George Pickens “wouldn’t mind” staying with Cowboys long term – Charean Williams, PFT
Pickens is flourishing in Dallas, but his future with the franchise is up in the air.
Pickens, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March, has seen the price of his next contract rise. He is expected to get more than $30 million per season.
The Cowboys may or may not be able to afford to keep him.
The franchise tag is expected to be $23.958 million for 2026, and Pickens likely would not want to play on the tag.
Pickens has found his home for this season, but his future is uncertain.
“I wouldn’t mind [staying in Dallas],” Pickens said Wednesday, via Tommy Yarrish of the team website. “The guys in the locker room are super cool; the energy’s great. But like I said, I always want to showcase my talents.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones generally likes to kick the can down the road, so to speak, and isn’t likely to have any contract discussions until after the season.
“We’ll weigh that,” Jones said Tuesday when asked about extending Pickens. “We knew full well that if things really went like we want them to go, that certainly we need to think about having some room available if we’re going to pay a second receiver at that level.”
CeeDee Lamb among trio of Cowboys starters who could return to lineup vs. Commanders – Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News
This would be a huge boost with the injury woes the Cowboys have had lately.
FRISCO — Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked Wednesday what he needs to see from recovering receiver CeeDee Lamb to know he’s okay to play: “Yeah, if he’s breathing, I’d feel pretty good,” Schottenheimer said.
The Cowboys’ No. 1 receiver was one of 10 players listed as limited in Wednesday’s practice from The Star, leading to a possible return. Lamb missed the last three games with a sprained ankle, suffered in Week 3 at Chicago.
Also, returner/receiver KaVontae Turpin was limited with a sprained foot. Turpin is on target to play Sunday against Washington after missing the previous two games.
Rookie right guard Tyler Booker missed the last three games with a sprained ankle. Booker got some limited work in practice as well.
Kenny Clark, Cowboys refocus on details: ‘We can’t go all year playing defense like this’ – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The defense in Dallas has to improve for the team to have any chance at a successful season.
“Anytime somebody’s running the ball like that, it’s definitely frustrating,” [Kenny] Clark said. “We’re all competitors and want to put our best foot out there. So anytime something like that happens, it’s frustrating.”
The veteran Clark, who was acquired from the Green Bay Packers in the Micah Parsons trade, said he’s been a part of some poor defensive showing against the run, but not a unit that’s been giving up yards like this.
Last year was the first time that Clark played in a 4-3 front under new Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley. Matt Eberflus is deploying the same base look now in Dallas, who is working with their third defensive coordinator in as many years. Does that make it a difficult scheme to understand?
“No, it’s a four-down front, attack front,” Clark said. “Everybody pretty much, in a four-three defense, everybody’s got one gap to fill.”
That was part of the teaching point and message that Eberflus relayed to his team on Monday when they met to break down the Panthers game.
“Just the details of the defense,” Clark said of what Eberflus’ message was to his unit. “We went through everything. Holding each other accountable and focusing on the details of what we need to do. Everybody’s just looking in the mirror and figuring that stuff out.”
So, with most of the defensive personnel having been around since minicamp in the offseason to now six weeks into the regular season, why are some of the details still not down for the Cowboys?
“Honestly, I’m not sure. That’s a good question. That’s the biggest question of them all,” Clark said. “It’s just us holding each other accountable and just getting to the bottom of that. We can’t go all year playing defense like this, especially with how our offense is playing. If we can match that, we’re going to be a really tough team to beat.”
What Jerry Jones said: Supporting Matt Eberflus, playoff hopes still and trade talks – Jon Machota, The Athletic
The boss in Big D covered several topics this week with the media.
Sitting at 2-3-1 and the toughest part of their schedule still ahead, the Cowboys are unlikely to make the playoffs. It’s not surprising that Jones is choosing to be optimistic about those possibilities, even though only three NFC teams have a worse record. Watching the Washington Commanders, who Dallas will face Sunday, lose Monday night to the Bears, provided Jones with some hope.
“It just reminded me that we are still in it,” he said. “It was eerily similar to how we got beat (at Carolina). … I see so much parity (in the NFL), and then you factor in that these teams get compromised with injury. We can and may (have those issues, too), but if we should have some good go of it here over the weeks ahead with our injury situation, returning (players), and we can get some wins … I’m encouraged. The last thing that I’m thinking about is in any way being out of the (playoff) hunt.”
He’s also not closing the door on potentially improving the roster. The NFL trade deadline is in three weeks. The defense could use significant help, probably something equivalent to the Amari Cooper trade the Cowboys made in late October of the 2018 season. They sent a first round pick to the Raiders for Cooper. Dallas has the salary-cap space — second most in the NFL at $31 million, according to Over The Cap — and the draft picks from the Parsons trade.
But nothing sounds imminent. For that type of blockbuster move to happen, it will probably take another team making the first call.
“If there is a trade to help the defense, we’re in position to make that trade,” Jones said. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to make one. But we certainly had in mind when we started this season that we were going to have ammo to be more flexible in terms of what we do with the roster as we move along this year and of course as we get into the next couple of years.
“I don’t have a trade in mind right now, at all. That comes about right now if someone is on the phone calling.”
Cowboys defense could turn tide with Commanders sputtering in this one key situation – Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire
Dallas being good defensively on third down has been a problem, but it could change on Sunday.
We have to get our defense off the field on third down.
That’s one of football’s oldest and truest maxims, no matter the team, the scheme, or the era. Offenses that can consistently move the chains on third down tend to control a game; defenses that stiffen on third down give the ball back to their offense and limit their opponents’ chances to do damage. That’s why third-down conversions are an officially-tracked box score stat and why coaches often look to their unit’s numbers- on both sides of the equation- as a barometer of success.
Entering Week 7, no NFL defense is currently worse on third down than the Cowboys. But Sunday’s divisional matchup against Washington could present Cowboys coordinator Matt Eberflus’s embattled unit with a chance to buck that trend.
Problem is, third downs will also give the Commanders offense a big get-right opportunity of their own.
Dallas has allowed a league-high 42 third-down conversions on the season and is currently the only defense letting opponents move the sticks more often than not (53.2%).
All of the defense’s many issues seem to compound and become more magnified on third down: missed tackles, blown assignments, a lack of sacks, a shortage of takeaways, soft coverages, failure to maintain run gaps… they all hurt just a little more when the immediate result is a fresh set of downs for the other side.
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