Both topped 1,000 yards. The Cowboys still have to choose between CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
Pickens is playing 2026 on a $27.3 million franchise tag with no long-term talks. Dallas is $30 million over the cap and already pays Lamb $34 million a year. Lamb has offered to restructure to keep them both.
George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb both cleared 1,000 receiving yards for the Cowboys in 2025. That's the problem. Dallas is more than $30 million over the cap, already pays Lamb $34 million a year, and Jerry Jones has decided Pickens will play 2026 on the franchise tag with no long-term negotiations. Dan Orlovsky's read: this is a choice, not a luxury.
What did each receiver do in 2025?
Pickens broke out: 93 catches for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns, his first season in Dallas after arriving via trade from Pittsburgh. Lamb posted 75 catches for 1,077 yards, his fifth straight 1,000-yard season. Together they gave the Cowboys one of the most productive receiver duos in football. The on-field fit was never the question; the cap math is.
Why can't Dallas just keep both?
Money. The Cowboys are over $30 million above the salary cap heading into the offseason, and Lamb is already on a four-year, $136 million deal that averages $34 million per year. Carrying two of the league's highest-paid receivers is a structural problem, not a one-year squeeze. Jerry Jones announced that Pickens will play under the franchise tag, a one-year tender worth $27.3 million, with no long-term negotiations, because the team wants to see him produce again before committing top-of-market money to a second receiver.
What's Lamb's role in this?
He's lobbying to keep Pickens. On The Dan Patrick Show, Lamb said he'd be willing to restructure his own contract to help bring Pickens back long term. That's an unusual move from a No. 1 receiver, and it tells you how much Lamb values the partnership. Whether the Cowboys take him up on it is a separate question: restructuring Lamb's deal creates short-term room but pushes money into future years, which is the same trap that got Dallas over the cap in the first place.
What's the likely outcome?
A prove-it year, then a decision. The franchise tag buys Dallas a season to evaluate whether Pickens' 1,429-yard breakout is repeatable and whether his fit in the locker room justifies a second mega-deal. If he produces again, the Cowboys face Orlovsky's exact dilemma next offseason: pay two receivers at the top of the market, or trade one while his value is highest. The tag delays the choice without resolving it, and the cap situation only gets harder from here.
Players in this story
Sources
- ESPN: Orlovsky - Cowboys will have to choose between Lamb, Pickens long term
- Fox News: Cowboys announce decision on George Pickens' contract status
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