George Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys
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George Pickens #3 of the Dallas Cowboys
There were just five players in the NFL who logged 1,400 or more yards receiver in 2025, and No. 3 on the list just happened to be Dallas Cowboys star George Pickens. Contract-wise, one of those receivers makes slightly more than $30 million, Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Lions. Another, Ja’Marr Chase of the Bengals, is just above the $40 million mark, a record when he signed the deal. As of Monday, that record has been broken by another on the list, Jaxon Smith-Njgiba of the Seahawks, who agreed to a deal worth more than $41 million per year.
Puka Nacua of the Rams is eligible for an extension, and is expected to land right about where Smith-Njigba is.
If you’re tallying at home, then, of the Top 5 receivers in the NFL, three will be making $40 million-plus in 2026, and one will be at $30 million. In the middle of the group is Pickens, who caught 93 passes and averaged 15.4 yards per catch. Pickens is one of just 13 players to average more than 15.0 yards per catch (he’s at 15.4), and he and Smith-Njigba are the only two of those 13 to have more than 1,200 yards receiving on the season.
With the franchise tag on his shoulders, though, Pickens is a far cry from the payout Smith-Njigba is slated to get–the tag is a one-year, $27 million contract. That’s a lot of money, of course, but the Cowboys are getting a bargain.
Cowboys Want to Get George Pickens on Franchise Tag
According to Jesse Holley, former Cowboys receiver and now an analyst for DLLS Cowboys, Pickens and his agent, David Mulugheta, ought to take the JSN contract to Jerry Jones’ office and start their negotiations on a long-term Pickens deal sooner rather than later.
Said Holley, “Yesterday’s price is not today’s price.”
That’s been a lesson the Cowboys have yet to learn on star players–moving quickly to get deals locked up in the spring saves money after other players push markets up. Mulugheta should simply say that Pickens wants to start a deal at the Smith-Njigba numbers.
“If George Pickens’ agent doesn’t come in and try to get to that number, he’s doing his client a disservice,” Holley said. “His negotiation should start–whether I agree with it, you agree with it, you agree with it—his negotiation should start at $41.5 million. That’s where it should start. It should start there, right?”
Dallas ‘Has to Contend’ With JSN Contract Numbers
Holley was quick to point out that the starting point on the negotiation is just that–a start, a market price. The Cowboys would not agree to that, mostly because Pickens had a shaky reputation in Pittsburgh before coming to Dallas.
But the Cowboys should be more nimble on this issue than they’ve been in the past.
Said Holley: “I am not saying he is going to get it, but I would want someone representing me, no, start up there. Don’t start at $30 million. Start up there. Because the Cowboys aren’t going to start up there. They’re gonna start down here, where the floor is at. And we just, incrementally, get closer and closer and closer.
“Now, you’re on an ‘Oh S’ situation. Because you waited. You waited and you should have signed—you should have traded for him and you should have signed the deal right there. But you let some leaves fall and now Jackson Smith-Njigba, he is the highest paid receiver in the NFL and now you have to contend with those numbers.”