Cowboys Lock in Pickens on Franchise Tag

The Dallas Cowboys are locking in why receiver George Pickens to play this season on the franchise tag, worth 27.3 million.

Dollars with no plans for long-term contract talks.

Team exec Stephen Jones made that clear this week, saying it's a move they've done before, and it's common in the league.

Pickens, the 25-year-old traded from Pittsburgh last offseason, crushed it with career highs of 93 catches, 1400.

29 yards, and 9 touchdowns.

He meshed well with CV Lamb, but the Cowboys finished 7-9 with one tie, missing playoffs again thanks to a weak defense.

Fans and folks are buzzing about the business side, especially with Lamb already on a huge $136 million dollar four-year deal.

Averaging 34 million a year.

Pickens had some maturity hiccups in Pittsburgh, and even got benched once here with Lamb for missing curfew.

Jones pointed to the high cost of paying two top receivers top dollar, plus Pickens just being new to the squad after exceeding expectations.

No recent chats with Pickens himself, but owner Jerry Jones and coach Brian Schadenheimer met up with him lately.

Pickens hasn't inked the tag yet, so he's good to skit mandatory mini-camp in June with no fines, while the voluntary offseason workouts kick off.

Monday.

This sets the stage for Dallas to build around their stars, without breaking the bank right now.

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