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The Dallas Cowboys officially placed the franchise tag on wide receiver George Pickens on Friday. This news was expected so it officially happening was more of a formality than anything. One could argue that it was expected as soon as Dallas traded for Pickens last May, but it became particularly obvious once he was having an amazing season for the team and particularly glaring when this offseason began.
Now we must focus on next steps, and one of those steps is understanding the specificity of the tag.
Here is what the tag being ‘non-exclusive’ means
A notable part about the Pickens tag is that it is of the non-exclusive variety. This means something very specific, for those unaware.
From the NFL’s Operations Manual:
Teams that use the non-exclusive franchise tag hold the right of first refusal. If a designated player signs an offer sheet with another team, the player’s previous team has five days to match the offer sheet. Should it decide not to, the player’s original team shall be entitled to draft-choice compensation equivalent to two first-round picks.
The Cowboys have effectively given themselves leverage against Pickens by giving him the non-exclusive tag. At least they have hypothetically done so. You see, Pickens is now free to negotiate with whatever team he likes. Should Team A like Pickens enough to make him an offer then the Cowboys have the right of first refusal. They can literally let another team do the work for them.
“But why wouldn’t Team A just offer Pickens a huge deal so the Cowboys will have to match it? Wouldn’t that be smart so that the Cowboys would be stuck?”
This is why there is a protection in there. Should Team A offer Pickens a deal and the Cowboys feel it is not worth matching, then Team A owes the Cowboys two first-round picks. That is a pretty decent consolation prize.
We toss around the word and idea of leverage a lot when it comes to the Cowboys and contract negotiations, and in recent offseasons there have been a lot of players in those situations. Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons were clearly the headliners in that capacity.
What is different and interesting about this Pickens situation is that none of Prescott, Lamb, and/or Parsons had the opportunity to negotiate with other teams like Pickens does (obviously Parsons did at the end when Dallas gave him permission to seek a trade, the one that eventually wound up happening).
In this Pickens situation, his representation can literally (at least in broad daylight as opposed to in the shadows of NFL negotiations) figure out what the market thinks he is worth. That works to the Cowboys’ advantage if it is low, and if it is too high beyond their reach then they have a protection in place as noted.
Win-win.