Philly Front Office

The Cowboys just made a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers for WR George Pickens. It was a good move. Pickens might be a hot head, but he is also a dynamic receiver with some of the best hands you’ll ever see. His biggest problem over his 3 year career hasn’t been his attitude, it’s been his QB. In his career he has caught passes from Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, Russell Wilson, and Justin Fields. That’s atrocious. He now joins CeeDee Lamb in catching passes from Dak Prescott. Do I think Dak is great in big games? No, but he can sling it. Dallas’s offense should take off with a second receiving threat on the level of Pickens. He is certainly an upgrade over last year’s #2, Brandin Cooks.

There is one catch (pun intended) with trading for Pickens, and it’s not the trade compensation. Dallas gave up a 3rd round pick next year and a 5th round pick in 2027, that’s fine. The problem is extending him. I know they don’t actually have to extend him, but he is entering the final year of his rookie contract and would sure as hell like a new deal. The Cowboys are pretty bad at this kind of thing.

Right now, the Cowboys sit well below the cap with about $34m in room. However, they are already up against the line next year and still have to sign Pickens, DaRon Bland, Micah Parsons and others. While the cap itself isn’t much of a problem, actually getting the guys under contract usually is. Let’s start with Parsons.

I have been writing about this for months now, but as much as he tries, Jerry Jones cannot escape the fact that he must make Micah Parsons the highest paid non-QB in football. Myles Garrett just signed for 4/$160m and Ja’Marr Chase followed with 4/$161m. Jalen Carter is coming next season for even more than that. Right now, the only deal Jerry is going to get is by paying the extra year to make him the first $200m non QB (5/$200m). Otherwise, it’s 4/$164m+. There is no avoiding this, Jerry.

Daron Bland is coming off an injury marred season in which he didn’t intercept a pass but he has 14 for his career. In 2023 he had 9 picks and 5 TDs. That’s nuts. I’m sure Jerry is trying to low ball him in extension talks right now too. The offer on the table is probably somewhere in the $15m per year range. The problem for them is that the CB market just exploded and ballhawks like Bland simply do not come around very often. Derek Stingley just signed for $30m per year, which completely blew away the rest of the market. If I’m Bland’s agent, I am not settling for anything less than $20m per season and would encourage my client to play out the final year of his contract. Another year of 5+ picks and Bland is looking at $25m per season. Jerry being Jerry.

This brings us to Pickens. He has the potential to change the Cowboys offense for the better with his talent or for worse with his personality. The first hurdle they need to navigate is his contract extension. His stats are not comparable to those of CeeDee Lamb, but he likely wants to get paid like they are. Lamb signed for 4/$136m last offseason making him the 3rd highest paid WR right now. You might be tempted to say that Pickens shouldn’t get anywhere near that (Spotrac predicts him to get around 4/$102m based on production). Well, you are probably forgetting that DK Metcalf just signed for 4/$132m with Pickens’ old team the Steelers. Metcalf had similar production to Pickens but with a far better QB situation. What happens if Pickens demands a little bit more than Lamb at 4/$140m? It’s on the table. If Jerry gives that to him after fighting with everyone else, the team is going to be pissed. Why should Pickens accept less than that though? There is a lot of possible combustion with this move.

I am not against the trade at all, it objectively improves the Cowboys offense and they didn’t give up much. However, Jerry just made his contract negotiation problems even worse. If he can get Pickens to take less than Lamb’s contract, it will both be the right move and an overpay. I’m not sure I would trust Jerry in this department though.

All numbers courtesy of Spotrac.com, they are the best in the business.