For the Dallas Cowboys, other than George Pickens, the offseason has been a mostly positive experience. The team replaced its defensive coordinator with Christian Parker, one of the most exciting young coaches in the game, revamped the defense and came back with some enthusiasm about bounce-back years from 2025 disappointments like tackle Tyler Guyton and running back Jaydon Blue. Of course, nearly everyone in the NFL is happy at mid-June minicamp, before the realities of training camp hit and roster weaknesses are exposed.
But the Pickens issue has been looming, and will continue to do so. Pickens posted a 93-catch, 1,426-yard season in 2025, the best of his career, and hoped to be rewarded with a major free-agent contract this offseason. Instead, the Cowboys stuck him with the one-year, $27.3 million franchise tag.
Pickens is not happy about that. He stayed away from the Cowboys’ voluntary program throughout the spring, but on Tuesday, the team opened its minicamp, and Pickens made his first appearance with the full team.
Cowboys Reunion with George Pickens at Minicamp: ‘Like Not Seeing a Brother’
Before practice, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked about Pickens’ arrival. Keeping to form, Schottenheimer was all positivity: “Happy. Like not seeing a brother for a couple months.”
In his meeting with the media, Schottenheimer’s first handful of questions was about Pickens, and he kept holding the same line–he is not concerned that Pickens has missed the voluntary offseason program, and he is happy he is attending mandatory minicamp. But he understands the interest in the situation from those outside The Star.
“It was very normal,” Schottenheimer said. “It wasn’t anything unusual. It’s a storyline, and I understand it is a storyline but it’s part of the National Football League and when you deal with pro sports, it is part of what we do.”
Cowboys Limiting Involvement
Schottenheimer has said he has been keeping in touch with Pickens throughout his frustration with the team over his contract. Schottenheimer did the same thing with Micah Parsons last year, when he was embroiled in a contract dispute with the Cowboys. He also revealed that Pickens is not doing much in practice this week.
Schotty said: “Yeah, really great visits with George. Fired up to have him back, he is fired up to be here. He’ll do all the mock, he will do all the mock, he will do all the individual, we will just keep him out of team, just let him watch. He will be coach Pickens today during the team period.”
George Pickens Avoiding Fines by Attending Minicamp
For most of us, there was some drama building in the past week over whether, in fact, Pickens would be on hand for minicamp, or if he would duck out and accept the $108,000 in fines the Cowboys could have docked him. But Schottenheimer said he had no doubts Pickens would be in place.
“No,” he said. “I know how he feels about this football team, this locker room. What we are building here. And so I am not surprised to see him, and I am thrilled he is here.
“No. 1, what he feels about his brothers in the locker room, the guys—how much he cares about Dak (Prescott) and CeeDee Lamb and Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark and guys like that. That’s the first part. As you guys know, the offseason program and OTAs are voluntary, this is the one part that is mandatory. And he is not the only player that hasn’t been at camps around the league. But I think this shows his commitment to the guys in that locker room and helping us win a Super Bowl.”
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