Talented wide receiver George Pickens did not receive a long-term contract extension from the Dallas Cowboys. After a promising first season in Dallas, the Cowboys placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on Pickens worth $27.3 million for the upcoming season.
Cowboys’ VP of Player Personnel Addresses George Pickens’ Contract Situation
During Thursday’s segment of the “Doin’ Alright” podcast, Dallas’ Vice President of Player Personnel Will McClay detailed why the Cowboys opted against offering Pickens a long-term deal.
“At the end of the day, you have different opportunities to figure out how you put your team together, and public perception is, ‘Oh, you should sign this guy and do that.’ But, you know, I don’t tell you how to run your checkbook; you don’t tell me how to run mine,” McClay said. “And it’s, you know, in businesses… everybody’s philosophy is a little bit different, and we love George Pickens.
“Finding a way to field the team with 53 of the best players in today’s day and age is very, very difficult. So you go through the different contracts and the different aspects and all those different ways, and you put it together. And that situation with George presented itself in a way that we could do it that way and still keep our team together. That’s the best way for me to put it.”
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Pickens was selected No. 52 overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2022 NFL Draft, and he recorded his first 1,000-yard season in his sophomore year. He was traded from the Steelers to the Cowboys in 2025, where he had his best season in the NFL.
His production exploded in his first season in Dallas, where he managed his second 1,000-yard season and tripled his touchdown total from his last season with the Steelers.
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Last season, Pickens registered 1,429 receiving yards on 93 receptions, resulting in 9 touchdowns, earning a PFN Wide Receiver Impact score of 90.6, ranking him at No. 3 in the NFL. He was ranked the No. 9 wide receiver and landed the No. 70 overall spot in PFN’s Top 100 players’ list.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports reporter Jori Epstein in May, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed that Pickens still had a few questions to answer before earning a long-term contract with the franchise.
“This is great from our view,” Jones said. “For him as well, it lets him really extend what he’s got going right now in light of the fact that… when we got him, we got him for no other reason than because there was a long-term question. Through next year and this year, he’ll answer all those questions.”
Pickens earned his first second-team All-Pro nod alongside his first Pro Bowl selection, where he later won the Pro Bowl Offensive MVP.
