{"id":194917,"date":"2026-03-07T17:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/194917\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:56:10","slug":"dallas-cowboys-free-agency-8-mistakes-they-need-to-avoid-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/194917\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys free agency: 8 mistakes they need to avoid in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legal negotiation period for free agency will begin at noon ET on March 9, and players can officially sign with new teams starting at 4 p.m. ET on March 11. The opening of free agency kicks of desperate scramble between teams for the best free agents, which makes this a good time to remember that desperation often leads to dumb decisions in the NFL, and this year perhaps more than most, as Matthew Berry of NBC Sports writes in his \u201cMost Interesting Things I Heard At 2026 NFL Combine<\/a>\u201d column.<\/p>\n

Last note that one agent said to me. \u201cGonna be a really interesting free agency. 10 new head coaches, 20 new coordinators, so much turnover this year that staffs haven\u2019t had enough time to do film work\/research\/scheme fit for everyone available.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked him if he thought that meant there would be some delayed signings or more mistakes than normal as teams just rush in and worry about \u201cmissing out\u201d even if they haven\u2019t done a proper amount of research? He said \u201cI don\u2019t know. I just know it\u2019s gonna be wild and weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 9, hundreds of free agents will become available, and all of them share one defining characteristic: their old team did not want to re-sign them. Perhaps because the team didn\u2019t want to pay the price the player is demanding, perhaps because the player is too old\/injured\/ineffective, perhaps because the player has fallen out of favor with a new coaching staff, perhaps the player was no longer a scheme fit; whatever the reason, the fact that their old team didn\u2019t want them anymore should make every acquiring team wary of the free agents on offer. Here are a eight common free agency mistakes the Cowboys should be particularly wary of in 2026:<\/p>\n

1. The pass rusher coming off a big year<\/p>\n

We know that historically pass rushers coming off a big year in terms of sacks tend to regress to the mean in the following year. The problem with free agent pass rushers who are coming off a big performance is that teams will pay them in 2026 like it\u2019s still 2025. And that will almost inevitably not end well for the acquiring teams.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an overview of the 16 highest-paid free agent pass rushers from 2024:<\/p>\n

Player
\nContract
\nProduction<\/p>\n

Name
\nTeams
\nYears
\nAnnual value in $ million
\nSacks 2024
\nSacks 2025<\/p>\n

Josh Sweat
\nPHI -> ARI
\n4
\n19.1
\n8
\n12<\/p>\n

Dayo Odeyingbo
\nIND -> Chi
\n3
\n16.0
\n3
\n1<\/p>\n

Harold Landry
\nTEN -> NE
\n3
\n14.5
\n9
\n8.5<\/p>\n

Haason Reddick
\nNYJ -> TB
\n1
\n14.0
\n1
\n2.5<\/p>\n

Joey Bosa
\nLAC -> BUF
\n1
\n12.6
\n5
\n5<\/p>\n

DeMarcus Lawrence
\nDAL -> SEA
\n3
\n10.8
\n3
\n6<\/p>\n

Leonard Floyd
\nSFO -> ATL
\n1
\n10.0
\n8.5
\n3<\/p>\n

Dre’Mont Jones
\nTEN > BAL
\n1
\n8.5
\n4.5
\n2.5<\/p>\n

Patrick Jones
\nMIN -> CAR
\n2
\n7.5
\n7
\n1<\/p>\n

Michael Hoecht
\nLAR -> BUF
\n3
\n7.0
\n3
\n2<\/p>\n

Von Miller
\nBUF -> WAS
\n1
\n6.1
\n6
\n9<\/p>\n

Dante Fowler Jr.
\nWAS -> DAL
\n1
\n6.0
\n10.5
\n3<\/p>\n

Chauncey Golston
\nDAL -> NYG
\n3
\n6.0
\n5.5
\n1<\/p>\n

Calais Campbell
\nMIA -> ARI
\n1
\n5.5
\n5
\n6.5<\/p>\n

Joe Tryon
\nTB -> CLE -> CHI
\n1
\n4.8
\n2
\n0<\/p>\n

Darrell Taylor
\nCHI -> HOU
\n1
\n4.8
\n3
\n0<\/p>\n

Of the 16 highest-paid edge rushers in free agency, only five were able to improve on their sack total from the previous year with their new team, one maintained his level, and ten saw a drop in their sack totals. Understanding that sacks are an incomplete metric to measure an edge rusher, this is still concerning. Overall production from this group of premier pass rushers dropped from 84 to 63 sacks, a drop of 25%. For the ten players that weren\u2019t able to at least maintain their sack total, production dropped from 56 to 22 sacks, a decline of 60%. If you were paying premium dollar for an eight-sack guy and only got three sacks in return, would you feel you made a good investment?<\/p>\n

This of course in an exercise you can repeat for almost any stat and end up with similar results. It\u2019s called regression to the mean and it occurs in almost all data sets that compare one period to another.<\/p>\n

Ideally you want to find players you can pay for potential instead of past performance (which they are unlikely to repeat) – though that is not easily done in free agency.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Cowboys signed three edge rushers to moderate deals. Dante Fowler signed a one-year, $6.0 million deal, Jadeveon Clowney got a $3.5 million one-year deal, and Payton Turner signed a $2.5 million one-year deal. Fowler only got three sacks, Clowney got 8.5, and Turner spent the year on IR. That\u2019s a combined 11.5 sacks for a combined annual contract value of $12 million.<\/p>\n

My pocket calculator tells me that\u2019s the equivalent of almost $1 million per sack. Compare that dollar-per-sack ratio to any of the free agents above, and the Cowboys got a better deal than almost any other team investing in a premier free agent. I am well aware that this didn\u2019t help the defense in any shape of form, but in the salary cap era, spending your money wisely is generally a good strategy.<\/p>\n

While we are inundated with \u201cMaxx Crosby\/Trey Hendrickson to the Cowboys\u201d stories, if the Cowboys are going spend big money on a free agent edge rusher, chances are they\u2019ll look at a guy who\u2019s on Bill Barnwell\u2019s third tier of pass rushers, which he calls \u201cCapable starters.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Free agents: Joey Bosa, Bills; K\u2019Lavon Chaisson, Patriots; Khalil Mack, Chargers; Boye Mafe, Seahawks; Odafe Oweh, Chargers; Kwity Paye, Colts; Jaelan Phillips, Eagles<\/p>\n

2. Beware the veteran defender from a top defense<\/p>\n

There probably isn\u2019t a single Seahawks defensive starter that wouldn\u2019t be considered an immediate and significant upgrade for the Cowboys defense. Unfortunately, only four Seahawks defenders are hitting free agency (DE Boye Mafe, CB Josh Jobe, S Coby Bryant, CB Tariq Woolen), but would a Seahawks defender really be as effective in Dallas – playing in the Cowboys\u2019 yet-to-be-defined defensive scheme, next to 10 other Cowboys defenders – as he was in Seattle? And the same is true with other players from teams with great defenses.<\/p>\n

The issue is that you\u2019re never sure whether the player you\u2019re acquiring is good because of his talent, because of the scheme his team employed, or because of the teammates he played alongside.<\/p>\n

If the Cowboys are looking for a veteran defender, their best bet would be to sign a good player playing on a bad defense. Those players tend to be cheaper anyway, and they might prove a better bet than the Cowboys\u2019 disastrous penchant for former first-round picks that didn\u2019t pan out with their original team.<\/p>\n

The Saints, for example, were a middling defense last year (16th in points allowed), and their 27-year-old corner, Alontae Taylor, is hitting free agency. The Saints play a 3-4 defense, Taylor played 566 of his 1,056 snaps in the slot, could he be an option for the Cowboys?<\/p>\n

Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just released a list of free agent names the Cowboys may be looking at<\/a>. Here\u2019s that list of names with each team\u2019s rank in points allowed added in brackets.<\/p>\n

LB Quay Walker, Packers (11th)LB Alex Singleton Broncos (3rd)OLB E.J. Speed, Texans (2nd)DE Dre\u2019Mont Jones, Ravens (18th)CB P.J. Locke, Broncos (3rd)CB Eric Stokes, Raiders (25th)S Jalen Thompson, Cardinals (29th)S Reed Blankenship, Eagles (5th)<\/p>\n

Team success can often obscure the view of individual performance. And the same holds true for a veteran defender from a high-caliber defense: Make sure you\u2019re buying a top-quality product, not a fancy name with questionable ingredients.<\/p>\n

3. Ignoring why the old team let the player go.<\/p>\n

In the NFL, it doesn\u2019t happen often that one man\u2019s trash is another man\u2019s treasure. There are a variety of reasons why teams decide not to re-sign their own free agents, and most of them don\u2019t bode well for the player\u2019s future with another team. There are exceptions though.<\/p>\n

One of them is when a free agent may actually be more valuable to the new team than to the old team. Maybe the new scheme or system is a better fit for the player; maybe the player steps out of the shadow of an elite and\/or high-cost player; maybe the coaching staff on the new team can help the player improve more (this of course is a common fallacy among all NFL coaching staffs). Lots of maybes, but that\u2019s what you have a scouting department for – and increasingly, also an analytics department.<\/p>\n

You may think this is a bit of a fluffy point, but it is the difference between signing a Charles Haley and winning three Super Bowls or signing a Greg Hardy and having to live with those results on and off the field.<\/p>\n

It also brings us back to an earlier point, former first-round picks. Did you know that the Cowboys had 10 former first-round picks on defense in 2025? You find that hard to believe? Here they are:<\/p>\n

DE Jadeveon Clowney: Texans \/ 1st \/ 1st pick \/ 2014DE Dante Fowler: Jaguars \/ 1st \/ 3rd pick \/ 2015DT Kenny Clark: Packers \/ 1st \/ 27th pick \/ 2016S Malik Hooker: Colts \/ 1st \/ 15th pick \/ 2017DT Solomon Thomas: 49ers \/ 1st \/ 3rd pick \/ 2017DT Quinnen Williams: Jets \/ 1st \/ 3rd pick \/ 2019LB Kenneth Murray: Chargers \/ 1st \/ 23rd pick \/ 2020DE Payton Turner: Saints \/ 1st \/ 28th pick \/ 2021CB Kaiir Elam: Bills \/ 1st \/ 23rd pick \/ 2022DT Mazi Smith: Cowboys \/ 1st \/ 26th pick \/ 2023<\/p>\n

Incredible draft pedigree, still finished as the worst defense in the league.<\/p>\n

4. Valuing physical traits over mental capacity<\/p>\n

Football is an ultra-physical game, and as we just saw at the combine, fans, media, scouts, GMs, practically everybody gets wrapped up in the physical aspect of the game. 40 times and 225-pound bench press reps were racing across the TV all week.<\/p>\n

But are we over-valuing physical traits at the expense of mental capacity? I hesitate to call out any current or former players, but if a player just keeps racking up stupid penalties, still bites on play-action after four years in the NFL, consistently runs in the wrong direction, or doesn\u2019t understand his assignment in a zone defense, then you\u2019ve got a problem.<\/p>\n

Bill Parcells, who seems to have a quote on everything, also has one on this topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cDumb players do dumb things. Smart players seldom do dumb things.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this day and age where players need to be smart both on the field and off the field, NFL teams can perhaps afford dumb players less than ever before. You can\u2019t win with dumb players in the NFL anymore. And that goes for free agency and the draft.<\/p>\n

But the Cowboys seem to be catching on. At least for new Cowboys DC Christian Parker, there is a premium on the brain<\/a> when looking for players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think that you want a lot of athletic, fast guys because there are gonna be times where there is space, and you have to eliminate it,\u201d he said last week on The Fan. \u201cWe\u2019re not trotting out a YMCA basketball team. We still want to be fast and aggressive, but I will say, there\u2019s a premium on instincts, there\u2019s a premium on the brain. At different spots, they have to handle a different mental workload in terms of where their eyes have to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want guys to be able to process those things quickly. But you can\u2019t go out there with just a bunch of height, weight, speed guys, either. This is not an operation where we\u2019re gonna roll the ball out in the Whataburger parking lot and just play seven-on-seven. We got to be able to process and do those things the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. The player you\u2019ll ask to do something else<\/p>\n

In free agency, you usually pay two types of premiums. One premium is the auction premium that we\u2019ll look at in the next point. The other premium is usually the price you pay for a very specific ability the free agent has and excels at. A wide receiver for example may be a good route runner, he may be a good slot receiver, he may be a great redzone target or something else (some receivers can do all of those things at an elite level, but they\u2019ll also cost elite, cap-crippling money). And when you acquire that free agent with a specific ability, you\u2019re paying a premium for that one specific skill he excels at. So you\u2019d better make darn sure your scheme allows him to excel at that specific trait, because if you\u2019re going to ask the guy to do something else (that he\u2019s not quite as good at), you almost certainly have overpaid for the player<\/p>\n

You\u2019re a press corner? Well, suck it up, buttercup, you\u2019re playing zone in our scheme.So, you ran a sub 4.40 at the combine? Big Deal. Show me how fast you can block.You\u2019ve always rushed from a three-point stance? Good news, like Bob Marley said, we\u2019re going to make you get up, stand up!<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, football is a game of systems and schemes. You can win by getting the right personnel to maximize your system, or you can win by adjusting your scheme to maximize the talent. But you won\u2019t win if you play your talent in the wrong scheme.<\/p>\n

6. You are going to overpay regardless<\/p>\n

Even if you heed the previous points, you\u2019ll end up overpaying for your free agents anyway. Because the team that overestimates a free agent\u2019s value the most will most likely be the team that offers the most and wins the free agency auction, but at the cost of paying an auction premium. Which just means that free agents tend to be signed by the teams that misjudged their true worth the most, which is why free agent signings end up as disappointments so often.<\/p>\n

There are only very few exceptions to this point. One of them is that the free agent may actually be more valuable to the new team than to the old team. Maybe the new scheme or system is a better fit for the player; maybe the player steps out of the shadow of an elite and\/or high-cost teammate; maybe the coaching staff on the new team can help the player improve more (this of course is a common fantasy among all NFL coaching staffs). Lots of maybes and a lot of wishful thinking going on here.<\/p>\n

Javonte Williams and George Pickens (even if he was acquired via trade not free agency) are two very recent examples of exceptions to the auction premium, but we\u2019ll have to wait and see if that still holds true with their new contracts.<\/p>\n

7. Not being active in free agency at all.<\/p>\n

Despite all the warnings above, free agency remains an indispensable tool in building rosters – if used properly. There are teams like the Steelers or Packers who have had success by eschewing free agency for the most part. But most teams have to fall back on free agency in some form or another. Good teams will wait a bit for the auction premium to come down and for the free agency frenzy of the first 48 hours to die down. After that initial period, and when agents and players start getting nervous as they see more and more open slots being filled up, prices will drop significantly from where they were at the start of free agency.<\/p>\n

Free agency is a (often very costly) process that\u2019s designed to plug holes in your roster. Don\u2019t ever think that you\u2019re just two or three players away, because no team ever is (except for the 2026 Cowboys, if you put any value in what Dan Orlovsky has to say<\/a>), especially not in this era of the NFL. And once you understand that, you\u2019ll also understand that the best way to assemble elite talent is through the draft, and not with your wallet.<\/p>\n

8. Free agency is as much about your own players as it is about external free agents.<\/p>\n

Wrapping it up with my last and final point: Every single watchout above is true for the draft as well, and many also apply to Cowboys\u2019 own free agents.<\/p>\n

Not every Cowboys player needs to get a league-leading contract.<\/p>\n

And beware of overpaying your own players coming off major injuries or career years. It may seem like you\u2019re getting a good deal on the contract at the time, but because you\u2019re projecting past performance into the future, more often than not you\u2019ll end up cutting that player within a few years.<\/p>\n

The key heading into free agency for both your own and for external free agents is to find players you can pay for future potential instead of past performance.<\/p>\n

Remember when the Cowboys let DeMarco Murray walk after his 1,845-yard season in 2014? Philly signed him to a five-year, $42 million deal with $21 million guaranteed and released him one year later after a disappointing 702-yard season.<\/p>\n

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Do you have an additional mistake you think we should have included? Let us know in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The legal negotiation period for free agency will begin at noon ET on March 9, and players can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,26780,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-194917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-cowboys-free-agency","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194917","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=194917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}