsons during the never-ending drama last summer.
It remains to be seen if Mulugheta will advise Pickens against signing a long-term deal with the Cowboys before being given a chance to hit the open market. If the two sides aren’t able to work out a long-term deal for whatever reason, Dallas could have another holdout situation on their hands if Pickens refuses to play on the franchise tag.
Despite the Mulugheta wrinkle, the Cowboys know how much Pickens means to their team and would be foolish not to work as hard as they can to lock him up for the foreseeable future this offseason. Like every Cowboy contract negotiation, this will likely dominate the headlines this spring/summer and be the talking point of every sports talk show, but in the end, I see no way Pickens is not a Cowboy long-term.
Prediction: The Cowboys franchise tag Pickens in March before ultimately signing him to a four-year, $133M contract, making him the fourth-highest paid receiver in the NFL.
