The Cowboys’ season could change shape in a hurry on Monday night, and George Pickens may be one of the first names caught in the ripple effect.
Dallas enters Week 7 at 2-4, coming off back-to-back losses to the Buccaneers and Packers that left the team looking flat against Tampa and sloppy in Green Bay. The criticism has landed everywhere - on coaches, on players, on the whole operation - and the mood around the team has turned sharply sour.
That’s what gives tonight’s game in Philadelphia such weight. A win would push Dallas to 3-4 and keep the NFC East race within reach.
The Giants, currently 4-2-1 after their win in Houston against the Texans, are sitting two games ahead of Dallas, though the Cowboys would still have a Week 17 head-to-head chance to answer for that Week 1 loss. The Eagles are also 2-4, and Washington remains stuck at 1-4-1, which is why the division still feels unusually open despite all the chaos.
A loss, though, would hit differently. Falling to 2-5 would leave Dallas 0-2 in the division and deepen the sense that the season is sliding away, especially with Philadelphia shorthanded. Another dud on the road could be enough to push even patient voices toward a more dramatic reset.
That’s where Pickens comes in.
His name has already been floating in trade chatter after Brian Schottenheimer called him out for needing to get better as a run blocker. In Dallas, where the receiver is on a franchise tag and the offense already pays Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb top-tier money at their positions, the long-term fit is never simple. The franchise tag cost Pickens $27.3 million this year, and even a new deal would still tie up serious resources.
The Cowboys have said they want Pickens around beyond 2026, but that kind of talk is common when a contract decision is looming. If Dallas decides the roster needs a longer view, Pickens would be an obvious asset to move.
The team doesn’t have a deep stash of draft capital after recent trades, and in 2027 it currently has only four picks: the Packers’ 1st-rounder, its own 2nd, the Steelers’ 4th, and the Patriots’ 7th. A compensatory pick, meanwhile, wouldn’t arrive until 2028.
So Monday night isn’t just about whether the Cowboys stay alive in the division. It may also help determine whether Pickens is viewed as a piece to build with or a trade chip to cash in before the season gets any worse.
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The problem is fitting that kind of swing into the Cowboys' current asset situation. Dallas has already thinned out its draft capital, which makes any major deal harder to pull off, even before a team starts asking for premium compensation for a proven front-line defender. If Jones wants to chase a big name, the desire is clearly there, but the path to getting it done is a lot less straightforward than the speculation makes it sound. [Read more 🡒]
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For a team that has spent plenty of time searching for the right balance in the middle of the field, the change was hard to miss. Dallas has been leaning more toward Spann-Ford in recent weeks, and the Eagles game suggested the Cowboys may finally be settling on a different formula at tight end, one that could reshape how this offense looks going forward. [Read more 🡒]