Cowboys' George Pickens feels 'super prepared' for contract talks with Jerry Jones, Dak Prescott gives advice

Pickens' agent is David Mulugheta, who also represents Micah Parsons

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys got much more than they bargained for when they acquired 24-year-old wide receiver George Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers in May in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a late-round pick swap. 

Pickens' public displays of frustration with the Steelers' offense led Pittsburgh to decide the 2022 second-round pick's talent wasn't worth it, which was a blessing for the Cowboys. He found a home in Dallas alongside quarterback Dak Prescott, who leads the NFL with 4,482 passing yards this season, and All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb in new head coach Brian Schottenheimer's offense. Pickens erupted with career-highs in nearly every receiving statistic en route to the first Pro Bowl nod of his four-year career. He ranks third in the NFL in receiving yards (1,420), third in the league in catches for first downs (73) and tied for third in catches of 25-plus yards (13) in 2025. 

"Yeah, he's had a huge impact. Go back to when we made the trade, that was a position and a place we needed help in right? We've got a guy like CeeDee [Lamb], who over the past couple of years, everybody knew that the ball was going to CeeDee, and we're trying to get it there," Prescott said Thursday. "So just trying to get help for him, we landed George, and I don't think anybody could imagine the amount of help that he's been, how great of a player that's just stepped in and been from Day 1."

Micah Parsons laughs about Cowboys' defensive issues; DC Matt Eberflus wouldn't do anything differently

Garrett Podell

Pickens producing like an All-Pro at the age of 24 just ahead of his rookie contract expiring this offseason sets up another high profile showdown between owner and general Jerry Jones and another Cowboys' star player. Jones re-signed both Prescott (four years, $240 million) and Lamb (four years, $136 million) after drawn out negotiations in 2024, but he stunned the football world in 2025 when his contentious negotiations with All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons resulted in the latter being traded to the Green Bay Packers a week before the 2025 season kicked off. 

The difference between Prescott's and Lamb's contract talks and Parsons' was that Parsons unwittingly began a degree of contract talks with Jones directly as the two sides exchanged contract terms. Jones initiated that conversation when he asked Parsons to come chat with him about leadership ahead of the coming 2025 season. Parsons felt like once the two sides exchanged numbers, it was time for David Mulugheta, his agent, to come in and complete the deal with Jones after looking over the fine print. Jones felt like this was a violation of the agreement he felt he came to with Parsons, which led to the relationship between the two to break down. 

Jones was asked on his Tuesday weekly radio appearance on Dec. 30 if he planned to negotiate with Mulugheta, who is also Pickens' agent, and/or if he planned to take a similar approach and talk directly to Pickens. His answer was "probably both." 

"I don't know. We'll see how it goes. Probably both, but I certainly expect to be speaking with George," Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan. 

With Mulugheta well aware of how Jones operates, Pickens feels "super prepared" for contract talks with Jones. 

"Super prepared," Pickens said Thursday. "I definitely leave that type of stuff to my agent because I let them [Mulugheta and Jones] talk the deals, and all that stuff but definitely super prepared."

Part of that preparation is also advice from Prescott, the Cowboys' longest-tenured player who has come out on the other side of two contentious contract extension negotiations with a deal to remain in Dallas long-term both times. Even though the end result has been pretty for Prescott, he's now the NFL's highest-paid player in terms of average per year salary ($60 million) on his four-year, $240 million deal, he didn't enjoy the process with Jones. One of the things Prescott did do was avoid getting into direct financial conversations with Jerry and Stephen Jones, opting to let Todd France, his agent, handle that end of the agreement. 

"I'll give it [my advice] to George. One, just don't let it get personal. At the end of the day, this is business. Both sides are going to want negotiations," Prescott said. "Honestly, mine and Jerry's weren't pretty at all right? I wasn't talking to him for some time. I remember I went and signed and he told me that 'when two sides are trying to agree, you're not going to want to see each other's differences. Or you can't see each other's differences.' But the moment you get to a contract, you shake hands, and you got to let all that go. We did that, and so it's the same mindset going into these things. Things are going to come up. Things aren't going to sit right. You're going to feel slighted when they give you a million or two less than whatever you said. It's just the business: play the game, play it back, but don't let it get personal." 

Pickens acknowledged he's aware of how things went down with Parsons, which is one of the reasons why he isn't looking to directly inject himself into his own contract talks with Jones. CBS Sports' Joel Corry, a former agent himself, projects Pickens' long-term deal to compare similarly to the four-year, $132 million extension wide receiver DK Metcalf signed with the Steelers this past offseason. 

"Definitely two different positions I would say, but then again, Micah is Micah, and I'm me," Pickens said. "Definitely just let them [Mulugheta and Jones] do their thing."

George Pickens this season, NFL ranks		NFL rank
Catches	92	T-8th
Receiving yards	1,420	3rd
Yards per catch	15.4	6th
Receiving TD	9	T-7th
Receiving first downs	73	3rd
Catches of 25-plus yards	13	T-3rd

Entering Week 18 at the New York Giants, Pickens is three catches and 80 yards receiving away from becoming the third player in Cowboys history to total at least 95 catches and 1,500 yards receiving in a season. The other two are Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin in 1995 and CeeDee Lamb in 2023. He's having plenty of fun on the football field in Dallas. 

"It's super fun, definitely. The season is super fun, it's still going on," Pickens said. "That'd be an excellent company to be in with those two, but we're just going to try to finish strong and try to get us a victory."

Outside of Pickens' family, Lamb feels he is the most happy for Pickens' success ahead of becoming a first-time free agent upon the expiration of his rookie contract this offseason.

"I think if there is anybody in this room, the building or the world that's happier [than me], probably his family ... but like other than that, I already knew what it was. I'm happy for him," Lamb said Thursday. "I knew the opportunity that he was going to have coming here immediately and the impact he was going to make. I'm just happy that it all came to fruition. He's able to make it throughout the season fully healthy. I can't wait to see him again next year."  

The Cowboys had an overall successful season on the offensive side of the ball, ranking as the league's No. 4 scoring offense (28.4 points per game) through 17 weeks, but Prescott is looking for Dallas to improve its red zone offense -- the Cowboys' 57.4% red zone touchdown rate ranks 18th in the NFL through 17 weeks. That has offensive coordinator Klayton Adams going back to the drawing this offseason to help Schottenheimer and Prescott to do a better job of featuring both Pickens and Lamb in the red zone going forward. 

"For me, the biggest learning lesson this season is just I've never been on an offense that's had two receivers like we have. So I really want to dive into that of 'how can we make it even more difficult for defenses?'" Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said Thursday. "What formations are we in? A lot of times when we are putting together the first and second down plan, it's just 'I want to run this out of this formation because it breaks tendency. Or I want to run this side of this formation because I think we're going to get this coverage alignment or this alignment in the [defensive] front.' I really want to take a deep dive on where we can put these guys in the run game that puts the most stress on the defense. I think we've figured some of those things out as we've gone, but that's something I'm really interested in." 

"We've got to just use their abilities with and without the ball to maximize our efforts, and I know if we do that, this will be a dangerous offense because those are special players," Prescott said.