There’s one glaring trend from six of the seven teams currently in the red for next year’s salary cap limit. Those six teams are the Cowboys, Chiefs, Vikings, Dolphins, Saints and Browns, and all of them are currently outside the playoff picture with slim-to-none odds of winning the Super Bowl in February.
Jerry Jones, the Cowboys’ owner and GM, should print out a picture of that list, which he can find at OvertheCap.com, and post it somewhere visible in his office with words that read “Fix The Cap.” As for a different phrase, “Don’t pay George Pickens,” maybe put that one in small font on a sticky note behind a “Live, Love, Laugh” sign to avoid more headlines in Dallas.
Maybe Jones can show restraint without taking it that far, but the Cowboys should have no business with their top in-house free agent Pickens in the offseason for multiple reasons, one being that he’s been a disappearing act in back-to-back games when Dallas actually had a shot at the postseason. Pickens was nowhere to be found during the Cowboys’ 34–26 loss against the Vikings on Sunday night. He was also a no-show the week before in Dallas’s loss against Detroit.
With the Cowboys (6-7-1) on the brink of playoff elimination with three games left in the regular season, maintaining a healthy salary cap should be the top priority for this organization that’s known for making head-scratching decisions. And, yes, the Bills are also in the red as the seventh team that doesn’t fit in the noticeable trend, but Josh Allen doesn’t have any wide receivers making $30 million per season.
Dallas already has one with star receiver CeeDee Lamb, and handing Pickens a contract extension that compares to Lamb’s would be a massive mistake for the organization. Paying Pickens would be several steps backward because the Micah Parsons trade to Green Bay was supposed to give the Cowboys cap space flexibility to build a well-rounded roster. Tying up the salary cap in Pickens, Lamb and Dak Prescott would put this team back where it was before the shocking Parsons trade in August.
I am aware that teams can manipulate the salary cap by adding funny money and fake years to lucrative contracts to create financial relief. But overloading one side of the ball doesn’t work in the NFL. Just ask the Bengals, who were eliminated from playoff contention Sunday despite paying nine-figure extensions to Joe Burrow and wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. The 11-win Seahawks knew that when they decided not to keep two star receivers, trading DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh and committing to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who will likely cash in big in the offseason. The Steelers also knew that when they traded Pickens to Dallas and passed on pairing him with the recently paid Metcalf.
Also, keep in mind that defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, who cost the Cowboys a first-round pick to acquire from the Jets before the trade deadline—maybe the Jones family really wants to be in the same situation they were in over the summer—will surely ask for a new contract with only $5 million guaranteed on his remaining deal. Dallas can justify paying Williams because he’s actually made an impact since arriving from New York. Finding what Pickens provides on the field through the draft is a lot easier than what Williams does on a consistent basis as a run stopper and pass rusher.
We can list several no-name wide receivers who have done plenty more than Pickens has the past two games, including the three catches for 33 yards against the Vikings.
The Cowboys have the league’s biggest financial hole to climb out of, currently sitting $47.9 million over the cap. The next team is the Chiefs, who were eliminated from playoff contention and lost quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the franchise’s worst Sunday in at least a decade.
But the Chiefs, who are $43.77 million over the cap, will have no problem paying their tab and getting under the red line after winning three Super Bowls since Mahomes took over as the starter. After Kansas City and Dallas, the Vikings have the third-biggest cap deficit at $35.9 million over the limit.
Even Minnesota, which may or may not have a franchise quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, is doing better than the Cowboys after its well-rounded defense shut down Prescott, Lamb and Pickens. But, hey, at least Dallas produced 423 total yards.
It really shouldn’t be a difficult decision for the Cowboys not to pay Pickens after what transpired in his first season in Dallas. They would be better off giving Pickens the franchise tag and later flipping him for a draft pick or two to a team that hasn’t paid a receiver big bucks.
The Cowboys really need to start paying attention to the trends because messy salary caps and expensive receivers haven't led to many wins this season across the league.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cowboys Shouldn’t Extend George Pickens After Another No-Show.