The Associated Press Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens participates in the team’s minicamp on Tuesday in Frisco, Texas.

FRISCO, Texas — George Pickens said he followed the advice of his agent in staying away from the voluntary portion of offseason workouts with the Dallas Cowboys.

The Pro Bowl receiver showed up for mandatory minicamp Tuesday, and sounded as if agent David Mulugheta played a role in that as well.

Pickens’ presence was expected once he signed the $27.3 million franchise tag and became subject to fines for missing the three-day minicamp, or training camp that opens next month in California.

“He’s in control,” Pickens said of Mulugheta. “He’s like your boss, so it’s no (issue of) trust or anything there. He controls what you do.”

Pickens waited two months before signing the one-year contract that’s worth about three times what the 25-year-old earned on his four-year rookie contract.

Pickens told the Cowboys before the draft in April that he intended to sign the franchise tag, prompting speculation that Dallas might try to trade him. The Cowboys made it clear they had no such plans. He signed the tag about a week later, in early May.

“Personally, what’s important to me is winning,” Pickens said. “I want to bring a Super Bowl to a group of guys that’s never had that feeling. Everything else is what they control.”

Pickens said he never questioned owner and general manager Jerry Jones over why the club decided not to negotiate a long-term deal and forced him to play on the franchise tag.

Under the one-year tender of the franchise tag, the sides still have until mid-July to work out a longer contract, but the Cowboys made it clear they weren’t even considering pushing that deadline. Any multiyear deal will have to wait until next offseason.

“The tag and all that, it’s football first,” Pickens said. “So, definitely play football first, kind of like I did last year and then worry about. Well, let my agent worry about it, really.”

Brain donated

SAN FRANCISCO — The family of former NFL star Aldon Smith is donating his brain to the Boston University CTE Center to research the long-term effects of repetitive brain injuries following his sudden death at age 36.

Smith died Saturday hours after delivering pizzas to a homeless charity in the San Francisco Bay area.

No cause of death was given and Smith’s family has hired attorneys Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers and Wayne Kendall to investigate Smith’s death.

“As with anyone who dies so suddenly at such a young age, we understand that there is a great deal of interest in and speculation about Aldon Smith’s passing and we intend to get to the bottom of it,” the attorneys said in a statement released Tuesday. “To that end, we have taken a number of steps including sending his brain to Boston where medical experts will examine it for CTE as well as other damage caused by years of concussions and additional trauma.

“In the meantime we simply ask you to keep Aldon’s family in our prayers and respect their privacy as they struggle to come to grips with this terrible loss.”

Elsewhere:

n Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice was released from a Dallas County jail on Tuesday after serving a 30-day sentence for violating the terms of his probation, which stemmed from his role in a car crash that left multiple people injured on a Texas highway.

n New Orleans Saints all-time sack leader Cameron Jordan agreed Tuesday to a one-year contract to remain with the club for what the 16th-year veteran says will be his final NFL season.