George Pickens is off to a historic start as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. He has over 500 yards receiving and has caught six touchdowns through the first six games with the team, something that only Amari Cooper has ever done in franchise history.

Pickens has a bit more in common with Cooper, though. When Dallas traded for Cooper during the 2018 season, they did so with him in a position to sign a contract extension at that point in his career. Despite the fact that Cooper served as the catalyst of change for that season’s team, and propelled them to an NFC East title plus a playoff win (ironically over Brian Schottenheimer’s team), his extension did not come until the 2020 offseason.

This was partly the case for Cooper because his previous team (the then-Oakland Raiders) had exercised his fifth-year option for the 2019 season which he played out. George Pickens has no time remaining on his rookie deal and is currently set to hit free agency in the offseason.

That historic start is going to come with a price.

Every time this subject comes up, I confess that I was initially against the Cowboys trading for Pickens. It was the team’s ability to handle whatever issues the Pittsburgh Steelers deemed too costly to continue to have him around that was the problem. So far that hasn’t been an issue.

Even in the initial moments after the trade happened though, some people noted that the most logical conclusion at that juncture was to extend Pickens. (I advocated for it here back in May). Part of the reason was how much leverage Dallas handed Pickens’ representation, with him being in a contract year and the team spending a third-round pick, and that has only increased as Pickens has piled up statistics through the first six games of the season.

The most common pushback to signing him then was that Dallas could receive a third-round compensatory pick for Pickens and things would wash out at worst. If offered the choice between signing Pickens long-term knowing what we do now, or losing him for a 2027 comp pick, most everyone would want the player 100 out of 100 times.

The purpose of this discussion is to highlight how it is not too late to get ahead of the situation. The Cowboys even have the lesson that was the Micah Parsons situation which they did not back in May. Matters cannot be done in the most efficient manner possible anymore, but there is no sense in waiting. You have seen what you needed to see, which was a common pushback in the offseason as well).

Pay George Pickens. Get it done. Now.