There is no denying that the Dallas Cowboys significantly upgraded their defense this offseason. While the unit is by no means a finished product, on paper, Dallas looks to be in a much better spot on that side of the ball than it was at this point in 2025.
While they likely won’t be a top-of-the-league unit, the upgrades the Cowboys have made this spring and summer should hopefully drag them out of the cellar of the league, which is where they were in 2025. Still, Dallas has plenty of spots on the roster
where they could use one final upgrade to put the finishing touches on this new-look defense.
If the Cowboys are going to look into adding another capable defender to the roster, bringing in an edge defender or linebacker seems like the two most obvious fits. With that thought in mind, the Cowboys were named as the best fit for free agent edge Haason Reddick.
Here is what was said about why the Cowboys and Reddick could be a good match.
Haason Reddick’s fall from grace is a cautionary tale for young NFL players, but there’s still time for the veteran edge-rusher to turn things around. While Reddick entered the league as a first-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2017, he was a late-bloomer who didn’t emerge as a star until his breakout 12.5-sack campaign in 2020.
He remained a force during his four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, notching at least 11 sacks in all four of his seasons with the club and earning a pair of Pro Bowl nods in the final two. Things went off the rails shortly after he was traded to the New York Jets, with a puzzling contract dispute leading Reddick to participate in just 10 games and record a meager one sack during the 2024 campaign. He failed to return to form following a change of scenery, mustering only 2.5 sacks for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2025.
Reddick is now sitting on the free‑agent scrapheap hoping for another opportunity to show he can still be a force in the NFL. While he’s on the wrong side of 30 and carries concerns related to his recent production and past contract dispute, he could get one more opportunity to prove himself before falling out of the league’s plans. The Cowboys haven’t shied away from rolling the dice on talented veterans with contract or performance concerns and could view Reddick as their next upside swing.
Dallas invested heavily into the defensive line in recent years, but can still afford to take a low-risk, high-reward gamble on Reddick. The team has the second-lowest amount of cap space in the league right now, but it shouldn’t cost them much to secure Reddick’s services. While the Cowboys are set with their starters and top backups on the edge, Reddick would be ideal injury insurance and a rotational piece who could offer immense bang-for-the-buck value if he’s locked in and motivated.
At this point in his career, Reddick is not going to be the dominant pass-rush threat he was in Philadelphia, but he still can be a valuable rotation piece on a contending roster. You could make an argument that Dallas’ pass rush group is the weakest spot on their defense, and adding Reddick would go a long way towards raising the floor of the unit as a whole.
The 31-year-old veteran showed in the first six games of the season last year (25 total pressures, 22 hurries) that there is still some gas in the tank. Reddick would be a good fit in new defensive coordinator Christian Parker’s defense, and the up-and-coming young coordinator may be able to get the veteran back to that level of play we saw at the start of the 2025 campaign.
With Reddick still on the open market, Dallas could almost certainly bring him in on a one-year deal, making this a no-brainer move. If the veteran pass rusher is interested in becoming a Cowboy, Dallas should jump at this low-risk, high-reward opportunity as soon as possible.
