Is Franchise Tagging Their Breakout Deep Threat the Smart Move for the Cowboys?
With the excitement building this weekend in anticipation of the Super Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys always manage to stay relevant in the conversation. The Dallas Cowboys are expected to place the franchise tag on George Pickens a month before free agency, not letting him hit the open market this season. Pickens, 23, entering his fifth season in the NFL, had his best season to date, earning him a Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro selection. As the Dallas Cowboys look to bounce back after a disappointing season, the major area of focus is to find a way to retain Pickens and keep him in Dallas for the foreseeable future. However, is placing the franchise tag on Pickens the smart move?
Pickens, after having the best season of his career, has now become a premier receiver in the NFL, and with several teams in need of a receiver, he is the number one option in free agency at the position. For the Cowboys to try their best and retain Pickens, the two options are to try to sign him before he hits the open market or place the franchise tag on him, which they are likely to do. The issue for the Cowboys in resigning Pickens lies in the amount of money he could receive and the agent they are dealing with. An ideal scenario for Dallas is to sign Pickens on a deal similar to Tee Higgins, letting them be able to get out of the contract in two years. Despite signing that contract for the Bengals, Higgins had to leave his agent, David Mulugheta, who is Pickens' agent, and with whom the Cowboys have a history after the Micah Parsons saga. Mulugheta strives to get the best for his players, and with Pickens expected to receive a vast amount of money, the Cowboys are in for another long contract dispute. The Cowboys have the financial resources to re-sign him this season, as Jerry Jones has indicated. However, using the franchise tag provides the Cowboys with flexibility for another season, even though this strategy may not be the most prudent in terms of salary cap management.
The Cowboys have a history of tagging players whenever they are unsure about signing them to a lucrative deal. Quarterback Dak Prescott was tagged back in 2020 before signing him in the following offseason. The same goes for former Cowboy DeMarcus Lawrence, who was the first Cowboy to be franchise tagged twice in a row in 2018-2019, also becoming the first player in NFL history in the process. The rationale behind this approach is that the front office seeks to observe high-level production for an additional season before feeling fully confident in resigning a player. Contract extensions for the Cowboys in the 20s have been headlines for just about any star player; names like CeeDee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliott, and Parsons have all had contract disputes that lingered in the media and became heard around the NFL world. In the Pickens case and the Cowboys case, both parties want an extension to happen; he loves it in Dallas, and the Cowboys love him there, too. Placing the tag on him might not be the best financially, as it’s been shown in the past with other players, but it’s simply a way the Cowboys conduct business.
