Agent’s Take: Will Jerry Jones pony up to pay George Pickens after receiver’s breakout season?

Dallas Cowboys made a calculated gamble by trading to Pittsburgh Steelers a 2026 third round pick and a a2027 fifth round pick for wide receiver George Pickens in May. Pickens was no longer welcome in Pittsburgh due to his immaturity and attitude despite his talent. Pittsburgh’s frustrations about Pickens were evident when the Steelers traded the equivalent of second-round selection to the Seattle Seahawks in March for wide receiver DK metcalf, and gave him a four-year deal extension, with an average annual salary of nearly $33 millions. Pickens’ performance in his contract-year, which pays him $3.656million for 2025, is at the level of an All Pro. In his first 10 Cowboys games, Pickens’ 908 receiving yards are the second-most in the NFL and the most of any Cowboys players ever. Pickens’s seven receiving touchdowns are a new career high and tied for third with the league. His 15.7 yard per catch ranks him seventh. His 58 catches are 11th best in the NFL, just outside the top 10. Pickens has shown that he is a top-notch wide receiver. CeeDee Lam, his Cowboys receiving partner, missed four games because of a left ankle sprain. Lamb and Pickens are arguably the NFL’s most dominant receiving duo. Pickens, on the other hand, has shown excellent behavior all season despite being benched with Lamb during the first offensive series as a punishment in Monday night’s match against the Las Vegas Raiders. Jerry Jones, the Cowboys’ owner, called Pickens a model teammate in an earlier season.

Jones stated that the Cowboys’ best receiving duo was Pickens and Lamb during his weekly 105.3 The Fan radio interview. He also made it clear that he would continue to make a significant financial investment in the interior defensive line. Jones answered “yes” when asked if Lamb and Pickens was the best receiving tandem the Cowboys ever had. Lamb, the NFL’s third highest paid wide receiver, signed a four-year $136 million extension in August of 2024, averaging $35 million per year. The contract includes $100 million in guaranteed payments, with $67 million fully guaranteed upon signing. The two marks were, at the time of signing, the second-highest ever for a wide receiving contract. Pickens told reporters a few weeks ago that he would not mind staying in Dallas. His top priority was to win. Cowboys face a tough battle to qualify for the playoffs after a 4-5-1 season. This could be improved with a strong end to the season.

Brian Schottenheimer, the Cowboys’ coach, has already made it public that Pickens should remain in Dallas. He said Tuesday that he was “very in favor” of George having a future with the Cowboys.Pickens would be designated a “franchise player” if there was no new deal by early March. This is in line with Jones’ views on roster construction. The deadline to apply a franchise tag or transition tag to a player is March 3rd at 4:00 pm ET.The non-exclusive 2026 franchise tag for wide receivers will represent 9.016%of the 2026 salary ceiling. It was 8.581% in the year 2025. If the 2026 wage cap is set to $300 million, an increase of 7.45% over the $279.2 million cap in 2025, then the wide receiver’s figure should be $27.47 million.

Pickens will have to do some salary cap gymnastics to accommodate the franchise tag. Dallas now has the NFL’s highest 2026 salary commitments, $362.832m, with 44 players signed up, according to NFLPA statistics. This is after the acquisition of Pro Bowl defensive end Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline on November 4. Williams will make $21.75m in 2026. The top 51 salaries are based on the average of all players’ salary caps.Salary cap numbers are important for offseason accounting. Existing cap space of $21,54 million can be carried forward to 2026.

Do you think Monday’s Cowboys win showed they can go deep into the playoffs after all? The real test is now.

Garrett Podell

Cowboys contract restructuring is a common way to push cap obligations forward. Dak Prescott’s salary cap for 2026 is the fourth highest in the NFL at $74,068,430. Lamb’s cap number of $38.6 millions for 2026 is the second highest among wide receivers. Tyler Smith is the offensive lineman with the fifth-highest cap in 2026. It’s $27,502,300. By restructuring their contracts, the Cowboys could create roughly $67.5 million in cap space. This would be an excellent way to address the salary cap surplus in 2026. Pickens is a No. 1 wide receiver and the Cowboys will need to pay him accordingly if they want to keep him long-term. Pickens would likely be offered a deal between Tee Higgins, who earns $28,75 million annually and Lamb’s $34 million. Lamb is the second-highest paid wide receiver, with $34 million a year. Higgins was signed to a $115 million, four-year contract by the Cincinnati Bengals after being named a franchise player in his second consecutive season. The contract is worth up $121.8 million in incentives. Higgins currently ranks 11th among NFL wide receivers in terms of salary.

Dallas is unlikely to place Pickens ahead of Lamb in the salary hierarchy for wide receivers. Lamb signed his contract after the Cowboys had their best ever receiving season. In 2023, he had 135 receptions for 1,749 yard and 12 touchdowns while earning First-Team All-Pro honours. His 135 receptions were not only the most in the NFL, but also the sixth-most ever. Lamb ranked second and third, respectively, for receiving yards and touchdowns catches in the NFL. Pickens and Lamb played six full games together in this season. Lamb is 61 times targeted and has 40 receptions, 557 yardage and two touchdowns. Pickens caught 34 passes with 481 yards and two touchdowns. He was targeted 48 times during those six matches. Garrett Wilson, the fifth highest-paid wideout in the league at $32.5m per year, is Athletes First’s Trevon Smith. Wilson, who was 25 years old, signed with the Jets a four year, $130million extension. The Jets guaranteed $90 million, of which $38,324,819 had been fully guaranteed. The deal was signed after he set career highs with 101 receptions, 1104 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2024. 

Wilson was drafted in the same class as Pickens. He was the 10th pick overall in 2022. Wilson is several months older. Pickens will turn 25 in March, one day after the franchise-tag deadline. The Metcalf contract, which pays nearly $33m per year, is a good data point because it’s what Pickens’ former team would have paid another wide receiver, instead of him. The $80 million guarantees include $60 million that was guaranteed in full at the time of signing. The remaining $20 million guarantees in 2027 will only cover injuries. Metcalf’s deal is slightly backloaded. The NFL’s ten highest-paid wideouts signed contracts for just over $1.221 billion in new money, which is spread out across 37 new contract year averages of approximately $32.75 millions per year. The deals of Wilson and Metcalf are similar. These 10 wide-receiver contracts have an average of slightly more than 83 million dollars in guarantees, with approximately $55.725 fully guaranteed.

Pickens’ negotiations will be dominated by an interesting dynamic. Smith is close to David Mulugheta, who works at Athletes first. Jones’ propensity to deal directly with players, circumventing the agent system, was a catalyst in the bitter contract dispute which led to Mulugheta clients Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers trading him shortly before the beginning of the regular-season. Jones has played down the idea that the Parsons incident will have any lasting effects on the ability to reach a deal with Pickens. AthletesFirst also represents Smith. The Cowboys didn’t have any problem signing Smith to a four-year, $96 million extension, which made him the league’s highest-paid offensive guard at $24 million per year, about two weeks after Parsons was dealt.The Bengals have the most money devoted to a wide receiver duo with a combined $69 million per year for Ja’Marr Chase and Higgins. Chase is currently the NFL’s top-paid wide receiver. At the time Higgins’ contract was signed, Chase received a $4-year extension worth $161 million, which equates to $40.25 millions per year. Chase’s contract has guaranteed $109.8m, while $73.9m was fully guaranteed when he signed. If Pickens and the Cowboys can reach a long term agreement in the next few month, they won’t fall too far behind Bengals for the combined average salary per year of two wide receivers.

2025-11-19 19:47:47