The Dallas Cowboys defense in 2025 was a disaster. Help has arrived for 2026.
Jerry Jones made a wide swath of additions this offseason, including brand name (but aging) stars like Von Miller, Rashan Gary and Jonathan Bullard to shore up his defensive front. As a result, the Cowboys could have a majority of new arrivals starting on that side of the ball, eager to provide a reliable counterweight to a top five offense.
It's been two seasons since Dallas won more than seven games. It's been three years since they won a playoff game. And it's been three full decades since they've even been to the NFC Conference Championship. Let's take a look at how they could break that streak -- and the players (and coaches who are no longer there) who can take them
there.
Key addition: S Caleb Downs
Rashan Gary brings name value after being acquired for a fourth round pick. While his sack numbers have remained solid his pressure rate has dropped each of the last three seasons. Instead, the more impactful addition may be Downs -- a player with top five traits who slid to the 11th overall pick due to his role at safety.
Dallas fielded the league's 30th-ranked passing defense last fall. Its 109.6 passer rating allowed meant opposing QBs were the equivalent of Matthew Stafford, on average, each week. Downs has elite recognition and can thrive in pretty much any coverage situation coordinator Christian Parker can throw his way, giving the Cowboys a vital insurance policy downfield.
Key departure: DC Matt Eberflus
It's still a key departure if the guy leaving makes you better on his way out. Eberflus was dealt a tough hand when Micah Parsons was traded before the 2025 season, but he took a bad Mike Zimmer defense (31st in points allowed) and somehow made it worse.
His inability to adjust from a rigid cover-two scheme left Dallas fitting square pegs into round holes for an undermanned unit. He couldn't work out how to mitigate a lack of pressure. He failed to divert responsibility from an ineffective linebacker corps. Many of those problems remain — why, again, did the team trade Osa Odighizuwa? — but now Christian Parker is tasked with building that group into something more than the sum of its parts.
Potential 2026 breakout player: LB DeMarvion Overshown
Overshown was a chaos goblin at Texas, but the 2023 third-round pick has played just 19 games in three seasons due to awful injury luck. He's in the final season of his rookie contract and has a ton to prove and a massive financial benefit to doing so.
He's shown he can be an effective blitzer (five sacks in 82 pass rushing snaps in 2024) and has the speed and safety background to be a deterrent in coverage (allowed six yards per target in 2025). If he can put everything together, he'll boost one of 2025's worst offenses and make himself a ton of money in the process.
Position ranks
- QB rank (expected points added per dropback, via RBSDM.com): 7
- WR corps rank: 2
- RB corps rank: 21
- TE corps rank: 13
Will they improve in 2026?
Yes. At least as much as a Brian Schottenheimer-coached team can improve.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Cowboys 2026 season preview: Dallas will be better. Will it matter?
