Last offseason, the Dallas Cowboys made a big move to their offensive firepower by trading for wide receiver George Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
One year later, the team and Pickens are at a standstill in contract negotiations, and a former Cowboy is suggesting he should follow the same blueprint Micah Parsons did.
George Pickens Receives Advice Amidst Cowboys Negotiations
With the 52nd overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Steelers selected Pickens out of Georgia. Following three productive seasons with the team, he was traded last offseason to Dallas in exchange for a third and fifth-round pick.
Pickens was brought along to form one of the best wide receiver tandems in the league alongside CeeDee Lamb. However, Lamb missed a few games due to injury, which gave Pickens a chance to flash WR1 potential.
In 17 games, Pickens caught 93 receptions for 1,429 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Besides all these being career highs for the young receiver, he was also named to the Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro. Additionally, he ranked as the third-best wide receiver in PFSN’s NFL Wide Receiver Impact Metrics with an impact score of 88.4 and a letter grade of B+.
Pickens’ role took the Cowboys’ offense to the next level. In PFSN’s NFL Offensive Impact Metric, they ranked as the sixth-best offense with an impact score of 84.8 and a letter grade of B. One year prior, they ranked 23rd in the league with an impact score of 70.2 and a grade of C-.
However, 2025 was the last year of Pickens’ rookie contract, and instead of signing a long-term deal with the team, Jerry Jones and Co. franchise tagged him to a one-year contract worth $27,298,000.
Jones reported that there hadn’t been any recent contract talks, but Pickens had still been working out with quarterback Dak Prescott. With talks stalled, former Cowboy Damontre Moore suggests that Pickens should go down Parsons’ route:
“I will pull a Parsons… As far as everything and what he’s doing, he’s already working out with Dak. He loves football. He and CeeDee got that friendship where it’s like, ‘Hey, y’all know I’m trying to go get the money.’ Everybody knows where the game is going to be. So show your teammates that you’re here. If you’re saying everything that you believe and you really want to be here, be here. Show up, work out, and do all that. But now, when it comes to, hey, do you want me to go do what I do best? Nah, coach, I got to sit out.”
With stalled contract negotiations, this Pickens situation is sounding all too familiar for Cowboys fans, who just went through the same thing with Parsons last year. After spending capital to acquire Pickens, it’s hard to believe that the team would get him. But does Jones want to maximize his value and extract more capital from him? That’s what the outcome seems to be if the team and Pickens can’t reach an agreement in the next few months.
