Cowboys receiver George Pickens has accepted the franchise tender for 2026. Why would he do it?
It’s not complicated.
Pickens could have stayed away, for all of the offseason program, all of training camp, all of the preseason. He could have waited until the days preceding the start of the regular season to show up, take the tender, and make every penny of his $27.298 million.
He also could have skipped the first 10 weeks of the regular season before showing up, making $12.13 million, and getting credit for the contract year.
He could have demanded a trade. He could have insisted on better terms than the franchise tender offered, whether it be more money or a commitment to not tag him again in 2027.
Pickens did none of those things. He took the tender. Now. He’s under contract. Now. He can still skip the mandatory minicamp, but he’ll be fined. He can skip days of training camp. Again, he’ll be fined.
He could have done that without accepting the franchise tag.
The inescapable message is this. He’s handling the situation like quarterback Dak Prescott did in 2020. Accept the circumstances, show up, work hard, and see what happens in 2027.
Given Pickens’s reputation (right or wrong) during his three years in Pittsburgh, he needs to keep putting distance between his time with the Steelers and his time with the Cowboys. He needs to have another season like the one he had last year.
Even though the franchise tag for the receiver position falls $15 million short of the new-money APY for the top of the receiver market, Pickens will make more than anyone ever would have thought he’d make before he was traded to the Cowboys last May.
And so the play is simple. Play well enough this year to put the Cowboys in a bind next year. They can sign him to a long-term deal (which possibly may require them to move on from receiver CeeDee Lamb) or tag Pickens again, at a 20-percent bump over his 2026 salary ($32.76 million).
They surely wouldn’t tag him for a third year. It would be too expensive — at least $47.17 million. So he bookends three up-and-down years in Pittsburgh with three strong seasons in Dallas, and he hits the market. He will have just turned 27. He’ll have gas in the tank and, if the next two seasons go well, more than $60 million in new earnings and a shot at the open market.
That’s why he signed the tender. That’s the best play. Given the way his career began, it’s the only play.
Two days later, the Steelers’ decision to apply the unrestricted free agency tender to quarterback Aaron Rodgers makes no sense.
The explanation from owner Art Rooney II didn’t help it make sense. He downplayed it as something that helps them preserve the ability to get a compensatory draft pick, if Rodgers signs with another team.
There’s currently no reason to think that will happen. And the fact that the Steelers don’t know with sufficient certainty that it will be them or no one shows how little they actually know about Rodgers’s plans for 2026.
The most significant consequence of the UFA tender, in our view, is the part Rooney didn’t mention. As of July 22, the Steelers acquire exclusive negotiation rights to Rodgers, if he has yet to sign a contract with the Steelers or any other team. That takes away his option to play the waiting game, remaining a free agent for as much of the season as he chooses before joining a team wherever and whenever he chooses.
And that’s the wrinkle that shows how different 2026 is from 2025 for the Steelers and Rodgers.
Last year, it wasn’t about the articles and sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It was about Rodgers wanting to play for the Steelers and the Steelers wanting Rodgers, with Rodgers taking less than he could have gotten to play where he wanted to play. He could have easily expected $30 million or more. He took $13.65 million. It was a favor to the Steelers.
This year, the Steelers opted to do him no favors. They elected not to allow him to retain full freedom as it relates to his future. It shows that, in hindsight, he should have insisted on a structure that would have forced the Steelers to terminate the contract, which would have blocked them from putting him in checkmate — if he was indeed considering the possibility of joining another team during the season.
That’s reason enough for Rodgers to be upset with the situation. He didn’t play games with them in 2025. Now, they’re suddenly playing games with him.
It reinforces the possibility that the Steelers are trying to get Rodgers to be the one to choose not to continue the relationship. If the Steelers cut the cord, who knows what Rodgers will say about the Steelers the next time he dials up Pat McAfee and company?
For now, they’ve given Rodgers something he can use, if he so chooses to eventually put the Steelers on blast. He could say it wasn’t supposed to go like this. That Mike Tomlin wouldn’t have pulled something like this. That Tomlin would have given Rodgers full flexibility to do whatever he ultimately decided to do.
While it’s less potent than the grievances Rodgers was able to air about the Jets in 2025, there’s still a way that he can bemoan the fact that he never wanted the relationship with the Steelers to be about business leverage. And that, if he’d known that this is what they’d do, he would have both asked for more money in 2025 along with a structure that would have prevented them from playing CBA “gotcha” in 2026.
Steelers owner Art Rooney II said a month ago that he expected to know whether Aaron Rodgers would play in Pittsburgh this season before the draft. That didn’t happen, but Rooney still thinks he’ll know soon.
Rooney said on NFL Network that the lines of communication remain open with Rodgers, and his decision is coming soon.
“We’ve been in contact with Aaron on a regular basis,” Rooney said. “He’s been keeping us up to date on his plans. Even though I thought we’d have concluded by now, I think we will come to a conclusion here in the next few weeks.”
Rooney said the recent decision to apply an unrestricted free agent tender to Rodgers was simply a matter of protecting the Steelers’ ability to get a compensatory pick if Rodgers signs with another team — which the Steelers are not expecting.
“The main thing the tender gives us is the potential for a comp pick if Aaron would choose to go to another team. We don’t expect that, but by the same token you never know. It was just something we had an opportunity to protect if needed,” Rooney said. “Not a real big deal, but just something that if, in the unlikely event he goes somewhere else, we are eligible for a comp pick in that situation.”
The big deal for the Steelers is finding out whether or not Rodgers will be their quarterback this season. That’s something Rooney thinks he’ll know soon.
Last year, the Steelers’ offseason program meshed perfectly with the priorities of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The workouts ended with a mandatory minicamp from June 10 to June 12, allowing Rodgers to sign a contract right before the three-day session that capped the offseason process.
This year, the dates don’t land the same way.
The 2026 mandatory minicamp in Pittsburgh is scheduled for June 2-4, with four OTA sessions coming after that — on June 8 and 9 and June 11 and 12.
So if Rodgers plans to sign before the annual mandatory minicamp, he’ll then have to decide whether to show up for the final four OTA sessions.
In 2025, some believed Rodgers waited to sign until the mandatory minicamp in order to avoid questions about being on the team but not being present for voluntary OTAs. This year, if he signs before the mandatory minicamp, there will be multiple voluntary OTAs after that.
It could prompt Rodgers to wait until after the entire offseason program ends. He already knows coach Mike McCarthy’s offense, and he knows most of the players. Given the timing of the mandatory minicamp, it’s not crazy to think he’ll continue to remain out of sight, but not out of mind, until camp opens in July.
The Steelers released quarterback/wide receiver John Rhys Plumlee.
Plumlee, 25, confirmed his departure on social media.
“Thankful for my time in Pittsburgh and the Steelers organization! Can’t wait to see what’s next!” Plumlee wrote.
He signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2024 and served as the fourth quarterback during training camp while experimenting as a wide receiver, kick returner and punt returner.
The Steelers cut him out of the preseason.
He returned to the team on Oct. 29, 2025, signing with the practice squad, and signed a futures contract after the season.
Plumlee has also spent time with the Jaguars and Seahawks.
