Recapping top Cowboys headlines from 2026 NFL Combine – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys offseason focus continues to be on defense, but they’ll need to find depth at EDGE with Donovan Ezeiruaku sidelined.
Quick hitters:
Cowboys outside linebacker Donovan Ezeiruaku underwent offseason hip labrum surgery and will likely miss most of the spring offseason program. The expectation is he’ll be ready to return to the field when Dallas heads to training camp in Oxnard, California.
Brian Schottenheimer announced last Thursday that the Cowboys will be moving Marist Liufau to outside
linebacker, citing his arm length and ability to disrupt the ball as reasons for the change. Liufau told DallasCowboys.com’s Nicole Hutchison that he felt “great and so excited” about the change and vowed he is “going to give it all I got.”
One of the early goals for new DC Christian Parker is finding the Cowboys’ defensive play style, which he believes is necessary to put together before getting into the scheme.
Cowboys VP of player personnel Will McClay discussed his approach to building Dallas’ roster with the players that DC Christian Parker is looking for: The best players they can find, not necessarily those that are scheme specific, saying “If you can build a team with the best football players that have the traits that fit any system, you have a chance to continue to have success.”
3 winners, 2 losers from the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star
The Cowboys have a wide range of options at linebacker, from combine standout Sonny Styles, to Jacob Rodriguez, or free agent Nakobe Dean.
Winners
So one guy that helped his case that is projected to go in the 2nd or 3rd round, was Jacob Rodriguez, a standout linebacker from Texas Tech and winner of the 2025 Bronko Nagurski, Butkus, and Lombardi award.
Now the Cowboys do not have a day two pick, so that is an issue, but if they end up trading George Pickens or doing something else they could get their hands on one.
Rodriguez ran a 4.57-second 40, with a 38.5-inch vertical. During his on-field work, everything he did was smooth at 6-foot-1, 231 pounds.
Another guy that turned heads was Sonny Styles clearly, which is the guy that I wish would fall to Dallas, but it won’t happen.
Despite carrying the most weight by any LB at the combine, he tied for the fastest marks in the group with a 99th% 4.46s 40 and 1.56s 10-yard split.
He also had a 43.5” vertical that was 3.5 inches higher than the rest of the LBs. Man, I would do anything for the Cowboys to get their hands on him somehow in April.
5 combine winners who should be of interest to the Cowboys – Brian Martin, Inside The Star
Two defensive backs to keep an eye on for the Cowboys and Christian Parker to target, who both performed well at the combine.
S Dillon Thieneman, Oregon
No formal visit with the Cowboys
Thieneman’s impressive performance at the combine has boosted his stock from a potential fringe first-rounder to probably a first-round lock. He was a standout in every drill he participated in and may have solidified himself as the second-ranked safety in this year’s draft class behind Caleb Downs. His versatility to play in the box or deep, as well as in the nickel could be exactly what Christian Parker is looking for to play that Cooper DeJean role. Don’t be surprised if he becomes a favorite for them at 20 or if they trade down a few spots.
CB Chris Johnson, San Diego State
Formal with the Cowboys
With several of the top CBs choosing not to participate at the combine, Johnson took advantage of the opportunity and boosted his draft stock as a result. He was expected to be an early second-round pick prior to his outstanding performance of the combine, but now could be viewed as a fringe first-round draft pick. As a formal visitor, we already know the Cowboys are showing some interest in him despite coming from a smaller collegiate program. That in itself could mean the interest is real, possibly making him a late first-round option.
Cowboys could benefit from combine’s biggest disappointments dropping – Reid Hanson, The Cowboys Wire
Some top-end talent may have tested out of the Cowboys reach in the first round, but others could be a steal on defense with the 12th or 20th overall picks.
While elite testing for someone like Styles works against the Cowboys’ best interest because his RAS pushes him too far up the board, players like Bain and Howell now stand a realistic chance of falling to the Cowboys’ pick locations of 12 and 20 respectively.
Short arms aren’t ideal on defensive end prospects.
Arms are generally an important measurement for pass-rushers because they represent one of the main lines of defense against toolsy offensive tackles. Pass protectors who win the reach battle can lock on and neutralize would-be pass rushers with relative ease. Short arms on a pass rusher invites this disadvantage.
At the same time Bain and Howell each represent two of the best pass-rushing talents in the class. Given their extremely poor arm measurements it’s likely they were losers of the arm length battles throughout their college careers, yet they still found a way to succeed. It’s a true battle of film vs projection with these two prospects.
The poor measurements will very likely knock Bain and Howell down some teams’ draft boards this spring. Even though both rushers’ film showed arm length has not been an issue, measurements like this are about projection to the next level.
Will McClay recently explained, “traits can get you in trouble” when discussing athletic testing, yet he himself is known to set preferred thresholds at various positions. It’s difficult to tell where he stands on this specific issue. In data collected between 2011 and 2023, the shortest armed pass rusher the Cowboys have drafted checked in at 32.1 inches. Short isn’t a gamble Dallas usually makes, yet, pass rushers of this quality rarely fall into their laps.
Jerry Jones on Brandon Aubrey: Cowboys have ‘good offer on the table’ for star kicker – Kevin Patra, NFL.com
Having a contract situation play out this publicly for a kicker is so Cowboys.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said last week that the club has a standing offer to the restricted free agent.
“I think he’s outstanding,” Jones said, via the team’s official website. “Love his story, love the fact that the story is with the Cowboys. We feel good that what we are talking about is an appreciation of what he can do for us. That’s a way of, not trying to negotiate with anything I might say here, but we’ve got a good offer on the table for him.”
Aubrey famously played soccer, not football, in college and went on to play briefly in the United Soccer League before being released in 2018. In 2022, Aubrey joined the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL. From then on, his trajectory skyrocketed. He joined the Cowboys in 2023 and has since been one of the most accurate kickers in the league, with a booming leg that makes 60-plus yarders look routine.
The unconventional journey to the NFL leaves Aubrey financially disadvantaged. In three years, he’s made less than $3 million total ($2.695 million, per Over The Cap).
The kicker won’t hit the open market unfettered either. As a restricted free agent, the Cowboys can place a tender on the kicker to ensure they get something in return if Aubrey were to sign with another team. A second-round tender would pay the kicker $5.8 million. The Cowboys would receive a second-round pick
