R1 Being named All-NFL Second Team should be a celebration — but Pickens’ reaction told a different story.No smiles. No gratitude tour. Just a clear sense that second place wasn’t the goal.
Dallas free agent receiver George Pickens was named second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press following his breakout season, and if anyone thought he’d be happy about that, they’re wrong.
Troy Aikman recently revealed he played a significant role in the Miami Dolphins search for a general manager, leading some to wonder why he is being consulted by the Cowboys as they cast about for a defensive coordinator.Speaking of that coordinator position, Dallas has already confirmed it has interviewed six candidates. Here is what Dallas is doing in the second week of its offseason.
George Pickens
Free agent receiver George Pickens, whom the Dallas Cowboys would desperately like to retain, was named a second-team Associated Press All-Pro, one of three Cowboys to get that honor, along with kicker Brandon Aubrey and returner KaVontae Turpin.For Pickens, this was a career year, but his numbers were very close to Cincinnati’s Jamar Chase, who was picked ahead of Pickens for the first team, along with the Rams’ Puka Nacua and the Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Pickens finished with career highs in receptions (93), yards (1,429), and touchdowns (9), which is 17 more yards and one touchdown more than Chase, albeit with 28 fewer receptions. At Randy’s rate, Pickens was not pleased with what he viewed as a snub.
“What’s the criteria for (First-Team) All-Pro?” Pickens wrote via an Instagram story. “Ahhhhhh gotcha. It’s not the play.”
The criteria are actually a vote of a panel of 50 newspaper writers.
One team that would seem to desperately need a receiver is the Las Vegas Raiders, but Sports Illustrated was writing about Pickens under the headline “1 Available Star Raiders Must Avoid in Free Agency.” The point of the article is that Pickens has effort issues and isn’t the best locker room guy.Jerry Jones, Troy Aikman
The Miami Dolphins moved quickly to fill their general manager opening, settling on former Green Bay Packers executive Jon-Eric Sullivan, and as it turns out, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and NFL announcer Troy Aikman played a big role.
He was retained by Miami as a consultant and sat in on the interviews, and now there are plenty of people, notably NFL insider Jed Darlington, saying Aikman should have a similar role with the Cowboys.
Darlington posted on X: “Quick note on Troy Aikman. I’ve been told many times how he was incredibly involved, incredibly thoughtful and completely committed to the Dolphins’ GM search. I hope he stays at ESPN forever, but if he ever does something else… Man, the Cowboys should just put him in charge.”
Meanwhile, former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe weighed in on the podcast Nightcap, comparing Jones unfavorably to Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
Said Sharpe: “Mr Blank doesn’t care about credit. Cowboys owner does.”
As for what Jones said about the upcoming draft, when Dallas holds two first-round picks, he teased that the team would consider dealing one of them.
“We’re definitely going to take advantage of these two No. 1s, don’t think we couldn’t do some trading here with those two No. 1s,” Jones said last week. “All of the value that you get out of having these extra picks and having some flexibility, under the cap, we’re gonna take advantage of it.
“We obviously don’t have the mentality that we are dealing with a bad hand at all. I think we had some real success in free agency this year, so that’s a good one, that’s a good place to start.”
Jim Leonhard
Dallas fans hoping that Denver passing game coordinator Jim Leonard is the next defensive coordinator will have to wait, potentially quite a while. No one outside Denver can hire him until the Broncos’ season is over, and as the No. 1 seed, that’s not supposed to be for another few weeks.
That also goes for Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who is one of the big names in the head coaching carousel. If he gets a head coaching job, the Broncos would seem likely to promote Leonhard to defensive coordinator, which would block Dallas.
Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator search
Dallas has now confirmed six names who have interviewed for the defensive coordinator position.
Per the team’s website, current Cowboys defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton interviewed on Monday (note: Dallas seems quite unlikely to stay in house to fix its defense) and Ravens defensive coordinator Zachary Orr and former Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon are interviewed on Tuesday.
Last week, Dallas held interviews with Vikings defensive pass game coordinator Daronte Jones, Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda and Broncos defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard.
Dallas Cowboys head coach history
Brian Schottenheimer is the 10th coach in Dallas Cowboys history. Here is the list.
Tom Landry 1960-1988
Jimmy Johnson 1989-1993
Barry Switzer 1994-1997
Chan Gailey 1998-89
Dave Campo 2000-02
Bill Parcells 2003-2006
Wade Phillips 2007-2010
Jason Garrett 2010-2019
Mike McCarthy 2020-2024
Brian Schottenheimer 2025
When did Dallas last win a Super Bowl
Dallas last won a Super Bowl following the 1995 season, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX. The Cowboys have not made an NFC Championship game since that 1995 season, the longest streak of any NFC team.
