Maybe it should not have been much of a surprise last week when Dallas Cowboys VP Stephen Jones, the No. 2 on the org chart behind his father, Jerry Jones, told the Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan that there had been no interest registered around the league in making a trade for star receiver George Pickens. Certainly, the value of Pickens was pretty clear in 2025, when he ranked No. 3 overall in receiving yards, with 1,429, and caught a career-high 93 passes.
Still, Jones said, “No, we have had no one call with interest in George Pickens.”
That could mean a number of things for the Cowboys and Pickens, who was franchise-tagged for a one-year, $27 million deal by the team before last month’s deadline. Maybe teams are being patient, as often happens, and waiting to see how the draft unfolds before they start making trade pitches to the Cowboys for Pickens. Maybe another team will make Pickens a hefty contract offer and force the Cowboys to either match it or let Pickens go. If the Cowboys let Pickens go, they’d get a second-round pick.
Cowboys ‘Want No Part’ of George Pickens Trade Talk
Or maybe it just means that Cowboys will get what they want in this situation: Pickens on a short-term contract worth much less than his market value. For Jon Machota of The Athletic, that’s exactly how this is expected to play out.
Speaking on the “One-Star Podcast,” Machota indicated there is much that can be read into Jones’ statement on Pickens and the possibility of a long-term deal with the Cowboys this offseason.
Said Machota: “Man, he is asked about George Pickens and he wants no part of that. Nothing to do with anything there, us knowing. … For him to go on the radio and be asked if there has been interest, and for him to say they have not gotten any calls about a potential trade for George Pickens, I thought that was very telling.”
George Pickens May Have No Choice on the Franchise Tag
The telling part of Jones’s comment was the fact that it appears the Cowboys have no desire to even entertain the possibility of Pickens getting a long-term deal. Indeed, there is a July 15 deadline and plenty of time for something to get done. But every time the Cowboys are asked, the response is that there are no new talks on a Pickens contract.
Machota continued: “Everything that has happened going back to the end of the season points to, they might not even make an offer to him. They might be completely fine—they seem completely fine with the franchise tag. I know this will continue to be a story all offseason and into training camp but it just does not seem like they have very much interest at all in getting a long-term deal done.”
Cowboys Have the Leverage
The Cowboys do hold the cards on the Pickens situation. If there are no outside offers for him, either by trade or in pure free-agent money, Pickens has very little leverage outside of causing minor headaches for the team by missing parts or all of the team’s offseason program.
That could be dangerous, though, and not just for the team. If Pickens winds up on the one-year contract, he will be back in the same position again next season, a free agent whom the Cowboys could again tag. But if he is not in tip-top shape, if he does not have a great 2026 season, demand for him will drop significantly.
A great 2026 season for Pickens would need to start in camp. So, again: The Cowboys hold the cards, and could strongarm Pickens into signing the tag contract.
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