Cowboys unsure of George Pickens holdout but ‘have plans’ for his future in Dallas
The start of the Dallas Cowboys’ voluntary offseason program begins in less than a month on April 20, and the big question surrounding that day is whether wide receiver George Pickens will be in attendance or not.
Instead of extending the team’s leading receiver from 2025 this offseason, the Cowboys have instead elected to place the franchise tag on his services. As has been indicated by previous situations both in the league and in Dallas, Pickens could decide to hold out until a long-term deal is in place. The two sides have until July 15 to work that out.
Speaking at the NFL Annual League Meeting on Monday morning, head coach Brian Schottenheimer said that he’s been in contact with Pickens this offseason but that he hasn’t pressured him on his impending attendance or absence in the facility.
“I’ve had conversations with George,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s doing great. He and [wide receiver CeeDee Lamb] have been taking a lot of trips together, so when I text him now I kind of text them both. I was at a wedding the other day ... and I texted them both, and it was great just to catch up with those guys.
“Hey look, GP loves it here. We love GP. We have plans for GP to be here for a long time, so we’ll let the business side of this thing play out and see where it goes.”
Pickens has spent time away from the facility this offseason training with Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott, something that Schottenheimer sees a lot of value in whether he shows up to the facility or not.
“He’s working and throwing with Dak and some of the other guys,” he said. “That to me is more important than anything because you have to come up with that me-to-you factor. Dak’s thrown to CeeDee for however many years. So, those two guys working together, I think, is going to be huge moving into year two.”
When asked if Pickens has given him any assurances that he will be present, Schottenheimer said there’s still time to let it play out.
“No, and I haven’t pushed that on him,” Schottenheimer said. “I mean, again, we’re all going through the process. It’s almost April. We’re still a couple weeks away. It’s going to play out the way it plays out. Again, it’s all voluntary. We’ll see where it goes.”
When asked about the Pickens situation on Monday, executive vice president Stephen Jones opted not to comment.
Moving into an expected year two with Pickens in the offense, Schottenheimer and his staff, headed by offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, have already begun experimenting with ways they can maximize Pickens alongside Lamb even more than they did in 2025. The duo combined for 168 receptions for 2,506 yards and 12 touchdowns in their first season as teammates, with the yardage total coming second in the league by a duo (Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams combined for 2,518 yards for the Detroit Lions).
“What I learned about [Pickens] was he likes to be moved around,” Schottenheimer said. “And we kind of learned that when CeeDee was out, quite honestly, because CeeDee’s been the guy we’ve moved around. When we had that stretch where he went crazy, we were moving him around. So, he’s excited about that. He’s looking forward to that.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 12:46 PM.
