On Thursday night, Cowboys receiver George Pickens dusted off some of the concerns that undermined much of his three years in Pittsburgh. But even if those on the outside question Pickens’s effort against the Lions, the guy who signs his paychecks does not.
“One of the things that you got to appreciate about George Pickens is his intensity for the competition,” Cowboys owner/G.M. Jerry Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “Now, he is a big-time competitor. When it comes to competing and when it comes to loving the game, I emphasize that point right there, loving the game, then I give him A-pluses.”
And so Jones continues to say things that will make it even more expensive to keep Pickens over the long haul.
“I like what George Pickens has done all year,” Jones said. “Just so that I’m real clear about it, I don’t have the concern that [others] debate about what George Pickens did or didn’t do in that game. I don’t have that kind of concern about him as far as his competing and helping us win football games on the field, at all.”
Here’s the quote from Jones that Pickens’s agent, David Mulugheta, should print out (if anyone still has printers) and laminate (if anyone still has laminating machines): “Pickens brings everything to the table. He brings enough pluses to the table to frankly live with what’s going on, this type of criticism. The criticism in my mind is, is he a competitor, and when he gets out there, can he come down with the ball? Does he compete when he’s out there? A-triple-plus.”
Congratulations, Jerry. You’re successfully painting yourself into a corner that will require $40 million per year in new money to escape.
And, once that happens, Pickens will have the upper hand in the relationship. Some would question whether he can be trusted with that kind of power. Jones apparently does not.
Read the full article here
