football

Why the Cowboys aren't giving George Pickens a long-term contract extension

Yahoo Sports

There's still work to be done in Dallas.

Why the Cowboys aren't giving George Pickens a long-term contract extension originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Dallas Cowboys knew that when they traded for George Pickens last offseason from the Pittsburgh Steelers , he had just a single year remaining on his contract.

That was always going to make decision time arrive quickly. Franchise tag, contract extension or let him walk? Those were looming from the moment Pickens arrived.

In the end, it appears this offseason the Cowboys have arrived at keeping Pickens on the franchise tag but not necessarily getting a long-term contract done with him. If that's how it holds up, then it will just push the decision along to next offseason. MORE: Shilo Sanders under fire for telling female reporter to 'make a sandwich' Why aren't Cowboys signing George Pickens to a long-term contract?

There are a couple layers here. One is that CeeDee Lamb is already one of the NFL's highest-paid wide receivers. "Carrying two of the highest-paid receivers in the league would be a salary cap challenge," ESPN's Dan Graziano wrote in a new article on Tuesday.