The Dallas Cowboys haven’t been the big spenders in free agency that they led us to believe they would be this offseason, but they accomplished a lot in filling multiple holes on defense. They addressed the safety position with Jalen Thompson, who they have high hopes for, and got some proven pass rush help by acquiring Rashan Gary from the Green Bay Packers.
Gary was a backup to their original plan to go after Maxx Crosby, and were in the running until the very end. Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning
News published a mailbag discussing a few questions around the Cowboys. One question is whether Dallas will be looping back to the Crosby market now that the trade with the Baltimore Ravens has fallen through. Unfortuneatly it doesn’t sound likely.
@Matthew8912471: I still think the Cowboys should pursue Maxx Crosby what do you think?
Watkins: It seems the Cowboys are out of the Maxx Crosby picture. The team offered two draft picks — a first- and second-rounder — and was willing to take on a bulk of his salary and deal with his knee issues. Now that the Crosby trade with Baltimore fell through, going back at Crosby isn’t in the plans at this stage. Trading for Rashan Gary and focusing on finding another pass rusher in the NFL draft is where the Cowboys sit right now.
The interesting point Watkins brings up in his response is that the Cowboys were willing to take on a bulk of Crosby’s salary from Las Vegas and were okay with his knee issues. The uncertainty around Crosby’s long-term health post-knee surgery is what pulled the deal off the table for Baltimore, but if the Cowboys are looking to maximize this two-to-three-year window right now, they may have been okay with the risks. They’ve taken much bigger swings and misses on less proven players than Crosby.
Even though Jerry Jones won’t close the door on a future deal with Crosby just yet, all signs point to Dallas staying put with Gary as one of their outside linebacker/edge players and shifting their focus to the draft. Given the Cowboys sit at 12th overall with their first pick on night one, the board will have to fall perfectly, allowing one of the top edge rushers to fall to them.
In Mel Keiper’s latest mock draft, he has David Bailey, Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, and Rueben Bain Jr. going in the top nine picks. If the Cowboys want to be aggressive and go after someone they tab as “their guy,” they might end up having to trade up in the first round. A bold move for a team that could use multiple starters on defense.
If that’s how the first 11 picks shape out, Dallas might decide waiting until 20 will be their best bet to address edge and find a trade partner to come up to 12 and select someone, giving Dallas extra draft capital to work with. In Kiper’s same mock draft, he doesn’t have his next defensive lineman going until 22nd overall, with Peter Woods to the Los Angeles Chargers. Zion Young and Keldric Faulk are the last two pass rushers off the board before the first round is over.
Three names missing Dallas could go after at pick 20 are T.J. Parker (Clemson), Akheem Mesidor (Miami), and Cashius Howell (Texas A&M). All three aren’t as talented as the top-flight rushers in front of them, but could give Dallas players with a high ceiling in Howell and Parker and a high-floor player in Mesidor. The Cowboys also had formal meetings with all three at the NFL combine.
Dallas re-signed Sam Williams and brought back Tyrus Wheat in free agency, but they are expected to be more of a depth piece along the defensive front. Donovan Ezeiruaku is expected to miss most of the offseason after getting hip labrum surgery, further telegraphing Dallas’ need to draft an outside linebacker/edge player to pair with Gary. A healthy Ezeiruaku, Gary, and a first-round pick on paper look like a solid trio heading into 2026, where Dallas desperately needs to improve from where they were a season ago in rushing the passer.
