Well, this veered into rather interesting territory late in the game. After another drawn-out negotiation with an All-Pro, the Cowboys were mostly just viewed as unnecessarily prolonging extension talks en route to a deal more expensive than it needed to be. Even as the ice was not thinning between ownership and Micah Parsons in this latest Cowboys offseason saga, the CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott endgames still had an 11th-hour resolution — or a situation where the star edge rusher remained a Cowboy by Week 1 — as the most likely 2025 outcome.
Instead, Jerry Jones completed a shocking twist ending. Parsons is a Packer, after the longtime Cowboys owner broke off negotiations amid a strange approach to dealing with one of the NFL’s highest-powered agents. This took place a week before Dallas’ new head coach is set to debut. The Cowboys dealt Brian Schottenheimer‘s best player shortly after the team’s preseason finale, reshaping how this Cowboys period is viewed. Will it end up being the right choice?
Coaching/Front Office:
Months before the Parsons showdown came to a head, the Cowboys completed another unusual coaching separation. Viewed as likely to move on from McCarthy for weeks, the Cowboys let the lame-duck HC dangle a week after Black Monday. McCarthy had outperformed Jason Garrett as Cowboys HC, stringing together three straight 12-win seasons — which had not happened in Dallas since their now-Netflixed 1990s glory years — from 2021-23 but was not extended following the Packers’ upset wild-card win two seasons ago.
Prescott did not play particularly well before his season-ending hamstring injury, but McCarthy became the extraordinarily rare leader to coach out a contract. As McCarthy’s assistants — including Schottenheimer — awaited the boss’ fate, the Cowboys waited while the rest of the league had begun coaching searches. McCarthy, 62, was out after two seasons as a play-calling HC (and three prior years as a non-play-caller). The sides discussed a new contract, with term length an issue during the brief talks, but McCarthy moved on and ultimately decided to bow out of the Saints’ HC search. What happened next proved quite surprising.
Part of the reason the Schottenheimer hire did not stun: this coaching search reminded closely of the 2020 effort that brought McCarthy to Dallas. Jerry Jones left Garrett dangling for days after the 2019 season ended, announcing a separation after interviews were being scheduled elsewhere. Jones then hired McCarthy after an interview process that only included — due to the Rooney Rule that at the time required only one external minority interview — Marvin Lewis as the box-checking meeting. The Schottenheimer process included a week-long wait but only three other candidates, as the Rooney Rule now requires two external minority candidates be interviewed.
Although conversations with Deion Sanders and Pete Carroll commenced, the Cowboys conducted official interviews with Robert Saleh, Leslie Frazier and Schottenheimer’s OC predecessor (Kellen Moore). It appeared the one-and-done Eagles OC was the early favorite, but he ended up in New Orleans after Super Bowl LIX. An hours-long Schottenheimer meeting changed the course of the Cowboys’ talks. Not long after, a Friday-night hire took place.
PFR’s pages had tracked zero Schottenheimer HC interviews since our January 2014 inception. A prominent name in HC cycles in the late 2000s, Schottenheimer had settled onto the coordinator radar. He held Jets, Rams, Seahawks and Cowboys OC positions from 2006-24. Despite Russell Wilson‘s Pro Bowl work in the late 2010s and even after Prescott’s second-team All-Pro season in 2023, no Schottenheimer interview requests emerged. It certainly seemed the second-generation NFL staffer missed his window, but a lengthy Cowboys meeting changed his trajectory.
Admitting he did not expect to land the job after his boss was fired, Schottenheimer nevertheless impressed Jerry and Stephen Jones during the multiday interview. Schottenheimer, 51, discussed the OC positions with the Jets and Seahawks but 
was informed Cowboys ownership wanted him to at least stay on as OC. The Cowboys had retained Moore this way while looking to replace Garrett in 2020. After what-ifs involving Dolphins and Bills HC positions more than a decade ago, Schottenheimer became one of the unlikeliest HC hires in recent NFL history.
Schottenheimer calling himself “Sean McVay before Sean McVay” is certainly revisionist history, and Jones referred to this hire as “a risk, not a Hail Mary.” It took Schottenheimer until his 11th NFL OC year (with the 2019 Seahawks) to produce a top-10 total offense, though that recurred when the 2023 Cowboys ranked third. He will hold the call sheet for the first time since 2020, his third and final Seattle season, and carried tremendous support from Prescott, who had previously called for McCarthy to be given a sixth season.
Adams, who spent the past two seasons as the Cardinals’ O-line coach, will step into the non-play-calling OC role Schottenheimer vacated. Two of the Cowboys’ past three OCs have been Boise State grads. Adams, 42, had been the Colts’ tight ends coach from 2021-22, following ex-Indianapolis coworker Jonathan Gannon to Arizona. Adams has a short history as an OC, working as co-OC at Colorado in 2018.
Like Schottenheimer, the Cowboys were his only option for upward mobility. The Cowboys will have Dorsey, the recent Bills and Browns OC, providing input to the less experienced NFL staffer.
The Cowboys also provided a soft landing for Eberflus, who returns to Dallas after six years as a head coach or defensive coordinator. Eberflus had left his role as Cowboys LBs coach in 2018, thinking he would be Josh McDaniels‘ DC in Indianapolis. Frank Reich honored the would-be HC’s offer, and Eberflus helmed the Colts to top-10 scoring defenses in three of four seasons on the job.
Eberflus’ Bears tenure did not go well, as he followed both John Fox and Matt Nagy in being fired months after the team drafted a first-round quarterback. The Bears went 14-32 under Eberflus. After some 2023 progress, the rebuilding team bottomed out after the Jayden Daniels-to-Noah Brown Hail Mary.
A Thanksgiving clock-management debacle sealed Eberflus’ fate, but he immediately resurfaced on the radar for the Cowboys’ DC gig once Schottenheimer was hired. Eberflus, 55, has not worked with Schottenheimer previously. But he spent seven seasons in Dallas (2011-17) under Garrett.
Trades:
Regardless of timing, Jerry Jones has done well to complete extensions with star players. Before Prescott and Lamb, the Hall of Fame owner paid the likes of Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, DeMarcus Ware, Zack Martin, Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick top-market contracts. The previous wave of deals came on Dallas’ terms, however, with only Bryant’s 2015 five-year extension south of six years.
Parsons’ camp was believed to have issues with that long of a contract, as the 2020s salary cap spikes make long-term deals ill-advised, but Jones launched a bizarre crusade to go around David Mulugheta to hammer out what was a five-year proposal averaging $40.5MM per. With Parsons not deeming his agreement on deal parameters as official (as players with agents use them to finalize their contracts), this negotiation broke stride with past eras of Cowboys contract talks.
None of the aforementioned batch of players requested a trade. After Parsons spoke of a desire to have his deal finalized by training camp and, on multiple occasions, said his price would rise the longer the Cowboys waited — just as costs climbed during the lengthy Prescott and Lamb talks last year — he pulled the trade-request lever August 1. Although Jones had informed Cowboys fans not to lose sleep over the Parsons request, the next chapters produced a full-on unraveling of this relationship.
Jones and Parsons did not resume negotiations after the trade ask, with the owner hung up on what he described as the All-Pro pass rusher reneging on an agreed-upon deal. Had Parsons been a self-represented player like Lamar Jackson or Bobby Wagner, such talks were permissible. But the fifth-year player designating Mulugheta to handle his talks meant the Cowboys needed to go through the agent.
Jones, 82, said during a now-seminal Michael Irvin interview Mulugheta told Cowboys ownership to “stick [the Parsons agreement details] up their ass.” Mulugheta, of course, denied that account. Jones’ comments, which also included the owner/GM threatening to take the two-franchise tag route with Parsons, did not exactly bring anything closer to a peaceful resolution.
Parsons, who had not held out from minicamp or training camp, had long aimed to sign a Cowboys extension. Days after Jones’ comments, however, Schottenheimer needed to address his sideline actions during the team’s preseason finale in a meeting with the disgruntled player.
Mentions of Packers interest in the sack dynamo emerged soon after, and a year after Jones had signed off on the Prescott and Lamb top-market extensions, he traded the younger, better performer for two first-round picks and Clark — a 10th-year veteran. Prior to the deal, the Cowboys had told Parsons to play on his fifth-year option — after the player had attempted to restart extension talks — or head out. The explosive trade followed.
Framing this as a Herschel Walker-style haul is rather optimistic, as that kind of trade — which brought three first-rounders, three seconds, a third and more in October 1989 — squeezed the Vikings in a deal that supplied even more assets than the historic Deshaun Watson trade did. Picks-wise, the Parsons haul did not match what the Seahawks gave up for Jamal Adams (two firsts, a third and safety Bradley McDougald) or what the Rams surrendered for Jalen Ramsey (two 1s and a 4). Jones did point to Clark as a main attraction, with the Cowboys targeting the Packers in a deal largely because of the 29-year-old D-tackle’s presence.
Perhaps more important than the trade package itself, Jones’ post-trade presser revealed the Cowboys — as we had heard previously — internally discussed the prospect of trading Parsons before the draft. However, no conversations with teams transpired at that point. A staggering eight Cowboys first-round picks since 2010 have become All-Pros, pointing to the Will McClay-led draft operation’s ability to find talent. Regardless of how well Green Bay fares over the next two seasons with Parsons, those picks will be valuable in Dallas’ hands. But Jones indicating a Parsons-for-Clark swap — all that matters for 2025 — would make this year’s team better marked another tough sell.
Moving Parsons before the draft or even before free agency would have presumably brought a better return, with more clubs having cap space and needs to pull off the kind of megadeal (four years, $186MM, $120MM fully guaranteed) the 26-year-old defender received. While the coaching staff was said to have been unanimously onboard with moving on, leaks involving dissenting opinions could certainly come out down the road — especially if Parsons stays on his current career path.
A year younger than Khalil Mack when he was dealt to the Bears for a two-first-rounder package, Parsons joins only Reggie White as players to post 12-plus sacks in each of their first four seasons. The 2021 first-rounder did that despite missing four games last year; Jones alluding to Parsons’ high ankle sprain during one of his many media-availability sessions further enflamed this situation.
Clark, 30 in October, is a three-time Pro Bowler tied to a through-2027 extension (three years, $64MM). Plenty will be on his shoulders this season, and Jones referencing the Cowboys’ D-end depth (with Dante Fowler and Donovan Ezeiruaku joining the Sam Williams–Marshawn Kneeland duo) adds up. But the Cowboys ranked first in defensive EPA with Parsons on the field from 2021-24 and 31st when he was sidelined.
Trading Parsons when they did marks a historic gamble for the Cowboys, and it is perhaps telling a Packers team dead set against post-Year 1 guarantees authorized fully guaranteed money through 2027 to acquire Parsons.
It seemed the Cowboys were loading up around their Prescott-Lamb-Parsons trio in May, when they acquired Pickens’ rookie contract from the Steelers. The team had searched for a promising Lamb sidekick since trading Amari Cooper in March 2022, and after looking into a Cooper reunion and gauging the Cooper Kupp and Rashod Bateman markets, the Cowboys landed Pickens in a package headlined by a third-rounder.
Pickens, 24, is set to play out his rookie deal in Dallas. With Parsons gone, a 2026 franchise tag should be in play for Pickens. Though, the latest Pittsburgh-developed mercurial wideout will need to show he is onboard in Dallas before a big commitment is authorized. The Steelers had determined after the 2024 season they would move on from Pickens, and after the Cowboys showed interest before the draft, talks intensified post-draft.
The rare mid-May trade came after the three-year Pittsburgh starter did not draw a big market. Maturity concerns have dogged Pickens, who has plenty of incentive to stay on track. A lucrative free agency could await ahead of an age-25 season, though the Georgia alum is open to staying in Dallas long term.
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Pickens is the NFL’s only player to generate three straight seasons north of 16 yards per reception and accumulated over 2,000 since 2022, according to ESPN Stats and Info. The former second-rounder has also only missed three career games. Prescott will be the best QB Pickens has played with, after having teamed with Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields and a post-prime Russell Wilson. Upside exists here, and with Parsons out of the picture, the Cowboys will likely need their receiver arsenal plenty to keep up in 2025.
The Bills did not see Elam justify his 2022 first-round draft slot, observing Christian Benford outplay him and never giving Elam a full-season run atop the depth chart. The fourth-year veteran’s unwanted cameo in the AFC championship game, as Benford exited early, helped swing the Bills’ fourth Sean McDermott-era postseason loss to the Chiefs.
Elam, nevertheless, landed on his feet in Dallas. He is on track for a Week 1 starting role for the first time. While Shavon Revel rehabs the ACL tear that ended his college career, Elam will be expected to play often.
Many teams checked in with the Patriots on Milton, who impressed in a meaningless Week 18 win over 
Bills second-stringers. Three years remain on the cannon-armed Tennessee prospect’s rookie contract, and he will head into the season as Prescott’s lone active-roster backup.
While Will Grier is on the practice squad, Milton is the only Prescott backup on the 53-man roster. Prescott has missed significant time in three of the past four seasons. Milton’s belief he can be an NFL starter affected his place in New England, which is building around Drake Maye, and he did not seem to fit under new HC Mike Vrabel.
With prices rising elsewhere on the roster, the Cowboys have kept costs low at linebacker. Murray represents a bit of an exception, being tied to a two-year, $15.5MM deal the Titans authorized in March 2024. Like Elam, Murray has not justified his first-round draft slot. But the former Chargers draftee has been a starter for most of his career.
Murray followed Azeez Al-Shaair as a Titans tackles leader (95; eight for loss) to leave town weeks after the season. Murray, whom the Bolts benched at points, and 2024 third-rounder Marist Liufau are set to hold down the fort while DeMarvion Overshown rehabs another major knee injury.
Extensions and restructures:
Days after the Parsons trade, the Cowboys paid Bland. The fifth-round find has become more important in Dallas since Trevon Diggs‘ two significant knee injuries. Bland is no stranger to health issues himself, having suffered a foot fracture during 2024 training camp; that injury kept him out 10 games last year.
The Cowboys will nevertheless buy in, as Bland is vital to their 2025 plans — with Diggs coming off injury and Shavon Revel not yet recovered from his. Considering Elam’s Buffalo track record, Bland will be one of the Cowboys’ five most important players this season.
The Cowboys identified Bland as an extension candidate early in the offseason, but the Parsons final hours effectively paused other matters. Bland went from rookie-year slot corner to the 2023 Diggs boundary replacement following the latter’s ACL tear. Bland proceeded to post a record-setting five pick-sixes during a nine-INT season, giving the Cowboys two first-team All-Pros at corner. Neither staying healthy in 2024 certainly hurt a defense that cratered from fifth to 31st in scoring (and that was with Parsons playing 13 games).
Pro Football Focus graded Bland second among CBs in 2023 and 33rd in ’24. Bland, 26, has played the majority of his snaps outside over the past two seasons; he is expected to shift to a more versatile role this year. A Deommodore Lenoir-like role appears set for Bland, who repped extensively in the slot this offseason. Bland shifting inside in sub-packages appears the plan. That stands to help maximize a CB corps that will likely face tougher assignments due to Parsons’ departure.
The lack of a true WR2 helped keep Ferguson a central piece in Dallas’ passing attack. The fourth-year tight end totaled 71 catches for 761 yards and five touchdowns in 2023, earning Pro Bowl acclaim. Missing three games due to an MCL sprain last season, Ferguson spent much of his third year catching passes from Cooper Rush. This Cowboys extension, which comes three years after they could not agree on terms with franchise-tagged TE Dalton Schultz, represents clear faith Ferguson can return to his 2023 form alongside Prescott.
At $12.5MM per year, Ferguson checks in as the NFL’s eighth-highest-paid tight end. Dallas guaranteed its top TE’s 2026 base salary but would carry only $7.2MM in dead money by moving on in 2027, providing flexibility on a through-2029 contract. Though, a March 2027 guarantee of $7MM will require an earlier decision. Ferguson carries a pair of $9.5MM option bonuses (in 2028 and ’29); both do not need to be exercised until Week 1 of those years.
The Cowboys have been able to find Day 3 options at tight end, as Schultz and Blake Jarwin (whose extension did not pan out) showed. This extension entrenches Ferguson above 2023 second-rounder Luke Schoonmaker on the depth chart.
Re-signings:
- Osa Odighizuwa, DT. Four years, $80MM ($39MM guaranteed)
- Markquese Bell, S. Three years, $9MM ($6.2MM guaranteed)
- KaVontae Turpin, WR. Three years, $13.5MM ($5MM guaranteed)
- Bryan Anger, P. Two years, $6.4MM ($3.3MM guaranteed)
- Trent Sieg, LS. Three years, $4.45MM ($1.81MM guaranteed)
- C.J. Goodwin, DB. One year, $1.26MM
The Cowboys have used the franchise tag six times since 2018. Odighizuwa was poised to run that count to seven had he not agreed to terms before the early-March tag deadline. Odighizuwa, 27, marks yet another Cowboys draft hit. He joins Prescott, Lamb, Bland and Kenny Clark as $20MM-per-year players on this roster.
Only Zach Allen and Chris Jones posted more pressures among interior D-linemen than Odighizuwa’s 33 last season. Odighizuwa’s work only produced 4.5 sacks — the former third-rounder’s next five-sack season will be his first — but those rushes led to 23 QB hits. A four-year starter, Odighizuwa has registered 28 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in total. How his rush lanes look without Parsons will be a subplot to follow in Dallas this season, but the team does have a formidable DT duo with Clark arriving.
Jerry Jones has professed run defense was paramount in making the Parsons trade. The swap came after Odighizuwa ranked 67th (per PFF) in run defense among interior D-linemen (Clark ranked 43rd). ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric, however, ranked Odighizuwa 12th last season. He will be asked to provide consistent pressure to help the team’s lower-wattage edge rush produce.
The clubhouse leaders in choosing the right talent from this era of spring-league football, the Cowboys added Turpin in 2022 and Brandon Aubrey in 2023. Turpin is a two-time Pro Bowler who landed on the All-Pro first team last season, posting both kick- and punt-return touchdowns. The Cowboys found two special teams gems from the USFL, and Turpin is now signed through 2028.
Listed at just 153 pounds, Turpin also served as a gadget player for Dallas on offense last year. The Cowboys upped his offensive snap count to 315 in 2024, and the 5-foot-9 playmaker totaled 512 scrimmage yards and two TDs. The team was prepared to use a $5.35MM second-round RFA tender had this extension not been agreed to. A future suspension could be in play, however, as a July arrest on weapons and marijuana charges ensued.
Free agency additions:
- Dante Fowler, DE. One year, $6MM ($5MM guaranteed)
- Robert Jones, G. One year, $3.75MM ($3MM guaranteed)
- Javonte Williams, RB. One year, $3MM ($2MM guaranteed)
- Payton Turner, DE. One year, $2.5MM ($2MM guaranteed)
- Miles Sanders, RB. One year, $1.34MM ($1.2MM guaranteed)
- Jack Sanborn, LB. One year, $1.5MM ($150K guaranteed)
- Perrion Winfrey, DT. Two years, $2.04MM
- James Houston, DE. One year, $1.09MM
- Saahdiq Charles, OL. Practice squad
- Robert Rochell, CB. Practice squad
Fowler’s primary coaches from his previous stint in Dallas — Dan Quinn, Aden Durde — are gone, and the Cowboys are shifting to Eberflus’ scheme. But Schottenheimer and Fowler did overlap in 2023. He fetched a raise after outproducing the Commanders’ higher-paid ex-Cowboy D-end (Dorance Armstrong).
Fowler led Washington with 10.5 sacks, turning his second-best season. Unlike his last campaign with double-digit sacks (with the 2019 Rams), no big-ticket offer awaited. Still, the former top-five pick now appears a more important piece in Dallas post-Parsons.
Having played behind Parsons, Armstrong and DeMarcus Lawrence during his first Dallas stint, Fowler was productive in a limited role. He logged just 30% and 25% snap rates, respectively, in 2022 and ’23 — as a post-Randy Gregory solution. Joining Quinn for a third time, Fowler played 52% of the Commanders’ defensive snaps last season. With Dallas’ current DE corps consisting of unknowns, the 31-year-old EDGE will likely be asked to play more than he did during his first stint.
Williams and Sanders’ form over the past two seasons has led fantasy sites to push fifth-rounder Jaydon Blue. The older RBs, though, look set to receive more work early.
Williams has not looked the same since his ACL and LCL tears in October 2022. An eye-catching runner as a rookie, the 2021 Broncos second-rounder could not reach 3.8 yards per carry in either of his post-surgery seasons. The bulldozing runner, 25, could not capitalize on run block win rate’s best O-line last 
season, leading the Broncos with a paltry 513 rushing yards. Williams is listed as Dallas’ Week 1 starter nonetheless.
Sanders, 28, bombed on his four-year, $25.4MM Panthers deal. Carolina cleaned house after Sanders’ first season there, and Chuba Hubbard quickly usurped the former Super Bowl LVII starter. A four-year Eagles starter who amassed 1,269 rushing yards in 2022, Sanders only logged 55 carries last season. The Cowboys have the Ezekiel Elliott dead money off their books, but despite Rico Dowdle (1,079 rushing yards) far outproducing Williams and Sanders last season and garnering only a $2.75MM Panthers pact, the Cowboys are starting over with another low-cost backfield.
Dallas showed preliminary interest in Dre Greenlaw and pursued E.J. Speed in free agency. The Kenneth Murray trade became the team’s top LB investment. Sanborn, however, will bring scheme familiarity after starting 19 games under Matt Eberflus in Chicago. The Bears nontendered Sanborn as an RFA in March, leading to this low-cost Eberflus reunion.
Notable losses:
- Brandin Cooks, WR
- Rico Dowdle, RB
- Chuma Edoga, T
- Chauncey Golston, DL
- Linval Joseph, DT
- Eric Kendricks, LB
- Trey Lance, QB
- DeMarcus Lawrence, DE
- Carl Lawson, DE
- Jourdan Lewis, CB
- Zack Martin, G (retired)
- Cooper Rush, QB
- Matt Waletzko, OL (waived/injured)
Two of the greatest guards in NFL history have come through Dallas, which drafted Martin several years after Larry Allen‘s time with the team ended. Martin may not have dominated like the all-time mauler did, but he finished his career as a more decorated player.
Martin’s seven first-team All-Pro nods match Hall of Famers John Hannah and Randall McDaniel for most in guard history. A two-time second-team All-Pro as well, Martin earned All-NFL acclaim all nine seasons he finished. He will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
While Parsons’ star power outflanks Martin’s, the stalwart guard is the most accomplished of the Cowboys’ modern parade of successful first-round picks. The 2014 first-rounder’s importance to the Cowboys prompted the team to give in during his 2023 holdout, which turned the final two seasons of a six-year, $84MM deal into fully guaranteed salaries. Martin, 34, played out a two-year, $36.85MM revised pact but did not finish the 2024 season due to injury.
Ankle surgery ended Martin’s run as the Cowboys’ right guard. The ex-Notre Dame tackle, famously drafted over Johnny Manziel ahead of Tony Romo‘s age-34 season, had started all 162 games he played. Martin helped Elliott and DeMarco Murray to rushing titles (and Tony Pollard and Rico Dowdle to 1,000-yard years) while aiding Dak Prescott to going from fourth-round pick to impressive Romo successor.
The Cowboys have a replacement lined up, in first-rounder Tyler Booker, but they are losing one of the best players in franchise history. This offseason wrapped the Cowboys’ All-Decade-teamer-laden O-line’s run, with Tyron Smith retiring after a Jets one-off. Martin’s exit created more than $25MM in dead money thanks to void years. The team will absorb $16.4MM of that total in 2026.
Last year’s Dallas edition also played mostly without Lawrence, who suffered a Lisfranc injury in Week 4. Lawrence stuck around longer than DeMarcus Ware did in Dallas, lasting 11 years. The twice-franchise-tagged D-end made the effective transition from the Cowboys’ edge anchor to their top Parsons complementary piece. The back half of Lawrence’s Dallas run did not produce high sack numbers; his last seven-sack season came in 2018. But he was one of the game’s better all-around DEs.
Lawrence, 33, had hoped to re-sign with the Cowboys but ultimately never received an offer. He rejoined Aden Durde in Seattle, receiving a soft landing (three years, $35MM with $13MM guaranteed at signing) despite the major foot injury. The Cowboys also lost Lawrence’s primary replacement, as Golston joined a now-loaded Giants pass rush — thanks to the ensuing Abdul Carter addition.
On his way to becoming one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history, Lance did not turn things around in Dallas. Acquired for a fourth-round pick in 2023, the ex-49ers draftee attempted just 41 passes as a Cowboy.
Rush started over the former North Dakota State phenom following Prescott’s hamstring tear. After two stints with the Cowboys, the former UDFA find became Lamar Jackson‘s backup in Baltimore. Going 9-5 as a starter, Rush signed a two-year, $6.2MM deal. Lance is on a one-year, $2MM pact as the Chargers’ backup.
The Cowboys did not see Cooks closely remind of Amari Cooper, helping explain the George Pickens gamble. The fourth trade of Cooks’ career brought him from Houston to Dallas in March 2023, and after an eight-touchdown debut season, Cooks missed seven games due to injury last year.
Cooks’ absence did allow slow-developing third-rounder Jalen Tolbert to grow more comfortable. After a 610-yard 2024, Tolbert becomes an interesting contract-year piece. He would stand to be a more affordable Lamb complement compared to Pickens as a 2026 free agent. Cooks, 31, returned to the Saints on a two-year, $13MM deal.
Draft:
- Round 1, No. 12: Tyler Booker (G, Alabama) (signed)
- Round 2, No. 44: Donovan Ezeiruaku (DE, Boston College) (signed)
- Round 3, No. 76: Shavon Revel (CB, East Carolina) (signed)
- Round 5, No. 149: Jaydon Blue (RB, Texas) (signed)
- Round 5, No. 152 (from Cardinals): Shemar James (LB, Florida) (signed)
- Round 6, No. 204 (from Lions through Browns and Bills): Ajani Cornelius (G, Oregon) (signed)
- Round 7, No. 217 (from Titans through Patriots): Jay Toia (DT, UCLA) (signed)
- Round 7, No. 239 (from Packers through Titans): Phil Mafah (RB, Clemson) (signed)
- Round 7, No. 247 (from Chiefs through Panthers): Tommy Akingbesote (DT, Maryland) (signed)
Booker is O-lineman No. 6 drafted in the past 15 Cowboys first rounds. The team was closely connected to eyeing a wide receiver in Round 1, hosting the likes of Tetairoa McMillan and Emeka Egbuka. The team has done extraordinarily well with first-round O-linemen, however, turning Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin and Tyler Smith into All-Pros. With Tyler Guyton a work in progress, the Cowboys will hope Booker can be a quick study.
Swapping out Martin for Booker will leave four rookie-deal O-linemen in Dallas’ starting lineup, with only RT Terence Steele signed to a lucrative second contract. The Crimson Tide’s starting left guard for most of the past three years, Booker drew All-America acclaim last season. The Cowboys were planning to draft McMillan had the draft’s top receiver prospect been there at No. 12, but the Panthers had a high view of the Arizona alum and took him at 8.
Both the Dane Brugler and Daniel Jeremiah big boards pointed to Dallas landing a steal in Ezeiruaku, whom The Athletic and NFL.com offerings respectively ranked 22nd and 30th. The mid-second-rounder brings elite college production, after a Division I-FBS-leading 16.5-sack season came two years after an 8.5-sack sophomore slate.
With Parsons gone, Williams coming off an ACL tear and Kneeland more of a traits-fueled project (zero rookie-year sacks), the Cowboys may need Ezeiraku early. They have three second-round picks invested at D-end; it is paramount the team see quality returns here if the Parsons trade is to work.
Like Cooper Beebe last year, the Cowboys laid a clear path to playing time for their third-round pick. Revel was viewed as a likely first-rounder before his ACL tear; a freefall instead commenced. Revel, as his father warned this summer, was not going to be ready by Week 1. The Cowboys had hoped a September return could happen, but their reserve/NFI placement sidelines him for at least four games.
With Elam struggling throughout his Bills tenure, Dallas may need Revel to develop into a rookie-year regular to join Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.
Other:
While the Cowboys have taken deserved heat for prolonging the Prescott (twice), Lamb and Parsons negotiations, they do have a history of locking up O-linemen early. Both Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick signed extensions not long after the team exercised their fifth-year options. Although it does not look like Tyler Smith will be extended by Dallas’ Thursday-night opener, a deal should still be expected before the 2026 season.
Manning both the LT and LG positions, Smith has settled at guard and become one of the NFL’s best. The Fort Worth native is now a two-time Pro Bowler who will be expected to anchor Dallas’ post-Martin front. The guard market has climbed past $23MM per year, thanks to Trey Smith‘s $23.5MM-AAV Chiefs extension. Tyler Smith, who is two years younger than Trey and holding a better resume, will be expected to come in north of that total.
This a clear candidate to be the NFL’s first $25MM-per-year guard, and Smith changed agents in preparation for these negotiations. A payroll devoid of a Parsons megadeal could accommodate such a contract more easily, even if the Cowboys still have the NFL’s highest-paid player and third-highest-paid WR (in Prescott and Lamb).
A big season awaits Diggs, who is on track to be ready after it appeared he would join Revel as a Cowboys CB starting the season late. Transitioned off the active/PUP list last week, Diggs has logged full practices ahead of the team’s Philadelphia trip. Diggs’ knee flared up during the 2024 season, after he had spent the year rehabbing an ACL tear. That invites questions about the former All-Pro’s long-term Dallas future.
The Cowboys can escape this five-year, $97MM extension fairly easily in 2026 by taking on less than $6MM in dead money in a release scenario. Bland’s payday points to the team being ready to move on. Still going into just an age-27 season, however, Diggs can still show he is a capable starter and either convince the Cowboys to keep him or create a nice post-cap-casualty free agent market. The aggressive corner will need to start that process by merely staying on the field, which he has been unable to do since signing his extension.
Overshown and Diggs each left December’s Cowboys-Bengals game with major injuries. The linebacker, who had rehabbed a 2023 ACL tear, is on Dallas’ reserve/PUP list and not expected to return for some time. While Guyton has joined Diggs in recovering in time for the team’s opener — as a three-Tyler O-line awaits NBC’s intro graphics — Overshown’s ACL, MCL and PCL tears have him set to wait longer. A midseason return appears the best-case scenario with Overshown, who had flashed in his first NFL action.
Top 10 cap charges for 2025:
- Dak Prescott, QB: $50.52MM
- Terence Steele, RT: $18.13MM
- CeeDee Lamb, WR: $15.33MM
- Trevon Diggs, CB: $12.09MM
- Donovan Wilson, S: $8.65MM
- Malik Hooker, S: $7.75MM
- Kenneth Murray, LB: $7.41MM
- Osa Odighizuwa, DT: $6.25MM
- Dante Fowler, DE: $6MM
- DaRon Bland, CB: $5.82MM
Jones is not going anywhere. Set to turn 83 this year, the omnipresent Cowboys czar has given no real consideration to stepping down as GM. It certainly can be argued the Cowboys would be better off had Jones done so years ago and only focused on the ownership component, his strength, while letting personnel men run the football side. That setup worked for the Cowboys during their modern-era apex. This offseason brought an important update to Jones’ GM run, as the Parsons trade dwarfed everything else the franchise did in 2025.
Of course, plenty will still be on Prescott — who is about to set a record for highest cap number in a season — to justify his $60MM-per-year contract. The oft-discussed passer is now 32 and has missed 24 games due to injury this decade. Drawing the NFC North (booking a Week 4 Parsons return trip) and AFC West, the Cowboys — who have 10 games against 2024 playoff qualifiers — will have a tough road this season.
Even as 2026 looks like the better bet for a potential Cowboys recovery from losing their top player, the NFL’s most-discussed team will remain in the spotlight. That will mean plenty of Jones assessments of his roster. While this season will be important, the 2026 draft now becomes a pivotal proving ground for the late-career decision-maker as he attempts to justify a potential legacy-altering trade.
Rumors for over a year pointed Higgins to a 2025 exit — via either a tag-and-trade transaction or a free agency defection. But Burrow kept applying pressure on the team to keep his overqualified WR2 in place. Not 15 years removed from their previous star-level QB (Carson Palmer) growing frustrated with a thrifty roster-building approach, the Bengals gave in and enter the season with the NFL’s highest-paid receiver duo.
After not approaching $20MM AAV in 2023 negotiations, the Bengals signed Higgins at $28.75MM per year. While the Bengals kept the deal in line with their preference of no guaranteed salary after Year 1, the team did guarantee a $10MM 2026 roster bonus. Higgins, 26, also will be due a $5MM 2027 roster bonus. But the Bengals can escape this deal with just $7.5MM in dead money in 2027. Higgins will see his 2026 base salary ($10.9MM) become guaranteed on Day 5 of the 2026 league year, providing strong assurances he will be a Bengal for at least two more seasons.
By waiting, the Bengals saw the price rise. Chase submitted a triple-crown receiving season, dominating as Burrow returned after his 2023 wrist injury. The cap then spiked by another $24MM. With 2021 receiver draftees Amon-Ra St. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle and Nico Collins being extended in 2024, Chase was a lock to come in much higher. And with wideouts and pass rushers suddenly competing to land the top non-QB contract, the Bengals saw their mission become a multifront fight. The Browns’ four-year, $160MM Myles Garrett extension, rather than Jefferson’s 2024 payday, ended up establishing the Chase floor.
Burrow also lobbied the Bengals to extend Hendrickson, doing so at multiple points in 2025. That proved a more complicated situation compared the receiver contracts. On-and-off extension rumors circulated, with intermittent trade buzz factoring into this process. But the Bengals never appeared willing to break with their precedent on future guarantees for a 30-year-old defensive end.
Despite the Steelers guaranteeing T.J. Watt $108MM at signing on just a three-year extension, Hendrickson (who is two months younger) could not secure a comparable offer. The Bengals’ second round of trade talks did not appear to produce anything close to a swap. As was the case in the spring, teams viewed Cincy’s trade ask as unrealistic. This left Hendrickson in a bind. Rather than miss regular-season games in protest — as he had threatened to do — he took the team’s late-emerging raise offer. That will at least pause this drama.
In lower-profile Bengals extension business, Karras agreed to a one-year deal for a second straight offseason. The veteran center’s one-year, $6MM bump from 2024 had him under contract for this season; his $5MM agreement will extend the partnership through 2026. The Bengals have separated from the other two free agency additions brought in after the 2021 Burrow sack avalanche, cutting La’el Collins in September 2023 and Alex Cappa in March 2025. Karras, 32, has endured.
Cutting Cappa opened a starting guard spot. The Bengals are set to use third-rounder Dylan Fairchild at left guard, and they have cycled through unappealing RG options. Patrick and Cody Ford waged a competition during training camp. While Patrick is slated to open the season as the starter, Risner is aboard. And the seventh-year blocker, for all his issues convincing a team to pay him starter-level money, has a history of taking over on short notice.
Risner, 30, appeared on Cincy’s radar in April and took an August visit. He did not sign until after the preseason slate. This will apply pressure on Patrick, 32, after beating out Ford for the job. Patrick started 10 Saints games last season, ranking as PFF’s No. 37 guard. He played mostly center in two prior seasons (in Chicago). Risner at least gives the Bengals another option in case Patrick falters; the team will need a patchwork solution while hoping Fairchild can be a long-term answer.
Considering the Patriots’ long list of offseason additions, it’s not surprising the organization had an equally long list of departures. While some of these names were only thrust into big roles in 2024 because of New England’s lack of depth, the team also said good bye to a handful of veterans who represented the organization’s final link to their former Super Bowl glory.
