George Pickens is officially a Dallas Cowboy, and on paper, the move fills a huge need. CeeDee Lamb finally has a legitimate running mate which should help Dak Prescott out significantly. But the deal comes with another layer (it's the Cowboys, of course it does)—one New York Giants fans are more than happy to point out.
Pickens is a talented player with real upside, but he’s also entering a contract year. And unless the Cowboys want to waste premium draft capital on a one-year rental, they’ll have to pay him soon. That becomes a much bigger issue when you factor in the fact Micah Parsons is also up for a deal—and both players share the same agent... making the situation somehow even funnier and messier.
That agent's name is David Mulugheta, and he isn’t just part of the equation anymore. He is the equation.
Two massive contracts, one agent, and a front office allergic to normalcy
Jones already tried to go rogue on the Parsons extension. He made headlines saying he preferred negotiating directly with Micah—which isn't even allowed by the NFLPA—and even admitted he didn’t know Mulugheta’s name. Parsons immediately shut that down, saying “There will be no deal” without his agent’s involvement. That alone created tension.
Now that Pickens is in the building, that tension just doubled.
You’ve got two potential top-tier contracts coming up—one on defense, one on offense—both tied to a high-profile agent Jerry didn’t even want to acknowledge. And with Jones famously slow-playing extensions in recent years (just ask Dak or Lamb), this only clouds the picture further.
Spotrac has Pickens’ market value at over $25 million per year. Parsons is eyeing $40 million-plus. If both players want top-of-market deals—and they will—the Cowboys are going to be in a tight spot, financially and politically.
Per Over the Cap, the Cowboys are projected to have just under $6 million in effective cap space in 2026. That's obviously without either extension being factored in. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported the Cowboys plan on Pickens playing out his rookie contract—meaning they aren't extending him anytime soon. Talk about tripping over their own feet before the race even starts.
The Pickens trade might improve the offense in 2025. But it also boxed Dallas into a long-term challenge. And if these negotiations drag out (or blow up) fans won’t be blaming the players. They’ll be looking squarely at the guy who keeps making things harder than they need to be.
In trying to solve one problem, Jones may have just made the next one harder to fix. And Big Blue Nation is here for all of it.