Players are often reluctant to sign a franchise tag, which is a one-year deals teams can use to effectively prevent someone on an expiring deal from reaching free agency. If a player given a non-exclusive franchise tag, for example, signs elsewhere, the team acquiring him would have to part with “draft-choice compensation equivalent to two first-round picks,” a price far too high when also accounting for the player’s contract.
In addition to capping what players could make compared to if they were on the open market, a tag also provides no long-term stability, with players an injury away from an uncertain future.
Per Over The Cap, the 2025 franchise tag number for a wide receiver is an expected $28.8 million. Last offseason, wideouts Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, D.K. Metcalf and Garrett Wilson signed contract extensions with a $33.625M average annual value (AAV). After a career year when he had 93 receptions, 1,429 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, Pickens, 25, could easily eclipse that in free agency, likely approaching Chase’s AAV ($40.25M).
Schefter notes the Cowboys intend to work out a deal to keep Pickens in the Lone Star State beyond 2026 and that the tag could be “for no other reason than to serve as a placeholder for the start of negotiations.” But after the team’s epic botching of All-Pro edge-rusher Micah Parsons’ contract talks last offseason, resulting in him being traded to the Green Bay Packers following the 2025 preseason, we shouldn’t anticipate things being normal.
When tasked with either picking the easy or hard way, Jones always picks the latter. It should be fairly simple to negotiate an extension, but the same was thought of Parsons.
Pickens has played his way into earning a lucrative, multi-year extension. The Cowboys would be wise to get a deal out of the way so it can focus on other needs, not draw out the process like with Parsons or quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb in 2024.
Jones, however, enjoys a show more than anything else. If that comes at the expense of his young star wideout, then so be it.