Tuesday will be a big day for George Pickens and the Dallas Cowboys: Everything you need to know about the franchise tag
The George Pickens is about to heat up ahead of negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys.
The George Pickens saga is about to heat up, with this week marking the extraofficial kickoff for negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys.
Below is everything you need to know about the franchise tag and Tuesday’s importance for Pickens and the Cowboys ahead of what could turn out to be months of negotiations.
Tuesday kicks off franchise tag season
Beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday Feb. 17, NFL teams are permitted to use the franchise tag or transition tag on players. For the Cowboys, that is expected to be Pickens.
It’s a two-week window for the Cowboys to use the tag, ending on March 3 at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Even if tagged, the Cowboys are still allowed to negotiate a long-term deal with Pickens. However, they have up until July 15 to strike an extension. After that point, tagged players across the league can only negotiate a one-year deal.
How much will tagging Pickens cost?
Franchise tag values vary position to position. This year, the wide receiver tag is projected to cost $28.82 million, per Over the Cap.
Franchise tags are calculated by the average top five salaries at each position. Since the calculation takes place at the “culmination of the restricted free agent signing period of the current league year,” the Cowboys won’t know the official number until April 22.
What exactly is the franchise tag?
- The franchise tag is a designation outlined in the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that enables teams to keep a player from becoming an unrestricted free agent.
- The franchise designation features a one-year contract with fully guaranteed salary based on the top salaries around the league and other factors such as salary cap.
- There are two types of franchise tags: non-exclusive and exclusive.
- The non-exclusive tag allows players to negotiate with other teams but the tagging team holds the right of first refusal, and is allowed to match another team’s offer. If it doesn’t, it receives two first-round picks in return from the signing team.
- For Pickens’ purposes, the Cowboys are expected to use the exclusive franchise tag.
The next step for Pickens, Cowboys
Though this week is big due to the franchise tag window opening, next one may be bigger.
The NFL Scouting Combine starts Feb. 23 and Pickens’ agent David Mulugheta is known to negotiate throughout the event in Indianapolis. Assuming the Cowboys are willing to talk to him—unlike last year throughout the Micah Parsons negotiations—negotiations will start then.
So far, reports indicate the Cowboys are planning on tagging Pickens and are open to trading him. However, Jerry Jones has publicly praised Pickens and it’s fair to expect a legit effort to keep him around. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb have been vocal about wanting the front office to re-sign him, as well.
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