How would long-term Pickens deal impact Cowboys?
Mike Florio, Charean Williams and Myles Simmons dive into George Pickens' contract situation with the Dallas Cowboys and question how much a long-term deal would hinder the team to acquire other quality players.
Video Transcript
It will be interesting to see if they decide to trade one of them, which one they trade.
Mm-hmm.
And I think it'll be George Pickens, but I think they would get more for CeeDee Lamb if that's the route you wanna go.
If you go back to the Amari Cooper, they had the, the two receivers in Dallas, was CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper.
Amari Cooper, as you said, was making 20 million a year, Mike, and they didn't wanna pay two receivers that much money.
But that's the year that CeeDee Lamb passed Amari Cooper, and was the better receiver, had more yards- Yep.
-but everybody was still calling Amari Cooper the number one receiver.
"He's still your number one receiver."
We're in that same situation a little bit now with They're reversed, with CeeDee Lamb now really kind of the- he was the number two receiver this year.
Right.
And, and again, I think a lot of that had to do with the injuries.
I think he's still a number one receiver.
I think he's still one of the best receivers in the NFL, but the fact is George Pickens had the better yar- year this year.
Before I drag us too far down the path, I'm doing the math here on the fly.
It looks like It looks like they deal with a $42.8 million dead cap charge if they traded him before June 1.
So I think that ends the possibility- Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
For now.
Yeah.
For now.
For now.
Next year, next year it would be 12.6 million lower to do it pre-June 1.
Okay.
And each passing year, it gets easier.
You know, they may be stubborn enough and delusional enough to think that they could tag him twice, and then trade CeeDee Lamb and sign him.
The problem is, after you tag the guy twice, there's no way to keep him from becoming a free agent, because the third tag becomes average of the five highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL cap number.
So it, it, it- Mm-hmm you, you, you can't, you can't do it, or a 44% raise over the second tag.
You just can't tag a guy three times without it being exorbitant.
But they may be thinking, "Let's kick the can here a little bit, and maybe next year we pay George Pickens and we trade CeeDee Lamb."
They may just wanna get through this year, and then make the decision between one or the other next year.
That would be That, that, from a team-centric perspective- Absolutely that's absolutely what you would wanna do.
But again, is the 28- Pickens ain't gonna go along with it.
He isn't.
He's not gonna go along with that.
Yeah, is it, is it one year, 28 million, really, for me?
you know, a- as good as I've been, as good as I just showed you I was, as essential as I was to the offense, and you wanna pay me 28 million for one year?
That's it?
Come on, no."
and, like, that's That is at least the attitude I would take if I were George Pickens' agent or George Pickens himself.
And that means then you're not gonna have him at the off-season program.
He doesn't even need to be at training camp.
I mean, you were sort of making the same point earlier- Yeah but it's He's not an employee of the team until he signs something that, you know, puts him under contract for 2026.
And so then you're kind of getting into the same situation that CeeDee Lamb was in a couple years ago, right?
Where he missed all of training camp pretty much, and then what, he signed, what, a week before the season, or, like, sometime right in, you know, that muddy waters of right before week one.
And if you miss all of that time in the off-season I know they're not going to a new offense, but it affects the start of your year, at the very least.
Affected CeeDee Lamb.
Yeah, exactly.
So that, that's where it's Yeah, of course, from a team-centric perspective, you Sure, you want that one-year, 28 million, and you kick the can down the road, but if you're George Pickens, you gotta be the pebble in the shoe that says, "I That, that's, that, that's not comfortable.
That's not comfortable for me."
The cap number is an issue, too, because if they tag him and he takes it, he counts for 28 million- Mm-hmm in cash and cap space.
Yes.
They're going to have to restructure Dak's deal and CeeDee Lamb's deal.
Dak currently has a cap number of 74 million, and his salary's 40.
And it's very easy, you reduce the salary to the minimum, you take the balance, you spread it over five total years.
but still, they, they're, they're gonna have a, a hell of a reckoning with Dak at some point.
And with The same thing with CeeDee Lamb.
This is the problem with having one of these market-level deals.
You keep pushing the cap numbers into future years, at some point, all that money's gonna hit.
They got 38 million under CeeDee Lamb this year, with a $25 million salary, so they can do the same thing.
They And they have the term in there that allows them to automatically restructure.
They'll do it, but the How many players like that can you have, where you've got this massive contract- Mm-hmm that you're constantly- Right restructuring, and you're constantly putting cap dollars into future years?
How many sup That, and really, that's the core question.
On your entire team, how many superstar contracts can you afford to truly have?
Mm-hmm.
You wanna have some superstars who are under the rookie contracts that, "Hey, sorry we can't give you a new deal until after your third year."
When you get to veteran deals that are market value, you really are tying your, your hands behind your back, or at least one hand behind your back, to try to put a roster together.
If you've got three on offense, whatever three- Yes pick three.
Yes.
Offensive lineman, quarterback, tight end.
Offensive lineman, running back, receiver, whatever it is, but you're getting three of 11 that you're paying that kind of money to, it becomes hard to operate the rest of your team.
And guess what?
Tyler Smith's gonna want money, and he, and he deserves money.
He's played like it.
He deserves to be, be paid more money, so that's coming, too, on the Cowboys' offense.
So yeah, and, and the problem- their problems are on defense.
And the most effective way to improve and address that problem is to draft and develop, because the young players are cheap.
Mm-hmm.
And you can get a lot of them.
You can get seven of them a year, more if you play your cards right and do some trades, and they do have extras from the trades they've done, but that's gonna be the key.
That I, I think that's the one kind of hidden point in all of this.
As they try to figure out what they're gonna do with George Pickens, it puts a major emphasis on getting their draft picks right- Oh, yeah.
Yeah and finding guys who can play- especially on the defensive side of the ball- Yes -quickly, and who can make a difference quickly.
Because that's gonna be what they're relying upon as they make their way through this salary cap minefield with Dak, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens.
And they've got no s- second day picks, by the way.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, unless they use one of the And at, at this point, right?
And they could use one of those first round picks, trade back, and pick up some more, in theory at least, and, you know, get at least more shots at the dartboard.
But it always is this interesting roster construction question, right?
Once you get to a certain point with your quarterback, which the, you know, the Texans are gonna come up to it, right?
With, with C.J.
Stroud.
We'll see what the Panthers do, with Bryce Young.
But it's always this, "Okay, now that the quarterback is in line to get paid, how do we then construct the rest of the team around him?"
It's one of the things, at least, that, that has been impressive to me about the Chiefs' run, right?
They paid Patrick Mahomes, and they continue to pay Patrick Mahomes, and they give him more cash, and they have the structure of, of the deal that they can rework all the time.
But they've still been able to put a competitive team, for the most part, around Mahomes, right?
And they, until this year, had always reached overtime of the AFC Championship game.
It's kind of the same now.
You're, you're looking at what the Bills are doing with Josh Allen, right?
What do the Ravens do with Lamar Jackson, is they You have to be able to field a competitive team around these guys, and that really does put the emphasis on, are you drafting and developing good players?
'Cause if you don't, then that's when you hit that wall, and you can't break through that wall if you don't have the kinds of players around the, the quarterback, around the franchise QB, that will then elevate the team and the rest of the way that it needs to be in order to make it to the Super Bowl.
I mean, it's What's interesting about re- the Patriots this year, you know, they've got Drake May.
They now know that they have a young quarterback that they really and truly can build around.
And that's why this year, and it's not necessarily that great of a free agent class, that's where you go for it.
Because you've got this year, cost control.
Next year, he's eligible for a deal.
And if you are a potential MVP quarterback, there's no way you should be playing without a new deal in year four, in my opinion.
Here's the wrinkle that the Cowboys are also going to have to deal with: their propensity to go straight to the player.
Yes.
Are they gonna play that game?
They played that game with Javonte Williams, I'm told, per sources.
Okay.
And we know they like to do that.
Yeah.
We know Jerry likes to go throw his arm around- Yeah the player and say how great it is to be a Dallas Cowboy, and how you can make all this extra money 'cause you got the star on your helmet, and "Well, don't you wanna be part of something great?
And, you know, we can't pay everybody, and we really love you, and we really want you here."
And, you know, they cut out David Mualuga the last time around.
Jerry Jones openly disrespected him.
Mm-hmm.
Didn't know, didn't know his name, didn't know who he was.
Mualega- Said he didn't know his name.
S- yeah, right.
Yes.
But, but said it out I mean- Yes said it out loud- Yeah and disrespected him openly.
Yes.
And David Mualega did not take the bait, and David Mualega ultimately won.
That, that's the thing.
This goes both ways.
Are there bad feelings from Mualega toward Jerry?
And is there resentment from Jerry toward Mualega because, "The last time we squared off, I lost"- Mm-hmm "This time around, I have to win"?
And will that make them even more determined to drive a hard bargain, to hold George Pickens' feet to the fire?
If he says, "I'm not gonna show up for 28.
I, I wanna be traded," "We're not gonna trade you.
You're under contract to us."
And if they I mean, they can hold his rights indefinitely.
I think that this is the Le'Veon Bell thing.
I think that, in theory, like, there's a, there's w- a point where you can sit out the whole year, like Bell did in 2018, and become a free agent and not be tagged the next year.
But I, I just wonder if they'll take a hard line and not give in at any point because of the perception that they gave in and lost on Micah Parsons.
Well, here's the thing: Jerry thinks he won.
We all know he lost.
But Jerry thinks he won.
Well, he says he did, but does he really- Well- Does he really I mean, he can bullshit everybody else.
No, I think he does.
Can he bullshit himself?
No, I really think he does.
I think they He feels like they got Quinnen Williams out of this, that they're gonna get another great defensive player out of this.
Probably an edge rusher's gonna come in and be as good as Micah Parsons.
I think he truly believes he won this trade.
I, I, I believe that in his heart he believes he won this trade.
And then what constitutes winning with George Pickens, right?
Is it then getting him to sign the long-term deal?
Is it getting him to play on the franchise tender?
I, I don't necessarily know.
I mean, ostensibly, winning would be, "Hey, we, we've got this guy, and he's still playing for our team," and- And he's happy, and he's productive, and he's motivated- Yeah and he's here.
Exactly.
Yes, yes, yes- Yeah all of those things, which is what I was gonna say if you hadn't just interrupted me.
Sorry.
Sorry.
But that's okay.
Sorry.
But, but that's, but that, that's what it has to be, you know?
A- and I don't know that What, what else would constitute winning other than those things?
All right, what do we think is gonna happen?
I, we're, we're, we're We've got three different possibilities.
Okay.
Signs a franchise tender, signs a multi-year deal, becomes the highest paid receiver.
Let's not go through each one with our scale of one to 10.
Just tell me, what do you think's gonna happen of those three options?
I think that he ends up playing on the franchise tender.
Ooh.
They'll, they'll have to add some money to it, some incentives, something to get him to come in.
I think they'll do that.
I think he'll play this season on the franchise tender, and I think he will go somewhere else w- next year, whether it's a trade somewhere else or whether he hits free agency and goes somewhere else.
But I think he'll play for the Cowboys this season.
Yeah, I, I think he'll play for the Cowboys, too.
I don't think he'll sign a multi-year deal, and I don't think he will become the highest paid receiver.
I, I don't necessarily see that for him.
But I, I do think that he will play on a deal that's somewhere in between, let's say, 32 and 37 million.
That would make a lot of sense to me.
I'm gonna make a wild guess here and say that he signs a short-term deal.
Mm-hmm.
Let's say a two-year deal that pays him 35 a year- Yeah and may or may not have the franchise tag on the back end, that that's the end result of this.
That's my wild-ass guess- that that's what's gonna happen.
that, that seems like a good guess.
That would be good for the Cowboys.
Yeah.
I, I, that, that would be a good compromise, right?
Nobody's getting everything they want, but everybody's getting something.
Yeah.
So that does strike me as a solid compromise, yeah.
And I say two-year deal because they're gonna wanna figure out a way to push the cap numbers into future years- Mm-hmm and there may be some voidable years on the back end so they can spread it out.
It's harder to do that with a one-year deal, although I think it's doable.
There's all sorts You know, every year we go through this, "Oh, this team, oh, they have a cap issue.
What are they gonna do?"
And they always figure it out.
Yeah, they really do.
There's so many tricks and devices under the salary cap to figure out your, your situation and to, to find a way out of that maze, and I think that they will do that if it comes to it.
The harder problem is making George Pickens happy, making him motivated.
I think that's the key.
He has to be motivated.
Mm-hmm.
And you can't run the risk of tagging the guy, and having him pissed off, and stay away from everything, and then when he shows up, he's just lollygagging and just- Then he's not engaged collecting his money- Yeah and he's not engaged.
It hurts him, but it hurts you, too.
Yes, it does.
All right.
