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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The Dallas Cowboys sent a clear message to George Pickens this offseason: they need to see more. After trading for him last year, Pickens delivered career highs across the board, hauling in 93 catches for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns — good for third in the NFL in receiving yards and his first career second-team All-Pro nod.
That's the type of production that usually earns a long-term deal, especially for a player who just turned 25. Instead, the Cowboys tagged him. Rather than long-term security, Pickens will play the 2026 season under a one-year, $27.3 million franchise tag before hitting the open market.
The dilemma for Dallas is that they already have WR1 money tied up in CeeDee Lamb, who has three years left on the four-year, $136 million deal he signed in 2024, worth an average of $34 million annually. Both Lamb and Pickens are regarded as two of the NFL's best receivers, and the market just got more expensive — Jaxon Smith-Njigba reset the bar this offseason with a four-year, $168.6 million deal averaging $42.15 million per year. If Pickens puts together another All-Pro-caliber season in 2026, the Cowboys will face a difficult question: can they really afford to pay two premier wide receivers top dollar?
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Executive vice president Stephen Jones, son of owner Jerry Jones, seems to think so. "Yeah, just you got to tell me the rest [of our spending], too," Jones told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports on Sunday, insisting the Cowboys can afford not just Lamb and Pickens, but also four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, whose contract expires after this season. "At some point, you've got to figure that out. But no, I think it's realistic," Jones added.
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While Pickens had a career year, Lamb finished 2025 with 1,077 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 75 receptions — his fifth straight 1,000-yard season, and one of just three instances league-wide (along with the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles) of a team having two 1,000-yard receivers. Still, by his standards, the numbers were underwhelming: his lowest touchdown total of his career and his lowest yardage total since his 2020 rookie season.
Lamb is still in his prime at 27, but between the chemistry Pickens has built with Dak Prescott and the financial reality of paying both receivers what they're worth, it's fair to wonder whether this could be the last season Dallas fields both Lamb and Pickens — even if Jones doesn't see it that way.
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