The Dallas Cowboys have been a mixed bag so far this year, looking like a legitimate Super Bowl contender when their offense is on the field and then turning into Swiss cheese when it's the defense's turn. Quarterback Dak Prescott has been playing some of the best football of his career so far in 2025, and it's likely that if the Cowboys had one more elite defensive player like, say, Micah Parsons, they could be real contenders in the NFC.
Another key reason that the Cowboys' offense has been humming along so nicely is the play of George Pickens, whom the team acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers over the offseason. Pickens did an admirable job of taking over the number one receiver role when CeeDee Lamb was out with injury.
Pickens is set to hit the unrestricted free agent market this offseason, and recently, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones got 100% real on his thought process heading into that.
“Any and everything about George Pickens has crossed our minds. … Certainly he's a topic of interest and discussions because of the success he's having,” said Jones, per 105.3 The FAN, via Jon Machota on X, formerly Twitter.
Cowboys fans would be forgiven for feeling uneasy about Jones' negotiating process considering the way he absolutely butchered the team's relationship with Parsons, who was traded to the Green Bay Packers a week before the season began.
A key piece for the Cowboys
George Pickens made his fair share of highlight plays during his time with the Steelers, but he's truly flourished so far in Dallas, particularly in the games when he was Prescott's primary target in the absence of Lamb.
Pickens has put all of his athleticism and ball skills on display, helping turn the Cowboys' passing attack into arguably the NFL's most lethal unit so far this year. He'll understandably want to be compensated accordingly for his services, so it will be interesting to see whether Jones attempts to play any of his bizarre negotiating games with him this summer, the same way he did with Prescott, Lamb, and Parsons.
The Cowboys will next take the field on Sunday on the road against the Denver Broncos.
