Report: Cowboys WR George Pickens signs $27.3 million franchise tag for 2026 season

Dallas Cowboys receiver George Pickens has reportedly signed his franchise tag, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer. This secures that Pickens is officially under contract with the Cowboys for the upcoming 2026 season at a $27.3 million price tag. It also opens up Pickens to a potential trade out of Dallas.

Word of Pickens’ signing comes nearly one week after reports first broke that the four-year pro would sign the franchise tag after long-term negotiations broke down with the Cowboys’ front office. The two sides had been in talks on a multi-year extension all offseason, until Dallas executive vice president Stephen Jones recently announced the team’s plan to tag Pickens, which guarantees him a one-year deal at the average of the top five salaries at his position. The tag also secures Pickens injury protection ahead of the Cowboys’ upcoming offseason workout programs.

The 25-year-old Pickens was Dallas’ top offseason addition last summer when the Cowboys acquired the talented 2022 second-round pick out of Georgia from the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 seventh-rounder last May. And it didn’t take long before Pickens established himself as a favorite target of veteran Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott opposite superstar wideout CeeDee Lamb.

In fact, Pickens more than lived up to that billing in 2025 when he produced a career year in Dallas with a team-high 1,429 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 93 receptions last season. Now, after signing his franchise tag, Pickens is officially under contract with the Cowboys for the 2026 season.

Of course, it also makes it easier for Dallas’ front office to potentially trade Pickens, though EVP Stephen Jones has repeatedly made it clear that’s not in the cards. Of course, the Cowboys said similar things about former linebacker Micah Parsons before trading him to the Green Bay Packers one month before the start of the 2025 season.

Stephen Jones: Cowboys ‘have no intentions’ of trading George Pickens

It wasn’t long into the Cowboys’ press conference following Day 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft last Thursday that the conversation turned to George Pickens. Speculation had been raging online throughout the day about the potential for a trade of Dallas’ Pro Bowl receiver.

But the Cowboys’ second-in-command quickly shut down that speculation when he declared the team had “no intentions of trading” Pickens this offseason.

“We have no intentions of trading George,” Jones said via Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “… So far, our communication have been outstanding … We have every reason in the world to think that he’s ready to go to work.”

This echoes comments made by second-year Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who has been quite vocal about having a second year with Pickens out wide.

“We had a great conversation,” Schottenheimer said. “We informed him. We’re upfront and we’re honest… I look forward to him kicking ass this year. He loves it here.”

— On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.