{"id":177628,"date":"2026-02-24T06:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/177628\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T06:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:49:16","slug":"everyone-knows-cowboys-were-historically-bad-on-defense-but-how-will-they-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/177628\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone knows Cowboys were \u2018historically bad on defense.\u2019 But how will they fix it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Cowboys<\/a> co-owner Stephen Jones didn\u2019t mince words Monday when it came to reflecting on the team\u2019s 2025 defensive performance. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe results speak for themselves,\u201d Jones said from the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis, moments after wrapping up a meeting with the league\u2019s competition committee. \u201cYou are what you are … and unfortunately, we were historically bad<\/a> on the defensive side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which means a historic overhaul might be in the cards for the Cowboys: a team that not only has the ammo to accomplish such a feat<\/a>, but apparently the motivation. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly acknowledge that,\u201d Jones said about the team\u2019s defense, which finished last in points allowed per game last year, \u201cand we certainly want to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The sweeping changes have already begun. The Cowboys already overhauled the team\u2019s defensive coaching staff. They swapped out the old (in former defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus\u2019 staff) for the new \u2014 and the young. First-time defensive coordinator Christian Parker<\/a> will lead a defensive staff with an average age of 36. Only J.J. Clark, an assistant linebackers coach a year ago, remained from last year\u2019s staff. <\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s head coach Brian Schottenheimer, team owner Jerry Jones or Stephen Jones, there\u2019s been effusive praise for Parker. Stephen Jones said he\u2019s excited about Parker\u2019s vision, formed through working with some of the league\u2019s best defensive minds and curated by his own ideas, as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we put an outstanding staff together,\u201d Stephen Jones said Monday, \u201cand now we\u2019ve got to go get the players and their vision for the type of players that\u2019ll help him execute what he wants to do philosophically on defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said they\u2019re in the process of learning that vision. The Cowboys\u2019 new defensive staff was assembled from a variety of different places. That means a variety of different opinions on which players fit that vision. <\/p>\n

There inevitably was going to be a lot of change from last year\u2019s defense. The Cowboys have 12 free agents on defense<\/a>, including both unrestricted and restricted free agents. There likely won\u2019t be a ton of interest in the majority, considering that last year\u2019s defense had the worst defensive EPA (Expected Points Added) since 2020, according to rbsdm.com. <\/p>\n

Filling all the needs the Cowboys have on defense \u2014 encompassing pretty much every position outside of interior defensive tackle \u2014 will be costly. That would likely require the Cowboys spend more than they historically have on defense. With less than a month before the league year begins, it feels like the Cowboys are willing to do it. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys are roughly $24 million over the salary cap after the release of linebacker Logan Wilson<\/a>. They also have the ability to open up an estimated amount of cap space that exceeds $100 million if they choose to restructure all the deals possible. They could open up even more this offseason if they elected to extend defensive tackles Quinnen Williams or Kenny Clark. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easier to bust a budget, as Jerry Jones said earlier this offseason, when there\u2019s more room.<\/p>\n

Offensively, there\u2019s only one big thing left to do, Stephen Jones said. He said the Cowboys plan to place the franchise tag on George Pickens<\/a> within the next seven-to-10 days. The Cowboys also want to get a long-term deal done with kicker Brandon Aubrey, who\u2019s a restricted free agent. <\/p>\n

After that, there\u2019s a clear target for the Cowboys\u2019 salary cap usage. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to fix this defense,\u201d Jones said when asked about exhausting the available cap space they\u2019re expected to have.<\/p>\n

The draft is another avenue to fix it. Jones said after the season that the Cowboys would likely use their two first-round picks on defense. The only exception would be a player like CeeDee Lamb falling into their lap like in 2020, which deterred them from their original plans of selecting a defender. With no moves needed on offense in Jones\u2019 mind, however, it\u2019s hard to envision any non-defender capturing their heart in the first round. <\/p>\n

And considering the juxtaposition between how good their offense was last year and how bad their defense performed, it\u2019s fair to wonder when the Cowboys\u2019 attention in the draft will ever veer from the defensive side of the ball. At one point during Jones\u2019 meeting on Monday with local reporters, the team\u2019s 2005 draft was brought up. The Cowboys used six of their eight picks on defense. They started with future Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware. They also drafted Marcus Spears, Chris Canty and Jay Ratliff. <\/p>\n

Jones cut in before the question could be finished. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to have another draft like that,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cLet\u2019s do that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

No pressure, but if the Cowboys want to turn around their worst defense in franchise history, in terms of points allowed, then they will need to hit on multiple defensive starters in free agency and the draft. They\u2019ll need to allocate resources toward those efforts. <\/p>\n

As the NFL Scouting Combine kicks off this week, it looks like they\u2019re willing to do so. <\/p>\n

How the Dallas Cowboys plan to create salary cap space this offseason<\/a>From Cowboys\u2019 perspective, availability is the top priority for DeMarvion Overshown<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones didn\u2019t mince words Monday when it came to reflecting on the team\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[57210,1044,102,113,104,103,80,17183],"class_list":{"0":"post-177628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-christian-parker","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallas-headlines","13":"tag-dallas-news","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-stephen-jones"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}