FRISCO, Texas – Sometimes there are things you just don't understand. Like confusing.
Take the current case of Curious George. That being Cowboys Pro Bowl wide receiver George Pickens. Age 25. Fifth year in the NFL. This to be his second with the Dallas Cowboys, following his best season in the NFL after the first three with the Pittsburgh Steelers, that Pro Bowl a first as well.
George ended up being a leading man with the 2025 Cowboys, leading them with 93 catches, a career high; leading the Cowboys with 1,429 receiving yards, a career high; leading the Cowboys with a 15.4-yard average per catch, matching the second highest of his career; leading the Cowboys with a career-high nine touchdown receptions, three short of his three-year total in Pittsburgh.
Think about this: Pickens is in a catbird seat with the Cowboys. He is playing with Dak Prescott, the best quarterback he's had throwing him the ball in his life. He's playing with CeeDee Lamb, the best fellow wide receiver he's had in his four-year NFL career, a five-time Pro Bowler. He's playing with a head coach, who is also the offensive coordinator and a proven play-caller, named Brian Schottenheimer, likely the best situation a wide receiver could ever ask for in a coaching staff hierarchy.
But so far, he's not here in the offseason, save the day he showed up just after the NFL Draft to sign his franchise tag tender during the last week of April. Doing so means George is guaranteed to earn $27.3 million in 2026, four times the $6.752 million he previously earned in his first four seasons in the NFL.
That means he has missed Phase I and Phase II of the offseason workouts in the month of May, voluntary participation workouts centering on strength/conditioning/position drills. Now Pickens has missed the first week's three Organized Team Activity workouts, and we do know what voluntary means thanks to Darren Hambrick, with three more scheduled for next week. All that followed by the following week's June 16-18 minicamp, and attendance for those three days are mandated by the CBA, meaning players under contract not participating are susceptible to being fined.
We'll see.
But understand, and certainly Pickens and his agent understand, the Cowboys did not tender him with that franchise tag as a negotiating ploy for him to sign a team-friendly long-term contract. They have made that clear. They have made clear to Pickens, too, that there would be no negotiations taking place. The Cowboys' intention all along has been for Pickens to play on the $27.3 million franchise tag, and sounds as if they never really made a long-term, low-ballcontract offer either.
This is the premeditated salary cap plan. The Cowboys are looking for more than this one-year of evidence that Pickens is worth being paid money in the vicinity of Lamb's four-year extension, worth an average of $34 million a year, which also comes with a $38 million signing bonus and $100 million of the $136 million package guaranteed. But when the Cowboys executed that deal in 2024, they had four full seasons' worth of Lamb production numbers and behavior history to bank on.
Not just the one with Pickens, and that one included a couple of behavioral hiccups, though Pickens mostly put behind him whatever issues he had in Pittsburgh that motivated the Steelers to trade away a receiver of Pickens' talent for a mere third-round draft choice.
Playing under the franchise tag, as you can see, in place of a long-term deal is the downside for him. The guarantee is for one year, so no long-term financial security. There is no signing bonus. Means players on the franchise tag are paid weekly over the season's 18 weeks. Nothing up front, and means very little injury security, though players have been known to take out a personal injury insurance policy when doing so. No one wants to play or coach on the final year of a contract, which basically Pickens did in 2025 on the final season of his four-year rookie deal, and ostensibly would be doing again this year.
But this is the system, and the Cowboys have experienced several players playing under the franchise tag: Flozell Adams, Anthony Spencer twice, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dalton Schultz, Tony Pollard and even Prescott, once for $34.4 million in 2020 and tagged him again in 2021 for $37.7 million as a holding place for his eventual negotiated long-term deal in 2022.
OK, now a reasonable person would assume Pickens will eventually play for the franchise tag. No red-blooded American is going to pass on earning a guaranteed $27.3 million. And just as Pickens did in 2025 after being traded to the Cowboys, playing on the final year of that rookie contract (Steelers 2022 second round draft choice), he needs to duplicate that performance heading toward another potential free-agent offseason.
What better way to market yourself than to produce another big season, either inflating his worth to the Cowboys for a potential long-term contract, or to receive a 20-percent raise if franchised again in 2027 ($32.76), or to potentially earn that long-term deal if traded to another team. Those two years of franchise tags would total $60 million, an average of $30 million a year. Not a bad chunk of change.
Got to produce. No off-field transgressions.
Now again, practices this week are only helmet/jersey/shorts workouts. No contact. No ball competes. Just play installation and personal position drill sharpening. But man, wouldn't you want to take advantage of every opportunity to prepare for what now turns out to be the most important season of a career? And sure as hell don't want to miss any training camp practices to stubbornly prove a point.
If George needs an example of that downside, all he has to do is ask Lamb, who said after Thursday's workout he speaks to his buddy about every day. Remember, Lamb didn't sign his 2024 extension until Aug. 26, two weeks before the Sept. 8 start to the season, and he got off to a slow start, only two touchdowns in the first six games, no 100-yard performances and no more than the two-seven-catch games.
There was rust.
With George, he can't afford to suffer through a sub-par start to this season, and as Lamb said, "Can't wait to have him out here." Neither can the Cowboys. Neither should he.
Now, head coach Briant Schottenheimer has downplayed George's absences so far, reminding, what do voluntary mean? Said on Thursday he "communicated with George on Thursday," saying Pickens is involved with his summer football camp this weekend. "The communication was good," and said he expects Pickens here for the mandatory minicamp, and at least for the start of training camp that last week in July, another fineable absence.
But thought this was much more revealing when Schottenheimer was asked what nuances does a player miss when not attending the team's offseason workouts?
"I think more than anything, there is the connection piece that is most important to me. This is the time of year the guys are training; the workouts are a little bit longer. It's actually more about the strength, weight-room program than even the football, quite honestly. Working through Phase I and Phase II.
"I've always believed this, and this is not about a single player, but how do you prove to your teammates you're doing everything in your power to be the best version of yourself if they don't see you doing it. I have no question George is preparing, just like I had no question that Micah (Parsons) was preparing (last year), or whoever. That's the biggest thing to me. It's voluntary.
"It's not really the scheme; GP will learn some of the language we do, with he and Dak throwing, and the relationship he has with CeeDee and Joe Milton. I don't worry about that. But more than that, it's the connection piece, and we have a lot of new faces on defense and some on offense. That's the biggest thing, if you are not attending the offseason program, you miss out on, though not as if you can't make it up."
For real, but here is the other thing. Pickens did a nice job repairing whatever reputation, right or wrong, he built his first three years in Pittsburgh, causing the Steelers to basically give away their top wide receiver. Know that in 2025, running back Kenneth Gainwell led the Steelers with 73 catches (only 486 yards), while the leading actual wide receiver had to be a disappointing DK Metcalf (59-850) after trading a 2025 second-round draft choice to Seattle and signing the 27-year-old to a four-year, $132 million extension to ostensibly make Pickens expendable.
Interest on money in the bank is one thing. Reputational interest is priceless, and in Pickens' case, no sense doing anything stubbornly to depreciate what you mostly earned during the 2025 season with Dallas. It's not just the Cowboys paying attention this year for future contract considerations, but the curious eyes of the NFL are upon him, too, if the following season comes to that.
So look, GP, for yourself, just do 2025 again in 2026. Got to be ready. Will be worth millions.
Oh, and remember, 27 mil is nothing to become indignant about.
