Opinion: We could see more off field drama at the wide receiver position in Dallas

Marquez Valdes-Scantling (Twitter)

The Dallas Cowboys are one of the most high profile teams in the National Football League. You could make the argument they are the highest.

However, once in a while you see problems brewing in-house with the franchise. We saw that with CeeDee Lamb two years ago as the star wideout held out before signing a massive deal. Now we could see the same thing with their other star wide receiver, George Pickens.

After coming off a Pro Bowl season where he had 1429 receiving yards, and nine touchdown catches, the Cowboys placed the franchise tag on Pickens in February. However, according to Jonathan Jones of 247sports.com, Pickens has not signed the franchise tag contract offer with the Cowboys yet. There is a belief that Pickens is looking for a contract close to Lamb’s. Lamb signed a four year deal worth $136 million.

With Pickens’s status with the Cowboys a little uncertain, Dallas went out and signed another wide receiver this week. According to spotrac.com, the Cowboys signed wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling of St. Petersburg, Florida to a one year contract worth $1.5 million.

The Cowboys become Valdes-Scantling’s seventh NFL franchise. He previously spent four seasons with the Green Bay Packers from 2018 to 2021, two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs (where he won two Super Bowls in 2023 and 2024), before sharing the 2024 season with the Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints, and the 2025 season with the San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Even though Valdes-Scantling has 3686 receiving yards in his career, and led the NFL with 20.9 yards per catch in 2020, it was a down season for him in 2025. Valdes-Scantling only had 14 catches for 120 receiving yards and one touchdown. The major score was for 19 yards and came in a 28-15 Steelers win over the Miami Dolphins on December 15.