The Dallas Cowboys are always talked about like a championship-caliber team, but for more than 30 years now they have not played like one. Can this be the year the Cowboys get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995? We checked in with RJ Ochoa of Blogging the Boys
on the Cowboys’ offseason.The full episode is in the player above. Some of the highlights of our discussion are below.
Cowboys’ best offseason move? Hiring DC Christian Parker
Dallas’s defense was last in the NFL in 2025, allowing 30.1 points per game. That followed a 2024 season
in which Dallas was 31st on defense, giving up 27.5 points per game. The Cowboys fired coordinator Matt Eberflus and hired Christian Parker. A 34-year-old first-time coordinator, Parker spent the last two seasons as defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Worst thing that happened this offseason?
“They had so many issues, so many things to fix, and that’s why they were sort of aggressive in free agency. That’s why they were aggressive in the NFL draft. Obviously they moved up one spot for Caleb [Downs]. That being said, when you have to replace almost an entire defense, there’s a finite number of resources, and so you kind of have to pick and choose. And I would say that they left linebacker a little shy … I would offer similarly at corner … they’ve left themselves shy there, and they’re paying that price, like I said, for just being so indifferent, for being so toxic the last two years that they just had too many holes to fill.”
- Are the Giants a real challenger to the Eagles in the NFC East?
- LB Tremaine Edmunds ‘could really be beneficial’ to Giants’ defense
Caleb Downs ‘as advertised’
The Giants passed twice in the 2026 NFL Draft on the Ohio State safety, selecting Arvell Reese and Francis Mauigoa at Nos. 5 and 10. The Cowboys then moved up to No. 11 to select Downs.
“To steal a line from Christian Parker from minicamp this week, he has been as advertised. He is a perfect prospect, Ochoa said. ”To me, he has all of the same sort of qualities that Zeke Elliott and Micah Parsons had for the Cowboys. And I bring them up because they were franchise changers. They really just kind of were catalysts for runs that the Cowboys had obviously across their rookie contracts.
“And so Caleb Downs is that, but he seems more polished. He seems less willing to absorb the Cowboys of it all. He’s well accustomed to the stage, obviously having played at Alabama and at Ohio State, having won a national championship. He’s maybe the smartest player in their building, the most naturally instinctive from a football perspective.”
Why can this year be different for Dallas?
The Cowboys have not been to a Conference Championship Game since winning the Super Bowl in 1995. Perennially, they seem to underachieve expectations. Can the 2026 season be different?
“This offseason has been different … There has been no point of drama. There’s been no attention seeking. And so, that’s why there is some optimism here,” Ochoa said. “I think the Cowboys are in a position to probably win the NFC East. I’m going to pick them to win the division. I think the Giants are on the rise, maybe not there yet. The Commanders kind of on the fall. The Eagles have earned the benefit of the doubt, but they can combust at any moment as we well know.”
The Giants’ hiring of John Harbaugh
“I was very upset when the Giants hired John Harbaugh. I mean, I wasn’t like morose, but it was not ideal. There’s a lot that has to be proven, but I’m still not afraid of the Giants, but it is by far the most alert I have been of the Giants. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I never really feared Tom Coughlin. You know what I mean? It’s, I would say the first time in like 20 years that I have been awake at the wheel regarding the Giants.”
