Cowboys COO Stephen Jones: ‘Difficult’ To Pay Both CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens

Maybe Dallas Cowboys fans should enjoy having CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens in the same offense while they still can.

“I don’t know of any teams that really can pay two top receivers top of the market [money], so that’s going to be a really difficult situation as we move forward,” Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said about Pickens’ future in Dallas in an interview on the DLLS Cowboys podcast on Tuesday.

“We’ve managed to figure out how we can do it for this year. If everything works out the way we think it is, [in] which CeeDee and George both have huge years again, then it’ll be a bigger challenge next year.”

Coming off a breakout 2025 campaign that saw Pickens total 93 receptions for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns — all three totals led the Cowboys and were career highs — and earn his first career Pro Bowl, Dallas placed the $27.3 million franchise tag on the now-fifth-year receiver in February, whom they acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers the offseason prior.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys signed Lamb, a 2023 All-Pro and a Pro Bowler in each of the last four years, to a four-year, $136 million deal in Aug. 2024. Last season (2025), Lamb totaled 75 receptions for 1,077 yards and three touchdowns across 14 games (he missed three games due to an ankle injury). From 2021-25, Lamb averaged 99.4 receptions for 1,296.2 yards and 7.2 touchdowns per year.

Regarding the wide receiver market, Jaxon Smith-Njigba became the highest-paid receiver in NFL history this offseason, inking a four-year, $168.6 million extension ($42.2 million average annual value) with the Seattle Seahawks.

On the paying multiple wide receivers top-line money front, the Cincinnati Bengals are paying roughly $69.1 million in salary to Ja’Marr Chase ($40.3 million AAV) and Tee Higgins ($28.8 million AAV), while the Detroit Lions are paying roughly $56.7 million in salary to Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30 million AAV) and Jameson Williams ($26.7 million AAV).

Dallas is paying a combined $61.3 million to Lamb and Pickens this season. For perspective, the Bengals haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, while the Cowboys haven’t reached the playoffs since 2023.

“George is really wanting to put back-to-back years on top of one another, so it’ll help his market,” Jones said. “And certainly, I know at some point, as does every player in this league, he’ll want to be rewarded with a long-term contract. So that certainly puts pressure on us to have a unique situation there at wide receiver.”

Dallas opens its 2026 regular season on the road against the New York Giants on Sept. 13.