The Dallas Cowboys rewarded one of their homegrown players going into a contract season with an extension on Sunday, helping with offensive continuity while national attention is still focused around their lack of doing so for a similarly homegrown player on defense in Micah Parsons. For now, it is tight end Jake Ferguson who will continue into padded practices in Oxnard with a new contract in hand. The Cowboys signed Ferguson to a four-year extension worth $52 million. It is a deal that runs concurrent to the remaining years under contract for quarterback Dak Prescott, as well as first year head coach Brian Schottenheimer.

Schottenheimer has talked a lot about wanting to get all of the tight ends at the Cowboys’ disposal more involved, and even in unpadded practices this has showed early in training camp with particularly the most experienced of the bunch Ferguson making plays. This is a player that had a down year a season ago, but did so under the context of battling through injuries, catching passes from Cooper Rush and not Dak Prescott for most of the year, and being one of the only legitimate threats next to CeeDee Lamb that defenses had to worry about. The Cowboys are clearly expecting to solve for these things, without the worry of even more contract drama, by creating continuity now between Prescott, Lamb, and Ferguson.

The position the Cowboys found themselves in at wide receiver a season ago was unfortunately not an unfamiliar one. The outlook beyond Lamb called for unproven and inexperienced players being forced to play well above their current roles if the pass offense was going to remain dynamic. Ferguson was, at times, mentioned as a potential saving grace for this entire unit, after making wide receiver-esque run-after-the-catch type plays often in 2023. As it turned out, this expectation was even too much for Ferguson, with the lack of more outside receiving threats being compounded by an even bigger lack of a run game for Dallas, completely neutralizing a lot of his big-play ability down the seams. The Cowboys also feel they have their solution here going into year one of Schottenheimer as play-caller, but the only missing piece now is another contract extension.

Wide receiver George Pickens, traded for in the offseason from the Pittsburgh Steelers, is also on the last year of his deal going into what both his old and new team have called a needed scenery change for 2025. Pickens teaming up with Lamb gives the Cowboys a pair of dynamic receivers with complementary skillsets. The Cowboys mission on offense is to create more space for their play makers and do so out of formations that present multiple looks to the defense, while exploiting matchups further with motion and shifts. These things should all be music to the ears of both Lamb and Pickens, and even Ferguson. If this WR tandem gets going like fans and coaches alike believe is possible, it will also be music to the ears of the recently extended Jake Ferguson.

The Cowboys should get ahead on extending WR George Pickens now.

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It feels crazy and borderline depressing to say this as a fact, but the Cowboys are living in a reality where their franchise quarterback in Prescott has more years behind him as a starter then he does ahead. For a team that has talked a big game but hardly backed it up when it comes to a sense of urgency to win around Prescott, the time is simply now or never to show it. One area they have fallen short around Prescott is with fluctuations in both talent and continuity at wide receiver.

They’ve gone into a season pushing Allen Hurns as a legitimate threat, and they’ve also built trios like Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb. For an array of reasons on both ends of this spectrum, nothing has worked when it comes to Prescott backing up some of the best passing numbers in the league to these targets with a deeper run in the playoffs.

The term “Dak friendly” (started all the way back under Jason Garrett) has been thrown around, debated, and more recently twisted into the latest reason to discredit Prescott’s legitimacy as a starter. To outside fans looking in, the “friendliest” the Cowboys offense could possibly ever get around Dak was that trio of Cooper, Gallup, and Lamb, with a strong offensive line and run game also in place during this time. Those same fans may be finally eating their words a bit with Lamb and Pickens now the top dogs at WR for the Cowboys.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Cowboys have embraced giving full organizational support to Brian Schottenheimer and his new staff, particularly on the personnel side of things. For the first time in a very long time, the Cowboys are not just talking about wanting to acquire players that hyper-fit what their coaches are looking for, they’re backing it up in smart ways – and even some new ones. It shouldn’t be forgotten that trading for Pickens was one of just multiple trades the Cowboys made this offseason, in addition to viable free agent signings as well. They got busy in player acquisition to support Schottenheimer’s debut season in multiple ways.

In order for these things to be the first seeds of the Cowboys showing real urgency and a desire to keep star players happy and focused on winning long term, extending Pickens is a very logical next step. The Cowboys simply don’t have the time ahead of them on these other big contracts offensively to make 2025, and each subsequent year with Prescott and Schottenheimer specifically, a year they aren’t “going for it”. Being right back in this position at this time next year talking about how the Cowboys can continue tweaking wide receiver and tight end to make things work around Prescott would be a major disappointment. The pressure is on now to make this thing work from the jump, but so too is a trio talented enough to properly align the depth charts elsewhere thanks to Lamb, Pickens, and Ferguson.

Just as Pickens’ arrival helps the Cowboys not over project roles for other receivers like Jalen Brooks, Ryan Flournoy, Jalen Tolbert, and Jonathan Mingo, the extension for Ferguson does some of the same at tight end. It has been one of the most discussed position groups for both Schottenheimer and new OC/former OL coach Klayton Adams to get their hands on. The Cowboys have been caught time and time again, going back multiple head coaches now, putting players whose ceiling is as quality depth or above average starter in position to be their most reliable players. They still do believe strongly in fostering homegrown talent, but often overrate this talent just slightly. With the homegrown Ferguson now squarely in place contractually at the very top of the TE depth chart, an underrated upside to this extension is the way it allows those players like Schoonmaker, Spann-Ford, or even John Stephens Jr., Rivaldo Fairweather, and Princeton Fant further down the list to simply be themselves. The Cowboys know they can look to these other tight ends to complement Ferguson for the foreseeable future now, not replace him as a dynamic option in the offense when at his best.

This was just one of a few other reasons the reaction to the Ferguson extension has been a very positive one:

He’s A Keeper

The Cowboys are very particular about the players they decide to retain. Players like Schultz, Tyler Biadasz, and Tony Pollard are also fourth-rounders who turned into Pro Bowl players, but the team opted to let them walk in free agency. They obviously don’t view Ferguson in the same light.

This is great news considering the Cowboys’ new offensive coordinator is a former offensive line coach who is masterful in utilizing his tight ends. Klayton Adams did a great job with Trey McBride, Tip Reiman, and Elijah Higgins in Arizona, all of whom logged over 400 snaps last year. Ferguson is known for his impact as a receiver, but he’s a well-rounded player. His skill set, from good hands to his toughness to his peskiness as a blocker, makes him a valuable asset to this team, and it’s nice to have the endorsement of the new coaching staff.

They Won’t Have To Reload In 2026

Tight ends are important for Prescott. Whether it’s Jason Witten, Schultz, or Ferguson, Prescott loves to have someone underneath he can count on. The team loved what they saw out of Luke Schoonmaker coming out of Michigan; however, after two lackluster seasons, it doesn’t look like he’s going to follow in those same footsteps.

Schoonmaker is still developing, and they also have second-year undrafted free agent Brevyn Spann-Ford on the roster, but those guys now feel like luxuries rather than players that must step up to help them transition into the future. With Ferguson locked down for the next five seasons, the Cowboys won’t have to worry about who will be their primary tight end for many years to come.

The Cowboys have the personnel to throw the ball out of heavier personnel more than they have anytime recently, and create more of these ideal matchups for Ferguson to use his athleticism against linebackers and safeties. In doing so, this also should help both Lamb and Pickens find plenty of space to work with and thrive in what they do best. It feels forgotten around the league that the last time Prescott played a fully healthy season, he was a front-runner for MVP. Now looking to re-establish himself as the highest paid player in the game, the foundation is once again in place for the Cowboys to light up the scoreboard behind Prescott’s right arm.

The Cowboys are full speed ahead under a specific plan and vision that centers around Brian Schottenheimer mostly being successful as head coach and play-caller. Whether or not this plan will work is not the question here. The question is whether or not the Cowboys can keep their foot on the gas pedal in the ways they already have under Schottenheimer to make sure as many pieces of the puzzle to being successful are in place for as long as possible. If this offensive coaching staff identified Pickens as a scheme fit, he already should be a piece of that puzzle. If last season for Dallas was the “rebuild” that wasn’t, that term is surely gone and buried moving into 2025 now. Slowly but surely, this team is picking the horses they want to tie the Schotty and Prescott wagon to, taking a big step that directly helps both play-caller and quarterback by extending Jake Ferguson.

The hope for many fans is that Micah Parsons will be next, a player that can help any team win with his star power on defense, but keeping up the momentum of building real offensive continuity by extending George Pickens would be just as welcome news. The expectation around The Star should be that the price will only go up for Pickens, if the rest of the players and coaches they’ve already invested in are living up to this trust.