The Cowboys leadership addressed the media on Tuesday as training camp gets underway in Oxnard this week.

One of the main topics of conversation was the status of wide receiver George Pickens.

The Cowboys are no strangers to taking star players into camp on expiring deals. It’s become commonplace over the last few seasons. Whether that be Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, or Micah Parsons.

“They’re two completely different situations and people,” Dallas Cowboys Owner and President Jerry Jones said. “The process gave us an opportunity to make a lot of decisions last year. A lot of people disagreed with some of the decisions that we made…we’re gonna hopefully see the positives of those decisions this year.”

However, it’s different with Pickens.

With Dallas placing the franchise tag on him this past offseason, the July 15 deadline has come and gone to negotiate an extension. That means Pickens will have to play this year on the franchise tag.

“He’s a valued part of our aspiration and our potential success; this can be a win-win thing that we do here,” Jones said.

Pickens evidently has no problem with that reality, and is ready to contribute to another big year.

He finished third in the NFL last season with 1,429 receiving yards in his first year as a Cowboy as well as top 10 in both catches and receiving touchdowns.

The Cowboys would also have the option to franchise tag Pickens next offseason, though it would come with an even heftier price tag for doing so a second time.

Pickens is expected to join the rest of his teammates for the first practice of training camp on Wednesday. Notably, CeeDee Lamb did not join the team for the start of training camp in 2025 when he was looking for an extension. Last summer, Micah Parsons mostly worked out off to the side and sat out the majority of team drills throughout the first week of camp before being traded.