Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens is the No. 1 player on PFT's list of this year's top free agents, but he won't be hitting the open market next month.
The expectation has been that the Cowboys will use their franchise tag on Pickens and executive vice president Stephen Jones said on Monday, via Judy Battista of NFL Media, that the move will be finalized at some point in the next week.
“We think the world of him. We want him here," Jones said.
The tag will keep Pickens from leaving the team as a free agent and will extend the window for the two sides to work out a long-term deal into July. Jones did not offer a timetable for getting such a deal done and he said, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, that he does not know if Pickens will attend offseason workouts if he's set to play under the tag.
“We always want guys here,” Jones said. “We’ve franchised players before, obviously we want him here working with the team. It will work itself out in the coming weeks.”
The franchise tag for wide receivers will carry a fully guaranteed 2026 salary and cap hit of over $28 million. A long-term deal would cut the cap number down, but it remains to be seen if the two sides will be able to work one out.