The Dallas Cowboys have been busy over the course of free agency so far, but obviously the rest of the NFL has been as well. It has been a bit of a busy time across our favorite league.
While we have been spending a ton of time talking about the moves that Dallas has made over the course of the last week some things that may have happened across the league may have slipped through the cracks. For the purposes of today’s discussion we want to look at some notable new faces on teams who the Cowboys
will play in 2026.
It will still be a bit before we know the 2026 Dallas Cowboys schedule, but for now we do know who the team will be playing both home and away which is all we need for the purposes of this exercise.
Odafe Oweh, Washington Commanders
The Washington Commanders have been among the more active teams in free agency, and it is clear that Dan Quinn did not like being the head coach of an embarrassing group last year.
It is also pretty obvious that Quinn wants to get back to playing elite defense which is why Washington spent big on Oweh. For all the success (being kind here) that Washington has had in recent memory they have not really had a tried-and-true star pass rusher. They paid Oweh to be that for them and the Cowboys will see him twice a year.
Mike Evans, San Francisco 49ers
One of the biggest moves across free agency at large was Mike Evans leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who the Cowboys will also play in 2026 by the way.
Unfortunately for Dallas, Evans’ new home is with a team that has gotten the better of them in recent memory in the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers wound up in the Divisional Round of last season’s playoffs and some would offer that they did not necessarily need a ton of work, but they are set to see Brandon Aiyuk leave soon (it seems that way at least) and were in need of a vertical threat, particularly with how often they battle injuries.
Gardner Minshew, Arizona Cardinals
We are including this just in case because we all know how the Arizona Cardinals have had their way with the Cowboys lately. Even more so than San Francisco which is hard to believe.
Jacoby Brissett seems like Arizona’s QB1, largely based off of the game he had against Dallas last season, but if I told you that Gardner Minshew was starting for the Cardinals against the Cowboys wouldn’t you be nervous? Just because of the Cardinals of it all?
Yea. Me too.
David Montgomery, Houston Texans
Last season was a serious struggle for the Houston Texans on offense and they clearly want to get better at not having C.J. Stroud be the entire show which is why they traded for David Montgomery.
Will this fix the Texans’ ground game completely? It will certainly make things above average and be a rising tide, the matter of how high the boats wind up lifting certainly remains to be seen. The Cowboys have been talking about getting better at defending the run for forever and this will be one of their bigger tests.
Trent McDuffie, Los Angeles Rams
One of the most league-altering moves across the NFL happened when the Los Angeles Rams traded for Trent McDuffie. They know they have a window and want to capitalize on it.
McDuffie has been super for the Kansas City Chiefs, but he shouldn’t slow down what Dallas wants to do too much since offense is where the Cowboys shine (although that isn’t hard with their defense).
Still though, this is notable. The Rams are going to be tough to beat. They are arguably going to be the team to beat and that is because the Cowboys also have to play the defending Super Bowl Champions in the Seattle Seahawks (with DeMarcus Lawrence there by the way).
