Jerry Jones has done little to douse the fire raging around him, as the George Pickens contract situation remains in limbo. NFL analyst Kevin Clark did not hold back on his thoughts on the team owner's suspicious handling of this issue.

"George Pickens is a big personality," Clark said on the Jim Rome Show on April 2. "He's earned the right to get paid. But Jerry Jones is the only person on the planet who seems to think the cost of superstars goes down the longer you wait."

"He always does this."

The Dallas Cowboys placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on George Pickens, securing him for a one-year term while negotiations regarding a long-term possibility remain uncertain. The franchise tag is valued at $27.3 million. But that's not the right way to treat a WR who's had a career year with the team.

The leader, Seahawks star Jaxon Smith-Njigba, got a massive raise after the Super Bowl win and is now the highest-earning WR in the NFL. He will earn around $42 million per year. Pickens, who finished the season with 1,428 receiving yards, surely deserves something more than what he is priced at currently.

Jones has assured fans that they have plans for the WR, but he has yet to give them a timeline.

“Make no mistake about it, we have long-term plans in mind for Pickens," he said.

Jerry Jones also said that there have been no new contract negotiations between Dallas and Pickens, which creates more suspense around this situation. Clark wasn't wrong when he said that Jones had done this before.

George Pickens in the same pickle as CeeDee Lamb

We don't have to look beyond CeeDee Lamb when it comes to this will-he-won't-he situation at Dallas. The WR has actually been a strong advocate of keeping Pickens on the team, and he's also said his teammate deserves a higher paycheck. But Lamb also found himself on this end in 2024.

It was his fifth-year option according to his rookie deal, which he signed in 2019. It wasn't until August of that year that Dallas finalized a four-year contract for him. Meanwhile, Lamb had skipped practice sessions because he did not have a contract. Pickens is in that same spot.

The Cowboys WR is not obliged to participate in team practice before the offseason because he is not bound by a contract at the moment. And like Lamb, Pickens is also absent from offseason workouts. But he wants to be part of this team and has been training with quarterback Dak Prescott away from the facility.

Whether Jones will get the star WR to ink his name along the dotted line this year remains a mystery.

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Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Afreen Kabir