The two Dallas Cowboys who are seemingly in the news every day are George Pickens (for silly speculative reasons entirely not of his doing) and Caleb Downs, who has electrified the fan base since being drafted two months ago.
The Cowboys, though, have a whole stable of rookies and the next most likely one drew raves from coach Brian Schottenheimer. There is a contract update of sorts on a player entering the final year of a deal, and if that looks like drama, consider what’s going on in San Francisco.
Plus, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are rich! Here is a late June day in Dallas.
Malachi Lawrence
From the moment the Dallas Cowboys moved up a spot to draft safety Caleb Downs, the superstar from Ohio State has hogged the headlines and his standout performance at OTAs and minicamp added to the hype.
The Cowboys had another first-round pick they actually traded down for in edge rusher Malachi Lawrence, and while he has been a bit under the radar because of Downs, he also had a strong summer.
“I’ve been most pleasantly surprised by the instincts when he drops in coverage,” Schottenheimer said of Lawrence, as reported by The Athletic. “They didn’t drop him much at UCF, for the right reasons. But I like the way he’s tackled this offseason. I think he’s another guy that the talent is real. I don’t remember him making a lot of mistakes, and that’s a good thing.”
DeMarvion Overshown
A week after ESPN’s Adam Schatz suggested that the Dallas Cowboys should extend linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, one of his colleagues, Todd Archer came back to the situation in an article titled “2026 NFL contract extension updates for all 32 teams”
Of course George Pickens’ name came up, but mostly in a tangential way in what amounts to an update.
Archer writes: “Wide receiver George Pickens is set to play the 2026 season on the franchise tag as the Cowboys said they will not negotiate a long-term deal. If Pickens has another Pro Bowl season and Overshown remains healthy and produces, it would make for an interesting dilemma because there would be only one franchise tag to go around. Oh, and both players have the same agent, David Mulugheta.
“Overshown has played in just 19 of a possible 51 regular-season games because of injuries, which makes a future contract difficult to project. He missed his entire rookie season in 2023 because of a torn left ACL. He suffered a torn ACL, MCL and PCL in his right knee in 2024. For the first time in his career, he has a full offseason of focus on football and not rehab. He said he believes he is heading to a big season at middle linebacker for the first time.”
Overshown is a University of Texas graduate and he has been quite good in the 19 games where he was healthy. Obviously he’s cheaper to lock up now than he will be if he has a great year while healthy, but if he gets hurt Dallas would regret an extension now.
Ryan Flourney
The Cowboys’ WR3, Ryan Flourney, picked up some headlines last week when he was named one of the surprises of minicamp, and now the mothership, DallasCowboys.com, has a full feature on him.
Part of what led to a big summer were the absences of George Pickens from voluntary OTAs and occasional excused absences from CeeDee Lamb. That provided an opportunity for Flourney and he took it.
“For me, it was important just to step into a leadership role in the room,” Flournoy told DallasCowboys.com. “CeeDee and GP, great guys. Phenomenal football players, I learned a lot from them. For them to miss and for me to take the number one role, it was fun while it lasted. Just keep working hard, that’s literally my whole mindset. Keep working hard and getting the rapport with Dak, with Joe (Milton) and with Sam (Howell).”
Brandon Aiyuk
Drama around the Cowboys this summer has mostly been pundits stirring up speculation about the future of George Pickens (quick recap: Dallas didn’t negotiate with him, offered him a franchise tag, he signed it and showed up on time for minicamp with a smile on his face), but it’s much worse at other teams.
San Franciso 49er receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who hasn’t played in a year and a half because of injuries and then being sent off, is trying to force a trade to the Washington Commanders. Two days after some curious social media posts that included him shouting “Go Commanders” he was back on social media with two posts to drive home his point.
In the first post on Instagram, he holds a football with Commanders logo. A graphic on the video says, “The best sport in the world. The best league in the world the best team in the world.”
He then came right back with a video where he says, “And if I’m crazy or if I’m cappin’, tell them boys cut me today. And I’ll sign with the Commanders tomorrow.”
That puts Dallas’ “George Pickens situation” in perspective. This is how you do drama.
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders salary
Last year, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders received a reported 400% pay increase and can now earn up to $150,000 per year based on their tenure and public appearances. That includes up to $2,500 per game, $75 per hour for practices and bonuses for promotional work.
Megan McElaney, a four-year veteran from Oceanside, California, revealed the news of the increase last year on the Netflix series “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.”
“Our efforts were heard and they wanted to give us a raise,” McElaney told the Associated Press. “And we ended up getting a 400% increase, which is like, life-changing.”
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Dallas Cowboys have a rookie making news. Not that one, the other one
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
