Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys should really consider giving George Pickens an extension now.
The dust has firmly settled on the Dallas Cowboys trading for wide receiver George Pickens and it feels fair to say that we have all moved on to the point of excitement for what he can offer this football team.
Pickens will hopefully serve as a rising tide to lift the boats of CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson, whoever the starting or most-used running back winds up being, and obviously of Dak Prescott. That he is only 24 years old, as of just two months ago, suggests that this can be the case for the foreseeable future as well.
This is likely part of the logic that led the Cowboys to calling the Pittsburgh Steelers and agreeing to give up their third-round pick (in terms of the major asset spent). It stands to reason that the Cowboys made the move with the assumption that they and Pickens would be working together for a long time.
So they should pay him now.
One of the cons, if you will, to spending a third-round pick on Pickens is that 2025 is the final year of his rookie contract. You are giving away a top 100 selection for a player who, if he is in fact going to be around past this season, you now have to pay top dollar for.
This is a conundrum that would exist for any NFL team to be clear, but it isn’t picking on the Cowboys to say that they have handled this exact type of situation poorly in recent history. Look at CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott (multiple times), Micah Parsons currently or anybody else who you want to name as examples. Proactivity is not something that Dallas prioritizes relative to contract extensions for their players.
When we have conversations around those types of things the word leverage often comes up. Players obtain more leverage against the Cowboys because the team allows them to get so close to free agency and the players can then weaponize that in the name of getting the best deal possible for them. Tale as old as time.
Examining the spirit of leverage when it comes to George Pickens, the Cowboys have already given him and his representation a lot. They spent a third-round pick to get him as he enters a contract year, which as we spent some time discussing up top, suggests that they have no plans of him leaving elsewhere. So why not nip that in the bud right now?
From a logistical standpoint the Pickens trade has reminded me, and many others, of the Philadelphia Eagles acquiring A.J. Brown when the 2021 NFL Draft began. Philly spent a first-rounder to land Brown and clearly the move has worked out for them. But what is notable about that whole sequence is that the first thing the Eagles did was give Brown an extension to tie him to their organization...
