FRISCO, Texas – The hits keep on coming.
That is for Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens, and though a scheduled unrestricted free agent in 2026, he's still theirs for now. At least until he's either signed to a long-term contract or has the franchise tag placed on him between Feb. 17 and March 3, which would preserve his rights for at least another 4½ months to agree on a deal. Otherwise, he plays on the one-year franchise tag.
The Cowboys hope, probably dearly, to avoid another protracted negotiation like they experienced this past year with Micah Parsons that ended in a trade to Green Bay a week before the start of the season.
But man, this won't be easy. The awards keep on coming, thanks to the 2025 season Pickens experienced with the Dallas Cowboys. We can start with his season, producing a career-high of numbers in leading the Cowboys with 93 catches, 1,429 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns, those nine second in total touchdowns for the Cowboys to only running back Javonte Williams' 13.
That performance was enough to earn Pickens his first Pro Bowl award. That was enough to earn Pickens his first All-Pro selection, this one second team.
And as if that were not enough negotiating chips for his second NFL contract heading toward his fifth season, now this: He chipped it up one more notch when Tuesday night being named Offensive MVP of the Pro Bowl game (loose use of the term game) after catching the NFC's game-clinching touchdown pass from his Cowboys quarterback, Dak Prescott.
OK, OK, this was a flag football game. Get it. But still. For a guy who spent three seasons trying to make a name for himself with the Pittsburgh Steelers for all the right reasons and being traded to the Cowboys this past offseason for what turned out to be for the Steelers all the wrong reasons, now everybody for sure knows his name.
Knows his game.
Pickens won't come cheap. He knows that. His agent knows that. Heck, the Cowboys know that. But at least at every turn, Pickens says he wants to remain with the Cowboys. And the bright guy he is, he knows his season was bettered by playing with Prescott, the best quarterback he's had in his entire career, and alongside CeeDee Lamb, the best receiver he's been paired with as well. Lamb was added to the NFC Pro Bowl team as a replacement, the first time in the Cowboys' 66-season history they produced two Pro Bowl receivers in the same season. They joined Dak and Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson and, oh, Pro Bowl returner KaVontae Turpin as the rotational third receiver.
But as we know, money talks.
And from the Cowboys' aspect, ask yourself this, and certainly they have beat you to the punch: If they don't re-up with Pickens, either long term or George willing to play the 2026 season on the franchise tag, who is the Cowboys' second wide receiver? Come on, who?
You trust Ryan Flournoy to make that jump? Turpin? A veteran free agent to be named? A higher draft choice than anticipated? And remember Jalen Tolbert is unrestricted, too.
In the infamous words of Nike, Just Do It.
- Et Tu Bill? So many seem to be butt-hurt over, if ESPN reports are accurate, Bill Belichick being overlooked as a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer when the official announcement goes down Thursday night on the NFL Honors shindig. Well, if Darren Woodson, a finals candidate for a fourth time, is not among the potential five Modern Day inductees, count me in as continuing to be butt-hurt more so over that incomprehensible omission. History makes me fear the worse. Maybe instead of presenting all Woody's accolades achieved during his 12-year career with the Cowboys during discussions – he never gets credit for that 13th season he spent on IR with the team due to back surgery before retiring at the end of the year – maybe his presenter should just chastise the 50-member voting committee for its egregious oversight. His 20-year stay in the Modern-Day pool will expire in 2028. Then he gets dumped into the voluminous Seniors category, where a man can get lost. Ask Everson Walls.
- Speaking Of Cubby: Inside the Super Bowl LX 286-page souvenir game program, there is a brief recap of the previous 59 Super Bowls played, starting with the first one on Jan. 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – the NFL's Green Bay Packers overwhelming the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10 – and finishing with last year's 59th edition on Feb. 9, 2025, the Philadelphia Eagles' 40-22 whooping of the Chiefs in New Orleans. Well, right there on page 156, as part of the Super Bowl XXV recap, is a picture of our Mick Shots teammate Walls breaking up a Jim Kelly pass intended for James Lofton in the Giants' 20-19 win over the Bills in his first season with New York. That game was the Bills' first of four consecutive Super Bowl defeats (1990-93), the Cowboys responsible for the final two. And gets this: That Super Bowl XXV game ending on Bills kicker Scott Norwood's missed 47-yard field goal as time expired, as I remember looking out the open press box window right on deadline in Tampa, Fla., remains the only Super Bowl decided by one point.
- Tank Thanks: Cowboys 11-year veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence went out of his way during Monday's Super Bowl LX Opening Night to sing the praises of two former Cowboys assistant coaches for helping to form his career: former defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli and defensive line coach Aden Durde, currently the Seattle defensive coordinator he now plays for in his 12th NFL season. Marinelli was the Cowboys DC his rookie year of 2014, and how about this: Durde, the London native, gained his first year of NFL coaching experience as the Cowboys' defensive intern that same season (2014-15) and eventually returned to coach Lawerence as the Cowboys defensive line coach under former DC Dan Quinn (2021-23). Durde was hired by Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald in 2024, influencing Seattle to sign the unrestricted free agent the Cowboys figured to be too expensive when trying to re-sign Micah Parsons. "So, like I said, growing up on a Rob Marinelli (scheme) and, you know, all the things that he taught us, we kind of think the same," Lawrence said, including Durde as part of that "You know, when it comes to schemes." A fine match.
- Sack Of Sacks: Lawrence has totaled 72.5 sacks in his 12-year career (including playoffs), 69½ of those with the Cowboys. And when asked this Super Bowl week which one is his most memorable sack, D-Law goes back to his rookie season, playing in just seven games (217 snaps) that year after the second-round draft choice started the season on IR with a fractured fifth metatarsal. The memorable takedown occurred in a first-round 24-20 playoff victory over the Detroit Lions. Let him explain: "My favorite sack of all time has to be Matt Stafford, rookie year, playoff game. I picked up a fumble, less than two minutes left on the clock, and then I fumbled it back (Lions recover at the 2-minute warning), so the offense gets the ball back. And I get out of the game, coach (Marinelli), you know, yelling at me and stuff. I was like, all right coach, just give me one chance to redeem myself. And you know, went out there and got a sack-fumble (and recovered, too, with 54 seconds left). Ended the game. It was a great moment indeed." Remember it all well, his first career sack the start of what is now a five Pro Bowl career.
- Super MVPs: There have been 60 Super Bowl MVPs in the previous 59 games. Remember, the Cowboys ended up with the only co-MVPs in their Super Bowl XII 27-10 victory over Denver, Randy White and Harvey Martin, the Cowboys now owning seven of those MVPs in five victories. That's right, those two guys along with linebacker Chuck Howley in Super Bowl V, still to this day the only MVP from a losing team, the Cowboys losing to Baltimore (Colts, that is), 16-13. How strange, Howley the only MVP from a losing team; White the only defensive tackle MVP; and Larry Brown the only cornerback MVP (Super Bowl XXX). Also MVPs from the Cowboys are quarterbacks Roger Staubach (Super Bowl VI) and Troy Aikman (Super Bowl XXVII) as well as running back Emmitt Smith (Super Bowl XXVIII). Emmitt still is the only player in the same season to win the NFL rushing title, the season MVP and the Super Bowl MVP, a mighty triple season.
- If You're Wondering: Of the 60 Super Bowl MVP winners (the Cowboys with those co-MVPs), 34 have been quarterbacks, 10 defensive players, eight wide receivers, seven running backs and one special teams player. Green Bay's Desmond Howard with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown totaled 244 return yards in the Packers' 35-21 win over the Bill Parcells-coached Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.
- More Super Shots: Hall of Famer Charles Haley (Cowboys/Niners) still co-owns the career Super Bowl sack record of 4½ with Von Miller (Denver/LA Ram) … Cowboys award candidates for Thursday night include Woodson and tight end Jason Witten (Hall of Fame), Dak (Comeback Player of Year) and defensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Walter Payton Man of the Year) … Former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, now the Steelers head coach, has hired two of his former Cowboys assistants: Scott McCurley as inside linebackers coach and Ramon Chinyoung as running backs coach. McCarthy did interview Saints QB coach Scott Tolzien for the open offensive coordinator position, though the former Cowboys QB coach elected to remain with Saints head coach Kellen Moore in New Orleans. Former Cowboys assistant tight ends coach Chase Haslett, interviewed by McCarthy for the passing game coordinator spot, is also remaining in New Orleans as tight ends coach … And condolences to the family of Scott Laidlaw, the Cowboys' 14th-round draft choice who passed away this week. Having spent five of his six NFL seasons with the Cowboys, the running back/special teams player is the second of that 1975 Dirty Dozen draft class to pass away, punter Mitch Hoopes the other in 2020.
And for this week's last word, we turn to former Cowboys backup quarterback (1993-99), offensive coordinator (2007-10) and eventually head coach (2011-19) Jason Garrett. From Super Bowl LX week, when asked for a Jimmy Johnson story back during the week leading up to Super Bowl XXVII when the then-considered underdog Cowboys were bracing to face the Bills and that K-Gun offense led by Kelly. Why, it was the Bills making their third consecutive Super Bowl appearance against a Cowboys team just three seasons removed from that 1-15 season of 1989 in Johnson's first year and a franchise making its first Super Bowl appearance since the 1978 season and its Super Bowl XIII loss to the Steelers.
"One of the more memorable speeches Jimmy made," began Garrett, a practice squad player that year. "He came into the team meeting room and said if I put a 2x4 in front of you guys, 10 yards long, and I ask you to walk across it on the floor, I know you guys, you will walk across it. Some of you guys will run across it. Some guys will go backwards. Some guys will be doing handstands and flips on it.
"Now, if I take the same 2x4 and put it 100 stories up between two skyscrapers, how would you walk across it then? It's the same 2x4. All of a sudden, because you could fall 100 stories, you walk across it any differently?
"Then he made the analogy, if we have the Buffalo Bills on our practice field, think everybody feels pretty good we could beat these guys. Now, because we're going to Pasadena, in front of 100,000 people and 100 million people watching on TV, how do you go play now? I mean, all of a sudden are you worrying about falling? Same 2x4 … the field is still 53 and a third yards wide."
In the end, the Cowboys took that 2x4 and whacked the Bills across their backsides, pummeling them, 52-17. And it came within 1 yard of being a worse beating, Leon Lett's 64-yard fumble recovery return famously getting knock out of his hands from behind by Bills wide receiver Don Beebe, the ball rolling through the end zone for a touchback with just 4:42 to play. Otherwise, those young, up-and-coming Cowboys would have put a Super Bowl-record 59 points on the Bills.
One of the most memorable plays/games from the 24 Super Bowls I had the privilege of covering during my career.
