Charean Williams ,
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The Cowboys got a steal when they traded for George Pickens this offseason. They sent a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Steelers for the wide receiver and a 2027 sixth-round pick and are paying him a salary of only $3.656 million for this season.
Pickens has 32 receptions for 525 yards and six touchdowns, putting him on pace for career highs with 91 catches for 1,488 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Pickens, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March, has seen the price of his next contract rise. He is expected to get more than $30 million per season.
The Cowboys may or may not be able to afford to keep him.
The franchise tag is expected to be $23.958 million for 2026, and Pickens likely would not want to play on the tag.
Pickens has found his home for this season, but his future is uncertain .
“ I wouldn’t mind [staying in Dallas],” Pickens said Wednesday, via Tommy Yarrish of the team website. “The guys in the locker room are super cool; the energy’s great. But like I said, I always want to showcase my talents.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones generally likes to kick the can down the road, so to speak, and isn’t likely to have any contract discussions until after the season.
“We’ll weigh that,” Jones said Tuesday when asked about extending Pickens. “We knew full well that if things really went like we want them to go, that certainly we need to think about having some room available if we’re going to pay a second receiver at that level.”
Pickens’ agent, David Mulugheta, is also Micah Parsons’ agent. The Cowboys don’t have the best relationship with Mulugheta, whom Jones said this offseason he didn’t know who he was.
“I’m definitely in the middle of the season, so I’m not fully, fully thinking about [the next contract],” Pickens said. “I just want to keep going and see how far we can get in the season as far as playoffs and stuff like that.”
Pickens said he is looking for only one thing when it comes time to address his future.
“Definitely winning, Pickens said. “Just because that’s been my resume the whole time. I won in high school, I won at Georgia, so that’s probably, definitely, winning. And I always think about winning.”
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