{"id":265863,"date":"2025-11-06T16:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T16:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265863\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T16:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T16:07:11","slug":"cowboys-eagles-predicted-to-battle-over-star-edge-rusher-in-2026-nfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265863\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys, Eagles predicted to battle over star edge rusher in 2026 NFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> and Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> both went into the NFL trade deadline in desperate need of edge rusher help.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys ultimately didn’t address their need on the edge, although they did add some extra juice up the middle with the Quinnen Williams trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Eagles did come away with Jaelan Phillips in a trade<\/a> with the Miami Dolphins<\/a> before the deadline, although Phillips will be a free agent in 2026, so he isn’t guaranteed to be more than a rental.<\/p>\n

With the future at the position looking murky for both teams, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher<\/a> Knox predicts the Eagles and the Cowboys will be suitors for Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> star edge rusher Khalil Mack in free agency in 2026.<\/p>\n

Knox projects Mack will garner a one-year, $16 million contract.<\/p>\n

Chargers pass-rusher Khalil Mack will turn 35 in February and may only command one-year contracts for the rest of his playing career. However, he remains a legitimate difference-maker when healthy.<\/p>\n

He missed time with a dislocated elbow early this season. However, he worked his way back onto the field and has logged eight tackles, three sacks and four quarterback hits in five games.<\/p>\n

While Mack may not make his 10th Pro Bowl this season, he’s going to interest contenders in the offseason. He reached 17 sacks just two seasons ago.<\/p>\n

Potential Suitors:\u00a0Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n

Mack may not be the elite edge rusher he once was, but he’s still a big difference-maker, as evidenced by his three sacks and 12 pressures in just five games. Mack previously missed four contests due to an elbow injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, Mack, 34, will be a free agent next season, but there’s no guarantee he’ll keep playing after he flirted with retirement<\/a> following the 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n

If Mack does continue playing in 2026 and doesn’t return to the Chargers, he’s going to be looking to join a team with a chance to win a Super Bowl, which immediately gives the Eagles a leg up over the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

But that’s where things stand now and there’s a chance Dallas can finish this season strong enough to make itself more attractive to veteran free agents next offseason.<\/p>\n

We wouldn’t bet on that, though.<\/p>\n

More NFL News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles both went into the NFL trade deadline in desperate need of edge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-265863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}