Stephen Jones on Christian Parker, George Pickens’ future, Nick Sorensen’s status, more – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
Hopefully, the Dallas Cowboys get their free agents signed sooner rather than later.
The latest on George Pickens’ future
Arguably the biggest upcoming unrestricted free agent the Cowboys have on their roster is WR George Pickens, who had a career-best year with 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. Jones hasn’t dived into specifics with the negotiations, and didn’t again Wednesday, but reiterated the goal is to keep Pickens with the Cowboys.
“We won’t get into any details right now,” Jones said. “Certainly,
we want George to be back here in Dallas, and we’ll certainly go from there.”
Jones mentioned that in the past, the NFL’s scouting combine in Indianapolis has been a good place in the past for those conversations between teams, players and their representation to occur on contract extensions. This year’s combine takes place from February 23 to March 2.
Nick Sorensen to be retained as special teams coordinator
With plenty of staff turnover in the last week for the Cowboys, one area where there won’t be any is on special teams, as Jones announced special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen will be retained for a second season in 2026.
Still, Jones made clear that the team is looking to see lots of improvement in the third phase of the game.
“We certainly want to be better there,” Jones said. “We’ve got some good pieces with our returner, our punter, our kicker and our snapper. But usually when you get some good defensive players, those turn into pretty good special teams players too.”
Cowboys have visited with Javonte Williams’ representation
While Jones wasn’t as open about the team’s contract talks with George Pickens, he discussed a bit more regarding RB Javonte Williams, who rushed for 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2025.
“We’ve certainly visited with Javonte…” Jones said. “We’re always visiting with representative about our players.”
Things continue to trend towards Williams likely returning to the Cowboys in 2026, and possibly beyond. At the team’s year-end press conference earlier in the month, Jones said Williams “is at the top of our list to go out and sign” and the team would like to get him signed to a multi-year deal.
Cowboys’ chief scout Will McClay: ‘There’s alignment and there’s vision’ on team – Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Jerry Jones hasn’t said anything just yet, but the entire front office seems very high on Christian Parker.
McClay serves a lot of responsibilities that stretch far beyond scouting the upcoming draft class. One of the more important roles he’s served as of late is being part of the interview process that saw the Cowboys land on Christian Parker as their new defensive coordinator on Jan. 22. As he did his part and his own research during the process, it was clear to him why Parker should be the choice.
“Everybody you talk to, nobody said anything negative about him,” McClay said. “That was number-one. Then, when we got the chance to meet him and talk to him, he was wise beyond his years. But the way he puts things together and the way he talks about his defense, his awareness about the front end and the back end, it’s exciting to work with him and the staff he’s going to put together … He’s going to put us up front on the defensive side.”
Throughout Parker’s career, he has helped develop multiple first-team All-Pro cornerbacks, including the Broncos’ Patrick Surtain II and the Eagles’ Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell. The vision he enacted for those guys is already starting to manifest in the beginning stages for players like Shavon Revel Jr. and DaRon Bland on the Cowboys’ roster.
“He’s talked about the young guys, he talked about Revel,” McClay said. “The ability and what he sees and what he can help him with, young players are going to be better. The guys in the secondary — Bland, the safeties — he’s got a vision for those guys. When you develop Patrick Surtain, [Quinyon] Mitchell and [Cooper] DeJean and have those guys under his tutelage, it gives us good hope knowing that he’s a hell of a football coach.”
However, outside questions still rightfully exist with Parker’s hire. At 34 years old, he’s not only the youngest defensive coordinator in team history, but it’s also the first time he will be calling plays at any level. How did the Cowboys answer the question of inexperience on that front?
“It was the exhaustive search that [head coach Brian Schottenheimer] has done, and all of us having a piece in it,” McClay said. “Just that whole process, it was incredible to be able to go and dig and find out stuff that you maybe didn’t know. It was just the way we went about it in finding that guy as well as putting together the staff is an exhaustive process. I’m proud to be a part of it, because we have some good guys.”
S Reed Blankenship might be on new Cowboys DC Christian Parker’s free agent list – Brian Martin, Blogging the Boys
Since Dan Quinn, there has always been at least one free agent signed by the Cowboys with ties to whoever they hire as their new defensive coordinator.
First on his agenda is filling out the remainder of his defensive coaching staff. Fortunately, it looks as if Jerry Jones and Company are allowing their new DC to put together the coaching staff of his choosing, instead of inheriting what was already in place. That’s a positive sign things are changing for the better and hopefully carries over to other aspects of the offseason.
Hopefully Christian Parker will put together the coaching staff he believes will help aid him in turning the Cowboys defense around, but that’s only part of the equation to help him succeed. Free agency will also be a big part of his success or not, something the Cowboys have had mixed success with over the past several years. This year though needs to be different.
Just about every position on the Cowboys defense could stand to be upgraded. They will need to be much more active in free agency to accomplish this goal, because they simply can’t fill all their roster “needs” in the draft. This hopefully means Christian Parker will have more of an active say exactly which free agents he’d like them to sign and it could start with former Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship.
Blankenship has gone from an undrafted free agent to a three-year starter and captain with the Eagles in a short amount of time. He’s a film junkie and has been lauded by his teammates and coaches for his attention to detail and willingness to mentor his teammates. In him, it’s almost as if there’s another coach on the field to turn to if/when needed.
Blankenship knows all of the ins and outs of Vic Fangio’s defensive scheme, which is expected to be really similar to what Christian Parker will utilize as the Cowboys new DC. The familiarity with the defensive scheme and with Parker, could make Blankenship the ideal free agent to help Dallas’ defense transition go smoothly from Matt Eberflus.
Dallas Cowboys ‘Unsung Hero’ of 2025 Perfectly Rounds Out Elite NFL Unit – Josh Sanchez, Cowboys on SI
Ryan Flournoy’s development should have fans excited about next season and the Cowboys’ wide receiver corps.
The Dallas Cowboys had one of the NFL‘s best offenses during the 2025 campaign, ranking No. 2 overall. Dallas also produced the No. 2 passing offense and No. 9 rushing offense, and the team hopes to keep things rolling in 2026.
While the team had several breakout stars like George Pickens and Javonte Williams, one “unsung hero” for the team was a second-year pass catcher who helped round out one of the league’s best trios.
NFL.com’s Kevin Patra named an “unsung hero” for every team in the league as we prepare for the end of the season, with wide receiver Ryan Flournoy earning the honor.
With Flournoy, Pickens, and CeeDee Lamb on the outside for Dak Prescott, the Cowboys’ passing attack was virtually unstoppable.
“The Cowboys found a legit third receiver. In his second season, Flournoy generated 475 yards on 40 catches (11.9 yards per catch) with four touchdowns,” Petra wrote.
“As a beneficiary of the defensive attention paid to CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, Flournoy thrived, generating 0.09 EPA per route, 11th-best among all receivers with at least 200 routes run. His 0.45 EPA per target finished second on the Cowboys, behind only Pickens. Assuming Jerry Jones finds a way to retain Pickens, Dallas will enter 2026 with an excellent trio as the team looks to return to prominence.”
