Now at Cowboys' mandatory minicamp, George Pickens is at peace with contract situation
FRISCO, Texas - George Pickens is at peace with everything.
The Dallas Cowboys wide receiver arrived at The Star on Monday to take his physical so he could participate in a three-day mandatory minicamp that started the next day.
So on a Tuesday afternoon at The Star, under a cloudy sky with temperatures in the 90s, Pickens caught passes in a limited fashion.
He smiled. He joked around. He was playful.
He's everything the Cowboys need.
No combustion.
No drama.
It could have turned out differently when the team decided to place the franchise tag on Pickens, guaranteeing him $27.2 million for the 2026 season. Instead, it showed Pickens exactly what the Cowboys think of him: The future is now.
Pickens said he didn't need an explanation from team owner Jerry Jones about why he's not getting an extension. Pickens said Jones wasn't changing his mind, so why ask?
"No, not really because the game going to be the game, you know what I mean?" Pickens said. "Money is kind of tagged to it."
The Cowboys were up front with Pickens from the beginning of the offseason, telling him they valued him but wanted to see more. The mechanisms at their disposal included using the franchise tag.
It secured Pickens' contract for at least 2026, and it also showed some maturity from the franchise and the player.
No waiting for contract talks to heat up in July, August or September, when a player would miss valuable practice time leading to the start of the season.
This time, the Cowboys simply showed their hand with Pickens and said this is the deal.
In the past, the Cowboys got into long contract talks with star players such as Micah Parsons (2025), Dak Prescott (2024) and CeeDee Lamb (2024). Lamb missed training camp before signing late in the process. Prescott didn't miss any time but signed 24 hours before the season opener, causing some irritability for the face of the franchise. Parsons conducted a hold-in as he awaited a contract extension, which Jones insisted was agreed upon earlier in a meeting between the two.
Parsons asked for a trade, and it was granted.
This time it was different.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer and Jones talked to Pickens about his contract status and arrived on the same page.
Pickens, on the advice of his agent David Mulugheta, avoided coming to the voluntary portions of the offseason program. Pickens wanted to come but stuck to the plan established by Mulugheta.
"So he's like your boss," Pickens said of Mulugheta. "So there's no trust [issues] or anything there. He controls what you do, so really you trust him or not."
When Mulugheta told Pickens to report for the mandatory practices, Pickens said it wasn't about avoiding fines. He wanted to join his teammates. He didn't care what was said in the media and from fans, that he's only at The Star to make sure he doesn't lose any money because of fines.
"I'm here now," he said. "Like I say, that's always their opinion. I don't really criticize what they say or what they do. I just feel like that's the opinion that they have and that's all I can really say."
Pickens understands the amount of money he's making now and that if he produces another solid season - he earned a Pro Bowl berth setting career-highs in catches (93), yards (1,429) and touchdowns (nine) in 2025 - it only increases his value.
Pickens has the option of holding out, holding in and demanding a trade.
It just doesn't make sense in his mind to do that. He has guaranteed money waiting for him, and if he produces another solid season the price goes up whether it's for the Cowboys or some other team in 2027.
He saw the contract extensions wide receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Drake London signed this summer. Pickens waited to see if A.J. Brown was actually going to be traded from Philadelphia to New England, which eventually occurred.
The wide receiver market was changing, and Pickens said he's willing to wait before his next move.
He also knows he's one of 11 wide receivers averaging between $25 million to $30 million for the 2026 season.
Pickens is at peace. So are the Cowboys.
"Personally, what's important to me is winning," he said. "Like I said from the beginning, I always want to bring a Super Bowl to a group of guys that never had that feeling. So that's really the most important part to me. Everything else is what they can throw."
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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 8:15 PM.