In the photo above, two defensive ends who once played for the Dallas Cowboys have since become defensive factors on their respective teams. Over his first two seasons with the Washington Commanders, Dorance
Armstrong has 10.5 sacks. Since 1982, that ranks as the tenth most in franchise history for any defensive lineman during their first 22 games with the Commanders. As for Parsons, he is still trying to find his footing on a new defense, but he still manages to be tied for having the fourth most pressures among all defensive players in the 2025 season, per Pro Football Focus.
The Cowboys’ current defensive front is struggling to sack the quarterback. So far, Dallas has 11 sacks, which ranks in the bottom half in team history through the first six weeks of the regular season. James Houston, a journeyman pass rusher, is the team leader with four sacks. Second on the team is defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who has two of his own. Once thought of as the strength of the Dallas defense, the defensive line has quickly turned into one of its most significant weaknesses.
There’s a reason for that. The Cowboys have been unable to get production from many of the players they draft along the defensive line. Since 2019, the front office has drafted 16 defensive linemen. For context, even DeMarvion Overshown is added in the mix after recording five sacks in 2024. Taking Parsons out of the mix, all the 15 other picks have recorded 43.5 sacks during their time with Dallas. Parsons had 52.5 sacks.
The sack totals for all Cowboys defensive linemen drafted since 2016, adding up to 86.5:
*Micah Parsons – 52.5
*Dorance Armstrong – 23.5
Osa Odighizuwa – 14.5
*Maliek Collins – 14.5
Sam Williams – 9.5
*Chauncey Golston – 9
DeMarvion Overshown – 5
*Neville Gallimore – 4
*Taco Charlton – 4
*Charles Tapper – 1
Marshawn Kneeland – 1
*Trysten Hill – 0.5
Donovan Ezeiruaku – 0
Jay Toia – 0
*Tommy Akingbesote – 0
*Justin Rogers – 0
*Viliami Fehoko – 0
*John Ridgeway – 0
*Quinton Bohanna – 0
*Bradlee Anae – 0
*Joe Jackson – 0
*Jalen Jelks – 0
*Joey Ivie – 0
*Jordan Carrell – 0* – no longer with Dallas
What about before 2019? Going back to 2016, the four best pass rushers the Cowboys have drafted are Parsons (52.5), Dorance Armstrong (23.5), Osa Odighizuwa (14.5), and Maliek Collins (14.5). Coming in fifth place is Sam Williams with 9.5 sacks, who has performed way below expectations in his first season as a starter. In the final year of his rookie contract, there are questions about whether or not he will be a part of the team’s future.
It’s not like the Cowboys haven’t poured high draft picks into the defensive line position. Taco Charlton was a first-round pick who was released in his third season. Dallas drafted Mazi Smith as the first defensive tackle to be taken in the first round by the team since Russell Maryland. The team praised Smith for having pass-rush upside as a prospect. That has not panned out. Marshawn Kneeland and Donovan Ezeiruaku are back-to-back second-round picks who both had borderline first-round grades coming out of college.
Ezeiruaku has yet to register his first career sack, and over two seasons, Kneeland has the same number of sacks in his career as Charles Tapper: one. Despite having the second-most pressures in the NFL, with 74, the Cowboys’ defensive line has been unable to finish. The secondary has been porous, but the lack of pass rush also contributes to the team allowing a league-worst 116.9 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks.
After Dallas traded away Parsons before the season, Stephen Jones didn’t show any signs of concern at the press conference, citing the team’s confidence in its ability to scheme pressure to supplement Parsons’ production.
“…We felt like because of our depth on the edge, as well as the ability to scheme pressure, that we could make up for Micah — because obviously he’s elite at rushing the passer — that we could make up for that…”
To this point, that has not been the case, and Dallas has suffered for it. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus spoke to the media this week and said he’s trying to find “solutions” and that “nothing is off the table.” Could that mean that Dallas should give Houston a run as a starter in place of Williams? Do they switch up some of the other pieces of the rotation? With three weeks until the trade deadline, could Jerry Jones be scrambling to try and trade for an impact pass rusher so the team doesn’t waste an MVP-caliber season from Dak Prescott?
As Eberflus said himself, nothing should be off the table. There are still a lot of games left to play this season, but the defensive line is a shell of what fans were used to seeing from 2021 to 2023. The ghost of Micah Parsons and not being able to hit on draft picks have a lot to do with why things feel different.
