{"id":185935,"date":"2026-03-01T20:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/185935\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T20:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:35:30","slug":"will-the-dallas-cowboys-finally-be-big-free-agency-spenders-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/185935\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Dallas Cowboys finally be big free agency spenders in 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 This might be the year where Jerry Jones finally does it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys owner and general manager<\/a> told reporters at the NFL scouting combine it\u2019s time for his franchise to spend money in free agency.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time Jones has spoken about spending money to help his club, but it was in drips and drabs. <\/p>\n

After watching his defense give up a franchise record 511 points and realize how Seattle and New England, the two Super Bowl participants, used strong defenses to achieve their goals, Jones has seen the light.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can see me being aggressive,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI can see us being aggressive in free agency. By virtue of having two (first-round draft picks) you\u2019re going to spend more money in the draft, than normally you would spend, even though we don\u2019t have a (second-round pick), everybody knows those two ones are dramatically different than one (first-round pick) than two financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cowboys have several holes on their defense that\u2019s switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4<\/a>. There\u2019s the need to find one maybe two inside linebackers, another outside linebacker, a cornerback and a safety.<\/p>\n

The free agent market is weak overall on defense.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest names on the market, is someone not on the market, in Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby. The Raiders have no plans, at least right now, to trade him. So that leaves the Cowboys searching for impactful players.<\/p>\n

Nakobe Dean<\/a>, the inside linebacker, who played the last four seasons with the Eagles and safety P.J. Locke (Texas<\/a>), who played six seasons in Denver, are on the list of players the team has interest in.<\/p>\n

Dean\u2019s teammate in Philly, safety Reed Blankenship is another possibly along with Trey Hendrickson, the defensive end from Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys\u2019 own free agents, edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney<\/a> and safety Donovan Wilson, might return. <\/p>\n

Clowney\u2019s size might not work for the Cowboys<\/a> looking for bigger defensive ends and the uncertainly if he wants to play outside linebacker in a 3-4.<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s situation is fluid in terms of a return.<\/p>\n

If the Cowboys sign a safety in free agency, whether it\u2019s Blankenship or Locke, money is a determining factor.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys have already committed at least $28 million in cap space in a franchise tag on wide receiver George Pickens<\/a> and with running back Javonte Williams, who agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth $24 million<\/a>, guaranteeing him $16 million, there is more work to be done to clear cap space.<\/p>\n

The NFL announced that teams will have $301.2 million in salary cap space. As it stands, the Cowboys<\/a> are over the cap by $56.1 million, according to Over the cap, a website devoted to NFL salaries. But the Cowboys will restructure the contracts of Dak Prescott, Tyler Smith, CeeDee Lamb, Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark to get under the cap. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to push forward is for me to borrow some of my future,\u201d Jones said of restructuring contracts, which push money down the line. <\/p>\n

With two first-round draft picks, the Cowboys can package one of those selections to get a second or third rounder, something they don\u2019t have in 2026. Yet, finding impactful defensive players that can produce immediately will take some pressure off the franchise to make a deal in free agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited about doing everything we can, now, to really have a better record than we had last year,\u201d Jones said of the team\u2019s 7-9-1 mark in 2025. \u201cA better team than we had last year, that\u2019s why we\u2019ve been doing what we\u2019ve been doing with the coaching staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Brian Schottenheimer<\/a> hired a younger staff on the defensive side, with plenty of college experience, similar to what he did with the offensive staff when he was first hired in 2025. Jones and Schottenheimer praised new defensive coordinator Christian Parker<\/a> for being a teacher and a good communicator, something that was an issue with the previous staff under Matt Eberflus. <\/p>\n

Regardless of what Jones does with the staff, finding quality players is something that must occur or success is limited. The first step is in free agency, where Jones believes spending more money will benefit the team.<\/p>\n

Jones said he wants a defense, \u201cthat could support an offense the way that we played at the (high) level last year and get us into the playoffs and give us a chance to get good after we get in the playoffs. I see that defense this year. I do. We don\u2019t have to do much to get better and I\u2019m not trying to be trite, we just don\u2019t have to do much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just spend.<\/p>\n

\"Ohio<\/a>What we learned from the NFL combine, including good and bad draft news for Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n

Dallas has many holes to fill on defense, and plenty of potential fixes were on display in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>The Dallas Morning News extends top 10 streak in Associated Press Sports Editors contest<\/a><\/p>\n

SportsDay was among eight newspapers in the largest circulation category to earn an APSE Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>Jerry Jones says he let Cowboys fans down with Super Bowl drought. Is he ready to change?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cowboys owner addressed the fans directly in his state-of-the-team discussion on the Jones bus at the NFL combine.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 This might be the year where Jerry Jones finally does it. The Cowboys owner and general…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[732,7581,6348,57210,1044,114,102,104,103,5963,2638,80,20433,154,15209],"class_list":{"0":"post-185935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-brian-schottenheimer","10":"tag-ceedee-lamb","11":"tag-christian-parker","12":"tag-cowboys","13":"tag-dak-prescott","14":"tag-dallas","15":"tag-dallas-headlines","16":"tag-dallas-news","17":"tag-javonte-williams","18":"tag-jerry-jones","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-quinnen-williams","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-tyler-smith"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185935","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=185935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}