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George Pickens had career highs in receptions, receiving yards and TDs last season. Amber Searls / Imagn Images
Feb. 24, 2026 5:01 am CST
INDIANAPOLIS — Reading between the lines, it sounds like the Dallas Cowboys are just fine with the possibility of George Pickens playing the 2026 season under the franchise tag.
As has been the case for the last few weeks, the Cowboys are preparing to place the franchise tag on the star wide receiver in the near future, a move that would give Dallas until July 15 to work out a long-term deal. If no agreement is reached by then, Pickens would be under contract for the upcoming season at a guaranteed $28 million.
“We’re leaning towards the franchise tag,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday while speaking between competition committee meetings during the annual NFL Scouting Combine. “We’ll finalize that here over the coming week or 10 days, and then we’ll go from there.
“These just take time. We want Pickens here. We think the world of him. We love him. And I think he wants to be here, so all of that is a plus.”
Pickens is coming off a career year where he made his first Pro Bowl and was named second-team All-Pro. He exceeded expectations on the field, catching 93 passes for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns.
“We’ve had people play under the tag, and then we’ve made deals with people that have a tag,” Jones said. “It can go either way. We’ll just continue to really analyze the situation and see what’s next.”
The Cowboys know that a potentially frustrated Pickens could choose to skip some portions of the offseason program or the start of training camp without a new long-term deal.
“A lot of guys we’ve tagged participated in everything, (with) Dak (Prescott) leading the way,” Jones said. “He played under two of them. He never missed anything. Hopefully, that will be the case here. …
“I wouldn’t put any time frame (on a contract). Once you have a tag, you have a tag. We know George is going to be here, and that’s where we are. We know what (the franchise tag number) is. We can (still) do everything we need to do.”
Here are other highlights from Jones’ 25 minutes with reporters Monday.
Roster building
When Jones says the Cowboys can still do everything they need to do, even if Pickens is playing on the franchise tag, he’s referring to filling roster holes in free agency or via trades. Jones said they are “open-minded to trading” for veteran help. That worked well for Dallas last season in regards to adding Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets. The returns weren’t good on trades for cornerback Kaiir Elam, who was released in November, and linebacker Kenneth Murray, who finished the season graded 86th among 88 linebackers by Pro Football Focus.Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said last month that the team feels an incentive to “bust the budget” and potentially do “some dramatic things” to improve the roster.
“We want to fix this defense,” Stephen Jones said Monday when asked about his father’s busting the budget comment. “We feel really good about the offensive side of the ball now that we got (running back Javonte Williams signed) and we’ll have George back. Obviously, we spent a lot of time in the offseason revamping the defensive coaching staff, and we’ll take the next steps, which are to improve the personnel on that side of the ball. …
“A lot of (what is done in free agency) will depend on what’s out there and the value that we think is there. And we’ll make decisions based on that. We certainly think we’ll end up being involved in free agency.”
What’s the impact of seeing New England and Seattle in the Super Bowl after they were so active last year in free agency?
“All that says to me is that it can be done,” Stephen Jones said. “It just shows you that you can really make big jumps in any given year if you get the right culture, the right mojo going, things can happen. We have a lot of really good players on this team. We’ve got a really good offense in place. We’ve got a lot of good players on defense. Do we need more? Absolutely. But we do have some really good pieces on the defensive side of the ball. Christian (Parker) was the first to say that when he was interviewing some of the (coaches) we really, really liked. Now, he’ll also tell you there’s places where we really need help. That’ll be something we look at.”
More on Christian Parker
Monday was Jones’ first opportunity to publicly comment about Dallas’ new defensive coordinator. Parker, the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach the last two seasons, was one of nine candidates interviewed for the position.“I just think he’s got a great defensive mind,” Jones said. “He’s been under a lot of top, top defensive minds in this league. I think he’s learned from a lot (of them). I also like what he said, he said, ‘I have my own ideas too.’ Twists that he would add because he’s respectful for chain of command in terms of executing who he has worked for. But he can also bring combinations of those things to the table. And then I thought he was outstanding on how him and (Brian) Schottenheimer went about hiring the (rest of the defensive staff). They were very thorough. I think we put an outstanding staff together.”
Restructuring contracts
This has been nothing new for the Cowboys. To create more salary-cap space, they often restructure the contracts of their top players who they expect to be around for several more years. The players that fit that criteria this season are QB Dak Prescott, WR CeeDee Lamb and OL Tyler Smith. The Cowboys will likely restructure all three as they are $24.5 million over the cap, according to OverTheCap.com.“In general, every year we’ve reworked most of our contracts that can be reworked to create the room,” Jones said. “That’s just a given. It’s in the contracts that we get to do that. It’s our option to rework every contract down and push it out. That’s something we usually do with most.”
Brandon Aubrey has been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his three NFL seasons with the Cowboys.Kevin Jairaj / Imagn Images
Latest on Brandon Aubrey
The Cowboys believe they have the best kicker in football, and they’d like to get him signed to a long-term deal. He is about to become a restricted free agent. Jones said contract negotiations with Aubrey’s representatives have been a “journey.”“We haven’t been able to get to a point where we can all agree,” he said. “It hasn’t gotten done, but we’d love to get him done.”
A little different tone on Jadeveon Clowney
At the end of the season, Clowney sounded like one of Dallas’ top free-agent priorities. Reading between the lines Monday, it doesn’t sound like the Cowboys are sure if he’s even a fit for Parker’s new defensive scheme.When asked specifically if Clowney is a fit for what Parker and the new staff want to do, Jones responded: “It’s a work in progress. … We just got to see how all that works.”
Parker did a good job of not showing his hand on who he liked on the roster while talking with reporters last week. However, Jones shared one name Monday: second-year cornerback Shavon Revel.
DeMarvion Overshown
Dallas’ top returning linebacker is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Although he has flashed outstanding talent, significant knee injuries have caused him to miss 32 of 51 games over his first three NFL seasons.“I think the biggest thing is that, availability,” Jones said. “Certainly no one wants to play the game more than him, I can assure you of that. But obviously, he needs to put together a full season. And if he does, I think it’s going to be a great season, because I know how good he is and what he can do for us and fired up about what he brings to the table. The only question mark he has is his injury issues that he’s had and getting through a full year.”
Draft thoughts
The Cowboys do not have second- or third-round picks in this year’s draft because of the team’s trades for Pickens and Williams. However, they do have two first-round picks, No. 12 and No. 20, because of the Micah Parsons trade. How does that impact their 2026 draft strategy?“Those are just things we’ll work around,” Jones said. “We don’t have a second or third today, but who knows when it’s all said and done? Do you move down and pick up more picks? That’s always an option. At the same time, if the right guys are there, we’ll want to pick those guys, too. We’ll just work through all that. We also want to complement the draft through free agency. We’ll be certainly looking at that as well.”
Jones added that when trading back in the draft, the moves usually don’t come together until Dallas is on the clock.
By Jon Machota
Staff Writer, Cowboys
