Overview
- Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Wednesday on the DLLS Cowboys podcast that paying two top receivers top-of-market money beyond 2026 will be “a real difficult situation.”
- Dallas placed George Pickens on the 2026 franchise tag at roughly $27.3 million while declining to negotiate a long-term extension this year.
- The team has adopted a win-now posture and is asking Pickens to prove back-to-back elite production in 2026 before reopening long-term talks in 2027.
- Analysts warn that a repeat of Pickens’s 2025 breakout (about 93 catches for 1,429 yards) could push his open-market value toward $40 million-plus per year and force Dallas into trade, restructure, second tag, or letting him test free agency choices.
- Fans reacted sharply to Jones’s comments on social media and pundits say the remark raises public pressure on Pickens and complicates Dallas’s broader cap plans that already include Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb.