Once again, owner Jerry Jones is promising the Dallas Cowboys will splurge this offseason. Don’t believe him until they do.
The Cowboys held their end-of-season news conference on Wednesday, where Jones insisted he’s going to break out his checkbook this offseason after a disappointing season. Dallas went 7-9-1 in 2025 and missed the playoffs for a second straight season.
Jerry Jones claims Cowboys are planning to spend big
“Bottom line is this offseason is, yes, very important,” the 83-year-old owner said. “They’re right. We want to, while [quarterback Dak Prescott] is playing the game and got it down the way he’s got it, we want to get out here and basically do better than we did this year.
“So, combination of those things give us the incentive to, dare I say it, bust the budget to try and get something done now. Yes. Yes. We’ll do some dramatic things.”
Why Cowboys fans should be skeptical of that claim
This isn’t the first time bombastic Jones has promised to make an offseason splash. Remember when he said the Cowboys were “all-in” on winning a Super Bowl after the 2023 season? Yeah, he didn’t follow through with that plan.
In 2024, the Cowboys spent the least ($37.7M) on free agents in the NFL (via Spotrac). That season, Dallas face-planted, going 7-10. Soon after, the team moved on from former head coach Mike McCarthy, replacing him with Brian Schottenheimer.
You would think Jones would learn from his mistakes, but he didn’t, which set Schottenheimer up for failure during his first season. Dallas spent slightly more ($47.07M) on free agents this season, but trading star defensive end Micah Parsons to the Packers nullified those efforts.
Dallas aimed to correct that mistake when it acquired defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets before the trade deadline passed, but it made little difference. The Cowboys ranked last in the league in points allowed (30.1) in 2025.
Jones admitted the Parsons trade was a “dramatic thing,” which is an understatement. But he added that an owner must make bold moves to win, and he plans to make more of those this offseason, no matter the cost.
NFL teams, however, need salary-cap flexibility, which the Cowboys lack. Spotrac projects that Dallas will be $23.07M over the cap entering the offseason. Restructuring the contracts of Prescott and other stars creates more room, but not enough to indulge during free agency.
So, Jones is not yet in a position to fulfill his promise to Cowboy fans. And even if he was, the owner may not keep it.