NFC Notes: George Pickens, Jalen Hurts, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants

Cowboys

Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones said the organization is aware that tagging WR George Pickens this offseason could create a potential holdout situation.

It crosses your mind,” Jones said, via ESPN. “I mean, a lot of the guys we’ve tagged participated in everything, Dak [Prescott] leading the way. He played under two of them. He never missed anything. Hopefully, that’ll be the case here.

Jones said again that the team wants to retain Pickens, but is paying him top-receiver money, along with WR CeeDee Lamb, the best allocation of resources for a team in need of a serious defensive overhaul?

Those are all things that we’re looking at, so we’ll make decisions based on where we ultimately come down,” Jones said, reiterating that the desire is to keep Pickens. “I mean, obviously, what we need to get accomplished on the defensive side of the ball is going to affect a lot of things. … It’ll be a work in progress.

Eagles

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts faced criticism this season despite finishing with a career-high of 25 touchdown passes. Philadelphia HC Nick Sirianni expressed faith in Hurts as their starting quarterback and thinks he can fit into “any scheme.”

“He’s shown that he can do all these things,” Sirianni said, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think what’s awesome about Jalen is he’s shown he can do a lot of a lot of things really well. … The great thing about great players is they can usually fit to any scheme.”

Giants

Giants DT Dexter Lawrence finished with a career low of 0.5 sacks in 2025. New York GM Joe Schoen said Lawrence’s season-ending elbow injury from 2024 lingered into this season and impacted his performance. 

“I’m not sure that elbow was great all year. I think that bothered him a little bit,” Schoen said. “But it’s never just one person on defense. The defense as a whole I felt like could have played better. It’s definitely not Dexter.”

Schoen thinks Lawrence’s nine sacks from 2024 may have been an “outlier,” given that amount is rare for an interior lineman. 

“Nine sacks might been an outlier the year before, so the expectation rises,” Schoen said. “That’s rare for a nose tackle. That’s insane for a nose tackle to get nine sacks. It’s in there, he still has a lot of good years left. It wasn’t just Dexter last year. I can’t put anything on him. The expectation is for him to be on the team and to come back and have a really good season for us.”

Lawrence is set to carry a cap figure of $26.9 million in 2026, but Schoen made clear that there are no plans to move on from the veteran tackle. 

“The plan is for Dexter to be on the roster,” Schoen said.

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on X.com and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!

Leave a Reply