Andrew Buller-Russ
The Dallas Cowboys just wrapped up what turned out to be a controversial 2026 NFL Draft class, featuring two first-round selections and seven selections overall. They were also dealing with some drama stemming from George Pinkens’ contract situation.
While Pickens recently signed his franchise tag tender, ensuring a $27.3 million salary for the 2026 season, there were a lot of different scenarios in play. The Cowboys reportedly weren’t ready to discuss a long-term contract extension, which meant the only outcome was for Pickens to either sign the one-year franchise tag, sit out the season, or get traded to a different team.
Yet, would the Cowboys really trade a superstar for the second year in a row, just because they couldn’t agree on contract value? A trade may have been more realistic than many expect.
According to ESPN’s NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, Pickens recently considered a trade from the Cowboys and even evaluated what his potential options with another team would be. Yet, after a brief period of Pickens gauging his trade and/or contract value market, his camp determined that they’d be better off just signing the tag and sticking with the Cowboys for the upcoming campaign.
“Well, my understanding is Pickens at least looked around, gauged his market what a potential trade could look like if he could come to one with compensation and a new deal. He wants a long-term contract, so this isn’t an ideal situation for him. But he signed the tag because it locked him into $27 million guaranteed. I’m told he really does like Dallas. He’s been working with Dak Prescott this offseason; he’s expecting to have another big year. But it sounds like he’s going to have to do one more year to get that big payday down the road. So, now that he signed the tender, he’s good with the Cowboys. They should move forward; I’m not expecting a trade or new deal at this point, but it was sticky there for a couple of weeks where he was trying to figure out what his market could look like because they wouldn’t negotiate.”
Jeremy Fowler on George Pickens
Chances are, Pickens will play out the season on the franchise tag. Of course, further drama could develop if the Cowboys were to somehow fall flat on their face at the start of the season, leading to more trade speculation.
Yet, the best outcome for Pickens may be to forget about all this contract drama and hope he ends up as a Pro Bowl selection for the second season in a row. At that point, the Cowboys, or another team, would have no choice but to pay him top dollar.
Related: NFL Exec on Dallas Cowboys Draft Pick: ‘He Will Not Have A Long Career’
