The Dallas Cowboys have a recent history of poor behavior in the offseason. Each of the last two years has featured offseasons that dealt with contract drama, a lack of interest in free agency, leaving Mike McCarthy in a contract year, saddling Brian Schottenheimer with a defensive coordinator who the front office had a history with… there are few people who would defend all of 2024 and 2025.
This offseason has been different, though. Relative to recent trends, the Cowboys have been moving and operating
in an objectively different way. It would appear that different is not always enough, though.
ESPN gives Cowboys a poor offseason grade
Recently the folks at the worldwide leader handed out offseason grades to each and every NFL team. They noted that their analysis came from the perspective of the decisions that each team made, and while clearing the recent bar is something the Cowboys did, it appears that ESPN believes they could/should have done more.
Dallas Cowboys: C+
Biggest move: Keeping WR George Pickens on the franchise tag — and only the franchise tag
Move I liked: Keeping Pickens on the franchise tag
Move I disliked: Trading DT Osa OdighizuwaThe ripple effects of Dallas’ decision to trade Micah Parsons ahead of the 2025 season were still being felt this offseason. That was most apparent when the Cowboys were among the teams vying for Maxx Crosby. They didn’t get the Pro Bowl edge rusher, who landed back in Las Vegas.
But losing Parsons was also likely a factor in the Cowboys’ decision to trade a fourth-round pick for edge rusher Rashan Gary — an overpay considering Gary is a vastly diminished relative to his pre-torn-ACL self and still will make $16 million per year.
The Parsons effect was also felt at defensive tackle. The Cowboys had used some of their extra draft capital from the deal to trade for Quinnen Williams in midseason, creating a bit of a surplus at interior lineman with Kenny Clark and Odighizuwa. Dallas’ solution was to trade Odighizuwa to San Francisco for a third-round pick. The Cowboys chose the wrong D-tackle to deal, as Odighizuwa is younger and makes less than Clark, plus is arguably better than the veteran at this stage of their respective careers. The Cowboys would have gotten less draft capital for Clark, but I don’t think they fared particularly well with the Odighizuwa deal and wonder if they didn’t trade Clark, who was part of the Parsons deal, due to the optics.
Dallas’ other major player decision was related to Pickens. After the wide receiver’s exceptional 2025 season, the Cowboys applied the franchise tag but said they wouldn’t negotiate a long-term deal with him. This was the right move. Handing him a new contract right now would be paying Pickens at the peak of his worth. And I can’t help but think about Pickens falling out of favor in Pittsburgh — even with Mike Tomlin there — and wonder if there’s a risk of that happening in Dallas, too. Considering that, I don’t see a great reason for Dallas to commit to him long term before it has to. And it doesn’t have to right now.
The Cowboys made a change at defensive coordinator after finishing last in defensive EPA per play last season. They replaced Matt Eberflus with Christian Parker, who was the Eagles’ defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach. Dallas added safety Caleb Downs and edge rusher Malachi Lawrence in the first round of the draft, signed free agent safety Jalen Thompson and traded for linebacker Dee Winters.
If the coordinator change and personnel reinforcements can make Dallas’ defense roughly average while the offense maintains its torrid 2025 production, the Cowboys can quickly become a contender.
This feels like a glass half-empty approach to the offseason. The Cowboys are not immune, nor is anyone else for that matter, to the optics of situations, but all of their moves felt purposeful this year. Trading away Osa Odighizuwa was not fun, but it also led to Dallas being able to acquire Jaishawn Barham given that they didn’t have a third-round pick when the offseason began.
Why didn’t they? Because of the move that the author here liked the most for the Cowboys as Dallas dealt it to Pittsburgh last year to acquire George Pickens. I’m willing to go with some of what is written here in that the Cowboys are clearly still picking up some overall mess of the last few years (as noted up top), but how long are we going to hold them to the fire for mistakes of the past? They matter and have a trickle down effect. That is obvious. But if we are talking about decisions made this offseason then they all helped the Cowboys get out of the proverbial red, even if being there was a bit of a self-induced situation.
What’s more is the signign of Jalen Thompson was tossed in here in such a cavalier way. Again, clearing the bar that has been Cowboys free agency is not exactly impressive, but Thompson’s deal was literally the largest that the Cowboys have handed out in free agency since the infamous Brandon Carr deal in 2012. Maybe this is glass half-full thinking, but the point in that is that there is a happy medium to what this offseason has been for Dallas and this assessment seems to miss that.
It would be hard to find a rational Cowboys fan who is walking and talking like Super Bowl number six is absolutely on the way in a few months, but most observers think that the front office deserves credit for getting this franchise out of the gutter from a decision-making standpoint. Giving them a C+ grade doesn’t seem to really reflect that.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you fully agree here. Let us know in the comments below.
