← Locked On Cowboys - Daily Podcast On The Dallas Cowboys
Locked On Cowboys - Daily Podcast On The Dallas Cowboys
DECISION TIME: Will the Dallas Cowboys LOCK IN George Pickens With New Deal Or Will TRADE Happen?
00:14:24
The Dallas Cowboys face a franchise-defining decision as George Pickens’ future hangs in the balance—can they afford to let their All-Pro wide receiver walk? With debate swirling around contract negotiations and the prospect of using the franchise or transition tag, Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool examine all the possible scenarios for retaining Pickens and how each move impacts the Cowboys’ championship window.
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Matt Derry
Foreign.
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Marcus Moser
The Dallas Cowboys have a big decision to make with George Pickens will tell you all of the different paths forward next.
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Tyler Rowland
You are Locked On Cowboys your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked.
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Marcus Moser
On podcast network your team every day. Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. I am your host Marcus Moser. He is Lena McCool. We like thank you for making us your first listen every single day. And on today's show we're talking about George Pickens, the Cowboys all pro wide receiver who the team needs to make a big decision on over the next couple days. They have the franchise tag available but before we even get to those options, Landon, what should the Cowboys do here because we've heard some more rumblings that maybe they should trade him. You, you're hearing national people say you can't pay two receivers 30 plus million a year. What should be the final outcome here?
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Landon McCool
Well let's start with that last part first. If first of all you totally can pay two receivers $30 million, I don't think that that's like that's what in question here necessarily. What, what, what should they do? I think for me it's, you know, it's pretty clear like I think that they should sign him to a long term deal if they're, if they're capable of or, or at the very least hold on to him for this season. Because I think you know, for the Cowboys they're in a situation where they're in a window. Right. And Pickens is part of what puts them in that window at this point. It makes their offense good enough to be in the conversation. And if you get rid of Pickens with the idea of, like what, like, improving your defense, like, to what end at that point. Right. Like now you've kind of thrown the balance off of it. You spun yourself out of probably getting to a chance of getting to, you know, being one of the elite teams in the nfc, which is going to be really tough next year. I. I think you have to kind of keep Pickens because offense has become a signature calling card. You're in a window with a quarterback who can leverage that offense. Well. I think you just have to find a way to use the picks you have and the resources you have to go the defense. And that means that you need to figure out this picking situation sooner than later.
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Marcus Moser
Yeah. And having George Pickens allows your defense some wiggle room. Right. Like, you don't need necessarily a top 10 defense in order to win games. We saw that last year. Even as bad as their defense was, they were still competitive against good teams because their offense was that good. I think. I think the Cowboys do need to structure a deal in a way that makes sense so that they can have some, you know, financial flexibility to build a good defense. But letting a premium asset leave who is a great fit in your offense, who's only 24, that's just not great business. Now, I think they can be creative in the ways they get this next deal done, but I think ultimately it's best for Pickens and for the team to find a way to keep him in Dallas.
- [04:28]
Landon McCool
Yeah, I just think we talked about it over and over again. They've had things lined up for this. This. This season being kind of a target season to, To. To make a run and, and again, push, you know, trading Pickens kinds of changes that window again and pushes things out again. With an aging quarterback, you just don't have time for that right now. So you. You need to kind of go all in on the next few seasons and, and getting Pickens for some picks is not a move that you're doing if you're trying to win right away.
- [04:58]
Marcus Moser
All right, so let's talk about all of the different options the Cowboys have with George Pickens, because they actually have more than you think, and they actually have more leverage against David Mulagueda than they had this time last year with an All Pro player. We'll get to that next.
- [05:15]
Matt Derry
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- [06:27]
Marcus Moser
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Landon McCool
Well, obviously you know the franchise tag is just basically what's been kind of hinted at. Right. And I think it makes some sense and, and tagging at some point and I think that is the most likely outcome and it makes the most sense. It, it maybe really is a discussion about which tag to use and I think you can kind of walk us through this. But let me just talk about the tag in general. Right. It's, it's not necessarily to create a contentious situation. It's in order to just secure the services as they start negotiation. And I think that that can be augmented potentially by the way. And which in which tag specifically they use. Can you walk us through kind of which tags and what are the different rules?
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Marcus Moser
The most common that everybody knows is the non exclusive franchise tag that would pay George Pickens 28 million this year. That would be that he is, he's actually a free agent. He can negotiate with other teams but if he were to sign a long term deal with another teams, another team they would have to pay two first round picks which is not happening. No team is giving up two first round picks now that couldn't be negotiated. Very rarely does that happen. The other tag that's out there is the transition tag and I believe that would pay Pickens $25 million fully guaranteed. So it's $3 million less. The difference is for that one is he is a free agent, he's will, he can talk to any team, any team can make him an offer. And if he signs a deal, the Cowboys have right of first refusal which means they can match any deal that comes up. The good thing with that is it helps maybe set a market and if Jerry Jones and David M. Getter are way off on their, you know, their, their numbers, you let it hit the market, you see what the market sets for him and, and then if you think it's too much, you let them leave. You get a comp pick and if it's a deal that you want to match, you match it and great, we've got a deal done. We don't have to go through all this summer nonsense. So those are the two tags but I'm expecting it to be the non exclusive franchise tag.
- [11:37]
Landon McCool
Yeah, because I, I think honestly like the issue here is not necessarily that you know, there's a malcontent situation, I mean that obviously could always develop. I think the problem is that there is just really a truly lack of understanding on what Pickens market is. Right. I, I think you know, he's obviously a top end wide receiver. One, he was in the Pro bowl, he was second team all pro if I'm not mistaken. So you know there's obviously he had an incredible year and he's a valuable player but there's also a lot of teams that are just absolutely not interested. That changes his value. He still is, is only a year removed from being traded for, for a third round pick. And I think that are some teams that are going to be really careful here. So I, I don't think it's quite the same situation as it is with Micah right. Where you automatically knew that this guy was going to get 45 plus million dollars from whoever was gonna have the opportunity, any team would have done it. I don't think that's the case necessarily with Pickens. Even though he plays a position that's in high demand because of, of, of some off field stuff or not necessarily off field stuff at all on field stuff that has happened with Pittsburgh and previous teams. The reason that he was available last year for a Third round pick and not commanding multiple first round picks like we're talking about with some of these tags. So, yeah, I think that that's, that gives you an opportunity to let the team, the other kind of teams work in your favor to help you negotiate the situation and, you know, prevents you from getting into maybe a contentious situation where you're having to argue about your value. Because I do think that's the thing, thing the Cowboys have more leverage here than they did with Micah Parsons. But the, the kind of uncertainty of, of Pickens market, that's where there may be more friction. Right. Is, is, is because it's not just about the leverage. It's about the fact that there's uncertainty about what Pickens is worth in the open market and you don't want to risk it. Actually let him go in the open market.
- [13:36]
Marcus Moser
Couple things on the transition tag, Pickens would have to sign a deal that he would be willing to play on with the team, and that's that. That's the tricky part. If you're George Pickens and you sign a deal for 34 million with the Titans, maybe that's not a great team fit for you, but that's kind of the risk if Dallas doesn't match it. Okay, now you're stuck with the prime of your career in Tennessee. The other part of this, and you mentioned it, is that Pickens was available last year to any team in the NFL for a day to pick. That's, that's all his were asking for before the draft. Nobody had any interest. And that was him having one year of, I think it was $1.1 million on his contract. Nobody was interested. The only reason the Cowboys were interested is because Tel McMillan didn't fall to them at pick number 12 and they didn't draft the receiver. So they had no other choice but to go out and get Pickens. Pickens had a fantastic year, but I don't think there's going to be teams lining up to pay him 33, 34 million dollars a year for the next four or five years without having him in their building for at least a couple seasons. You might get one or two teams and they might not be ideal destinations for Pickens. And that's why I ultimately think this does get done. And Pickens is on the Cowboys for an extended period of time here in the next couple weeks.
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Landon McCool
Absolutely agree. It's a complicated market, but the Cowboys have to find a way to take advantage of it.
- [15:01]
Marcus Moser
All right, that is it for today's show. We'd like to thank you for making Lockdown Cowboys your first listen every single day. If you never miss an episode, the the Everyday club is built for you. Get locked on Cowboys ad free members only discord access and more. Head over to Lockon Cowboys Supercast to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24.7national NBA YouTube channel and on audio, make your second listen the locked on NFL Draft podcast. Follow Landon on Twitter @McCool BCB. I'm @Marcus Moser. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.
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Marcus Moser
Oh joy. Another day another buzz delayed.
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Landon McCool
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