The Steelers all but gave away George Pickens in the 2025 offseason, trading him to the Cowboys for a third-round pick. The wide receiver set new career highs with 93 catches for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns and made his first Pro Bowl.
CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys’ No. 1 wideout, had 75 receptions for 1,077 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games last season.
The Cowboys have both back for this season, but with Pickens playing 2026 under the one-year, $27.3 million franchise tag, the team will have a decision to make in 2027. Do the Cowboys try to keep both? If they keep only one, which one?
The Cowboys have $94 million a year currently committed to Dak Prescott and Lamb. If Pickens has another season like last season, he will want to be paid at the top or near the top of the wide receiver market, which is led by Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s $42.150 million per season.
Executive vice president Stephen Jones noted that the Cowboys will pay defensive tackle Quinnen Williams but said he believes they can find a way to keep Lamb and Pickens.
“Yeah, just you got to tell me the rest [of our spending], too,” Jones told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports. “At some point, you’ve got to figure that out. But no, I think it’s realistic.”
In 2021, Lamb’s second season, he passed Amari Cooper as the team’s No. 1 wide receiver. The Cowboys shipped Cooper to the Browns for a fifth-round pick and spent the next four years looking for a No. 2 wide receiver until they acquired Pickens.
Dallas had three different wideouts (Noah Brown, Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert) as their second-leading wideout behind Lamb in the three seasons from 2022-24.
The Cowboys’ 4,527 passing yards in 2025 ranked second only to the Rams and, with all 11 starters back, prompted Prescott this offseason to name the team’s offense the Greatest Offense There Is (GOTI). Few teams have the duo that the Cowboys have in Lamb and Pickens.
“I’d say the two of them did pretty damn good,” Jones told Epstein. “Would you take that again? Hell, yeah, you would. But can they be better? I think they can. And the good news is it’s not like we’re naked without them.”
Lamb already is campaigning the Cowboys to find a way to keep Pickens, knowing it makes his job easier.
“I’m sure we can make a way,” Lamb told Epstein. “I know it’s going to be a little crazy, but I know we can make a way for this one. Listen, this is my advocation: '@ Jerry, can you please figure out a way? Let’s figure it out. I don’t care what needs to happen.’
“‘Let’s figure it out and it’s going to get you a couple more championships.’”
