'No contract talks' between George Pickens, Cowboys leaves Dallas with options: What happens next?

Cowboys wideout George Pickens emerged as an immediate star in his debut Dallas season, so keeping him around long-term is will take a sizable investment from Jerry Jones. Dallas knew Pickens' contract situation created risk after the offseason trade. And now that Pickens earned his keep with 58 catches for 907 yards and seven touchdowns through 10 games, Jones faces a decision.

However, "no contract talks have taken place" between Pickens and the front office, according to NFL Network. Jones has been vocal about his 2026 goals at wide receiver. 

A franchise tag would cost an estimated $28 million for next season. The Cowboys are not expected to have much available salary-cap space in 2026, so franchise tagging Pickens must include contractual changes elsewhere within the roster, according to Over The Cap projection.

Pickens' value against NFL's top wideouts

"Well, again, I don't want to sit here, and as you know, that even has a competition to it in its very aspect of it," Jones said when asked if he would begin contract talks with Pickens. "He is doing more than we could, than we did expect or that we could have expected. What's really special is he's a real plus to have around the team. He's a real plus around his teammates. He's a great plus around those coaches. Those coaches really think highly of him, and so he's not only doing it on the field. He's doing it as a part of the team concept. That's very important and, in his particular case, should be noted.

"We'll weigh that. We knew full well that if things really went like we wanted them to go, certainly, we need to think about having some room available if we're going to pay a second receiver at that level."

There is also the David Mulugheta factor in all of this, Pickens' agent, who was at the center of the preseason back and forth tied to Micah Parsons. A contract extension for Pickens is independent of previous, unsuccessful negotiations with other players, according to Jones.

"Don't pay any attention to that," Jones said in October of the Pickens-Mulugheta dynamic, via The Dallas Morning News. "At all. No attention to that at all. Too much was made of that, that the agent actually had something to do with the ultimate decision of where we were. It almost had zero to do with it. Period. And that's not a negative. It just didn't have that kind of influence. I was going to be where I was with Micah relative to dollars and cents. I don't care who represented him."

Jones and the Cowboys were reportedly interested in acquiring Pickens during this year's NFL Draft, but nothing materialized. And after deciding not to take a wideout during the draft, the Cowboys made a move in May with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pickens ranks second only to Seattle's Jaxon Smith-Njigba in yards this season and is inside the top 10 in yards per catch, total touchdowns and first downs.