They’re getting great bang for the buck, for now.
Pickens has six touchdowns in the last five games. He caught nine passes for 168 yards and a touchdown during Sunday’s loss to the Panthers. He has a pair of 100-yard games in the three contests CeeDee Lamb has missed with a sprained ankle.
Pickens is earning his next contract, one game at a time. In an appearance Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was asked if the team is open to starting talks with Pickens about an extension.
“We’re always looking at what we can do to basically improve financially where we are,” Jones said. “Now, you don’t get better financially without getting what you paid for. That’s a misnomer. You’ve got to have the talent, you’ve got to have the players, and I know you’re saying, ‘Well, sure, that was assumed in the question.’ Well, the point is we’re going to look carefully at what we’re doing financially, we’re going to look carefully at what we do there with George, and I can’t tell you how personally proud I am of George because he’s absolutely so exciting as it has been on the field for us. He’s been that kind of teammate and he’s inspiring. Our coaches. . . enjoy training him. I won’t speak for the players, but in my opinion he’s a great teammate and, of course, when we acquired him, there was some issue with, “Well, it might be something to do with the way he… his personality.” Well, I’ll tell you one thing: I’ll take that combination we have with him any day.”
The day is approaching when the Cowboys will have to make a decision: extend him, tag him or let him walk as a free agent.
He’ll want a contract worth $30 million or more per year, and he’s proving he’s worth it. The franchise tag for catchers in 2026 will almost certainly be more than $25 million. (They were 23,958 million dollars by 2025).
It will be difficult for the Cowboys to justify that kind of investment, given the resources already devoted to receiver CeeDee Lamb ($34 million per year).
Some have suggested the Cowboys should trade Pickens now, before the deadline. It is not a crazy idea, since it will not be easy to retain him. The best approach might be to tag and trade Pickens in early 2026, which would give them Pickens for the rest of the season. And if he finishes strong, Pickens could be worth even more than he would get when the trade deadline arrives in three weeks.
Still, the better Pickens plays, the harder it will be to keep him. Especially since any and all negotiations will take place with agent David Mulugheta, the same person Jones tried to avoid by negotiating directly with Micah Parsons.