With George Pickens' franchise tag signed and an annual Dallas Cowboys contract crisis averted, the offseason has turned to some good, old-fashioned hype for what fortunes may come for America's Team and the wide receiver.
Quite simply, in one year for the Cowboys, Pickens fulfilled all the promise glimpsed in three years with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
As sensational as his 2025 campaign was with Dallas, there's still plenty of improvement to be had by Pickens, according to head coach Brian Schottenheimer. It's a notion that is just downright frightening for the opposition.
"Where he can continue to go and grow is scary because what he did last year was amazing. And the more you watch the film, then you see it and you're just kind of like, 'Whoa.' It's just different," Schottenheimer said. "We've got a lot of really good football players, and he's certainly at the top of that list along with some of our other studs."
A big-play ace across three seasons with the Steelers, Pickens' ability was never in doubt, but his consistency was. He put it all together in his first Pro Bowl season last year, recording 93 receptions for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. All of those numbers were career highs by sizable margins.
Pickens was traded to the Cowboys in May of last year. Now he's got a full regular season under his belt with quarterback Dak Prescott and Schottenheimer's offense plus he'll have a full offseason to build on it.
"It makes us excited that we know that we plan on George being here, and George I think is really excited about coming back," Schottenheimer said. "My word I've used is always evolve. We're in the process of evolving, but it doesn't have to happen tomorrow or a week from now. It's going to happen."
Perhaps just as important for Pickens' maturation and refinement is that the distraction of signing his tag has been eliminated. The Cowboys aren't planning on an extension, so the here and now is priority, with a potential long-term deal waiting until next offseason.
Schottenheimer, for one, wasn't surprised that Pickens is back in the fold on his one-year tender.
"We've been very upfront with George from the beginning about, 'Hey, we're going to play on the tag' and stuff," Schottenheimer said. "I don't think there's any reason to have that [conversation], that's not what we plan on doing. At the end of the day, we see George being a part of this football team and having a great [2026] and hopefully beyond."
