The 2025 season did not go as planned for the Dallas Cowboys. There was a lot of excitement heading into the regular season, but just a few days before kickoff against the Philadelphia Eagles, Jerry Jones did the unthinkable by trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse and the defensive struggles were too much to overcome to make the postseason. With the season coming to an end for the Dallas Cowboys, here are
some final thoughts on the season for the Dallas Cowboys as we look towards 2026.
The Cowboys must move on from Matt Eberflus
Despite continued talks about wanting to keep continuity on the coaching staff, Matt Eberflus’ performance in 2025 should have management seriously reevaluate that decision. It’s almost hard not to feel a little bad for Eberflus, giving the franchise altering move the front office made by trading Parsons right before the season, but we watch coaches every year figure it out with star players missing time due to injury. Eberflus could not answer that call, and led the Cowboys to one of the team’s worst defensive seasons in franchise history.
Despite the Parsons trade, Eberflus had to have a heavy say in trading for Kenneth Murray and Kaiir Elam, and the coverages the defense ran for most of the season did not match with the personnel they were putting on the field from week-to-week. It may be a tough sell for the Jones to want to hire a new defensive coordinator for a third consecutive year, but relying on continuity over a capable play-caller on the defensive side of the ball would be a huge mistake for a team with a rather small window left.
Complete defensive rebuild is needed
One of the scariest aspects of this offseason for the Cowboys is how much work is needed to be done on the defensive side of the football. Heading into 2026, the Cowboys need to completely rebuild their secondary with DaRon Bland coming off another foot injury, Shavon Revel Jr. having an unevenrookie season, and Trevon Diggs now in Green Bay.
Along with the struggles in the secondary, the Cowboys pass rush room needs a lot of attention. Outside of Donovan Ezeiruaku, the only player in the defensive end room who played above expectations in 2025 was Jadeveon Clowney (who was signed after the start of the season).
Dallas should be in a good spot to draft an impact edge rusher in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft, but needing help at edge, corner, safety, and linebacker, the Cowboys investment in defensive players will need to be aggressive throughout free agency, trades, and the draft this upcoming offseason.
George Pickens must return
One of the few wins for the Cowboys front office this year was the trade for George Pickens. Pickens has been the Cowboys best offensive skill player in 2025 and posted monster numbers in his first year in Dallas.
Pickens will be entering this offseason as a free agent, but expect the Cowboys to place the franchise tag on Pickens while they attempt to negotiate a long-term extension with his agent, David Mulugheta. Whether it’s by franchise tag or long-term extension, Pickens needs to be wearing a star in 2026, as he is a key factor to the team reaching it’s full potential in their current window.
Schottenheimer impressed, but growth needed
The Brain Schottenheimer experience in Dallas has been a rollercoaster ride since the day he was announced the head coach. First met with plenty of critics due to the lack of process in the hire, Schottenheimer quickly grew on people after doing and saying a lot of the right things. He backed quite a bit of those up in year one, but there are areas Schottenheimer needs to grow in for this team to reach it’s full potential.
Schottenheimer conservativeness on fourth downs, trusting too much in his defense, and another season of the Cowboys at the top of the league in pre-snap penalties will need to be addressed, But for the first time in quite some time, the Cowboys offense felt like it ran on easy far more often than it had been under Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy. That in itself should give Schottenheimer more hope moving forward, especially with all the things he had to overcome in 2025 as a first-year head coach in the NFL.
