The Ohio State University is dominating The 2026 NFL draft.
Four Buckeyes have gone off the board in the first eleven pick.
The Cowboys completed the quartet by taking safety Caleb Downs at No. 11 overall. Dallas traded up from No. 12 in a move with the Miami Dolphins. The Cowboys gave up two fifth-round picks to execute the flip-flop — picks No. 177 and No. 180.
That’s huge for the Dolphins, since they need as much young and cheap talent as they can get, given that they’re carrying $99.2 million in dead money over the next two years due to the failed Tua Tagovailoa contract.
For Dallas, it’s an effort to improve a defense that was not nearly good enough in 2025. Downs should make a huge difference.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer said Wednesday that he expected George Pickens to participate in the Cowboys’ offseason program, which begins next week. Pickens would have to sign the franchise tag to workout at The Star, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Pro Bowl wide receiver will do just that.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones talked to Pickens’ agent, David Mulugheta, on Thursday to discuss Pickens’ future.
They apparently convinced Pickens to attend the offseason program.
“I expect that he’ll be around. I really do,” Schottenheimer said at the pre-draft news conference, via Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press. “The one thing that I love about George is George likes honesty and that’s who we are. That’s not just because his name is George Pickens, and he’s a great player. We do that to undrafted free agents and that gives you the best chance to make sure you’re all on the same page.”
The Cowboys placed the nonexclusive $27.3 million franchise tag on Pickens in March, keeping him off the free agent market. Stephen Jones announced Wednesday that the team will not negotiate a long-term deal with Pickens in 2026.
Pickens has participated in off-site workouts with Dak Prescott and other receivers during the offseason.
He is now scheduled for free agency in 2027.
With Pickens signing the tag, the Cowboys can now trade Pickens at any time. They have not ruled out drafting a wide receiver with the 12th overall pick tonight, depending on how the draft unfolds.
The Cowboys acknowledged on Wednesday that they will not hold contract talks with franchise-tagged wide receiver George Pickens in 2026.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones have since called Pickens’ agent, David Mulugheta, to discuss Pickens’ future, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports. Rapoport adds that the call was “professional and cordial.”
It is unclear what the sides discussed as Jerry Jones said Wednesday the Cowboys talked to Mulugheta last week, informing him of their decision. Jones called last week’s conversation “cordial,” adding it lasted 5-10 minutes.
Mulugheta is also the agent for Micah Parsons, whom the Cowboys traded before the start of the 2025 season after failing to come to terms on a long-term deal. The edge rusher had made clear he wasn’t keen on playing on the fifth-year option.
The Cowboys placed the $27.3 million franchise tag on Pickens in March, keeping him off the free agent market.
Stephen Jones explained the team’s decision during the pre-draft news conference.
“Let’s start with the fact that it’s not easy having two receivers being paid top of the market,” Jones said. “I mean that’s obviously a stretch, especially when you have other great players on your team. A quarterback that’s been here, being the highest-paid player in this league for many years now. Certainly that’s part of it. The other thing is the newness of George being here. I think George has just done an amazing job. I mean he’s exceeded all expectations, I think, [of] anybody or we wouldn’t have gotten for a third-round pick. So that’s a plus. And a lot of those things, they make their way toward a long-term deal, but that’s the biggest part of it — between the business and newness of it.”
CeeDee Lamb’s $34 million annual average ranks fourth among the league’s wide receivers.
The Cowboys acknowledge they could draft a receiver with the 12th overall pick.
Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones says his phone line is open for any team wanting to talk trade, but he probably won’t be the one making the calls.
Jones confirmed that the Cowboys have received calls from teams interested in making draft-day trades, but when asked if he would make any calls to seek a trade, he indicated that’s not where his head is.
“I don’t know that. I don’t know that,” Jones said.
Why wouldn’t Jones be the one to initiate trade talks? He said he usually gets better deals from teams that make the call first.
“They’re usually better, candidly, coming in than going out. The results are better for us,” Jones said.
The Cowboys own the 12th and 20th picks during Thursday night’s first round, but their third pick doesn’t come until No. 92, late in the third round. They might like to move down from one of those first-round picks to add something in the second or third round. Jones will certainly listen if other GMs call him about that.
The Cowboys won’t negotiate with George Pickens in 2026, forcing him to play on the franchise tag. That isn’t likely to make the Pro Bowl wide receiver happy.
A trade, followed quickly by a long-term contract, would.
The Cowboys need defensive help in the worst way to improve a unit that ranked last in the NFL in surrendering a team-record 511 points. And they have two first-round draft picks to help the defense in a big way.
Surely they wouldn’t consider using one on an offense that ranked second in yards and seventh in points. Right?
“That’s alive and well. Given the right circumstances, you have to look at offense,” Jerry Jones said, via Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
In 2020, CeeDee Lamb slid to 17th, and the Cowboys, despite needing defensive help, selected the Oklahoma wide receiver. Lamb is a better player than any of the first-round defensive players drafted after the Cowboys’ pick that year. Only Patrick Queen has made a Pro Bowl among that group of defenders.
The Cowboys have the 12th and 20th selections this year. They had Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson and Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate among their top-30 pre-draft visitors.
Executive vice president Stephen Jones was asked how the decision not to reward Pickens with a long-term deal affects the Cowboys’ draft strategy.
“That’s all part of the global picture,” Stephen Jones said, via Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press. “Certainly, you’re always looking at that. It’s just like we did when we took CeeDee Lamb. We had some really good receivers on this team, but we took him. It would certainly be no different as we look at the board and our number gets called to pick, and we’ll make that decision at that point. We’re certainly not opposed to taking the best player on our board. That’s usually where we’ve had our most success is doing that. As Jerry said, we were all set to go defense in that particular draft and CeeDee Lamb was sitting there and that’s the guy we went with. It’s turned out to be a great selection for us.”
Stephen Jones would not address whether the team would give Pickens a head’s up if it decides to pick a wide receiver.
“We don’t want to get into the weeds like that today,” he said. “We’ll have a lot of options, and we’ll obviously address those types of situations if they happen to come about. Certainly we go over all our contingencies and how we would handle something or what we would do. But to get into the detail of that, I don’t think it’s productive today.”
