OXNARD, Calif. — George Pickens is the only player in the NFL playing this season on a franchise tag, and Dak Prescott said Thursday that none of it has changed how the Dallas Cowboys receiver has practiced.
Prescott was asked whether Pickens has surprised him during camp.
“I can’t say it surprised me, just because that’s what I’ve expected out of him from the moment he’s been here, what he’s shown us,” Prescott said. “Going into training camp playing on the tag, the guy wants to play football and he wants to be around his teammates. And I think you just get a vision of that every day and what that looks like when he gets onto the field.”
Prescott said the next step is not about Pickens’ production.
“He’s able to just fully be George and bring the energy, make the catches, make the plays,” Prescott explained. “Obviously what he brings to this offense was showed last year, and so now it’s about taking another step, and not only for him and his game, but how we’re going to use him, how we’re going to use him as decoys, how other people are going to complement, how him and CeeDee go hand in hand. You’ve got to set your game plan up for both of them.”
Prescott said Pickens has done everything the Cowboys have asked and has put himself in a good position leaving Oxnard.
The Tag And What Comes After
Dallas placed the franchise tag on Pickens in February. He signed the one-year, $27.3 million fully guaranteed tender on April 29.
Stephen Jones said before the draft that there would be no negotiations on a long-term deal. The July 15 deadline for tagged players to sign multiyear contracts passed without one. Three other players received the tag this year and all three agreed to extensions before that date.
Pickens skipped the voluntary portion of the offseason program and reported for mandatory minicamp in June. He said then that football comes first and that his agent would handle the contract.
Pickens is the first Cowboys player tagged since Tony Pollard in 2023. Dallas has not signed a first-time tagged player to an extension since Dez Bryant in 2015.
He turns 26 in March and can reach unrestricted free agency in 2027.
A Career Year In His First Season With Dallas
Pittsburgh drafted Pickens in the second round, 52nd overall, in 2022 out of Georgia. The Steelers traded him to Dallas before the 2025 season along with a 2027 sixth-round pick, in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder.
Pickens caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and 9 touchdowns in his first Dallas season, career highs in all three. He made his first Pro Bowl and was named second-team All-Pro. He was also the offensive MVP of the Pro Bowl on Feb. 3.
His career totals stand at 267 receptions, 4,270 yards, and 21 touchdowns.
CeeDee Lamb is on the other side. Ryan Flournoy and KaVontae Turpin hold the next two spots, and Jonathan Mingo, Anthony Smith, Camden Brown, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling are competing behind them.
What Comes Next
Prescott has not appeared in a preseason game since 2019 and will not play Saturday. Brian Schottenheimer said Aug. 3 that Dallas plans to sit most of its starters across all three exhibitions, which means Pickens is unlikely to play either.
Thursday was the Cowboys’ last practice in Oxnard. Dallas plays at the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday and holds open practices at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco on Aug. 25 and Aug. 26.
The preseason ends against the New Orleans Saints at AT&T Stadium on Friday, Aug. 28, at 7 p.m. CT. Dallas opens the regular season Sept. 13 at the New York Giants.
