Yes, George Pickens could still be a riddle the Dallas Cowboys have to solve. But teammates are hoping Pickens will take the right path. However, Pickens’ status for the Cowboys’ offseason program is unclear amid the contract talks, according to a post on X by Todd Archer.
“Brian Schottenheimer said he has had talks with George Pickens. Reiterated the desire for team to keep Pickens long term, but has no assurances yet Pickens will be around for voluntary offseason program.”
Schottenheimer insists everything is all roses with Pickens, according to another post by Archer.
Brian Schottenheimer: “Hey, look, GP loves it here. We love GP. We have plans for GP to be here for a long time, so we’ll let the business side of this thing play out and see where it goes.”
Will the Cowboys and WR George Pickens stay happy?
It seems like the Cowboys are being very careful about what they say. History shows the team has struggled to iron out star players’ contracts in the spring. Therefore, Schottenheimer is playing it cool about the voluntary work, according to ESPN.
“And I haven't pushed that on him,” Schottenheimer said from the NFL meetings in Phoenix. “I mean, again, we're all going through the process. It's almost April. We're still a couple weeks away. It's going to play out the way it plays out. Again, it's all voluntary. We'll see where it goes.”
The Cowboys have Pickens where they want him, saddling him with the franchise tag of $27.3 million. But they didn’t put the exclusive tag on him, which means other teams could still make a free-agent move. However, the price tag would be very high in terms of sending picks to the Cowboys.
Schottenheimer said the focus of his conversations has been about how the team will use Pickens in 2026.
“What I learned about him [in 2025] was he likes to be moved around,” Schottenhiemer said. “And we kind of learned that when CeeDee [Lamb] was out, quite honestly, because CeeDee's been the guy we've moved around. So when we had that stretch where he went crazy, we were moving him around. So he's excited about that. He's looking forward to that.”
