INDIANAPOLIS — Most general managers, scouting departments, coaching staffs and player agents spent all of last week in Indy for the annual NFL Scouting Combine. It’s probably the best place a reporter can be during the offseason to gather information. Sometimes combine conversations confirm a previous thought. Other times, something new is put on your radar.
After spending six days there looking for Dallas Cowboys information, here’s a combination of things I learned and what I thought were the biggest storylines.
Notable offseason surgery
The Cowboys will likely be without edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku until training camp. Last year’s second-round pick needed surgery to repair a hip labrum injury he played through at the end of his rookie year. The 44th pick in 2025 played in all 17 games, finishing with 40 tackles, two sacks, nine tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hits and a forced fumble. Dallas is extremely thin at edge rusher with several additions expected in free agency and the draft. Ezeiruaku is expected to make a full recovery and be a full-time starter after starting nine games last season.
Latest on George Pickens
The star wide receiver was given the non-exclusive franchise tag Friday. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones had a phone conversation with Pickens on Thursday, explaining their reasoning.
“I told him how excited we are that he was going to have the future with the Cowboys,” Jones said, “that he was very deserving because in and of itself it’s a very significant attaboy relative to where we thought we would be (when we traded for him last May). It was a privilege to be able to, frankly, let him know that he was going to have certainly that kind of interest from us.”
Pickens can negotiate with other teams, but the Cowboys have the right of first refusal. If they do not match, the team acquiring Pickens would be required to send Dallas draft-choice compensation equivalent to two first-round picks.
“I expressed to him how valuable a part of the team that we think he is, I think he is,” Jones said. “The kind of contribution he can make, he’ll continue to get better working with (quarterback Dak Prescott), working with the other receivers. We talked about the future. We both reiterated how good it was for him to be here, and know that what we have in place assures that he will be here.”
At one point during Jones’ hour-long conversation with local reporters on his luxury bus Friday, he said that he wanted Pickens’ relationship with the Cowboys to be “all honey.” A reporter then responded: “Honey and money.” Jones smiled, “I didn’t say that because it sounds like I’m joking. But, boy, that’s pretty good.”
If he has to play under the tag, Pickens would make $27.3 million during the 2026 season. The Cowboys are hopeful that he will attend offseason workouts even if a long-term deal isn’t completed by the July 15 deadline. If he doesn’t attend, he’ll likely need to get caught up by working with Prescott and the team’s other wide receivers on their own. The Cowboys believe they have only scratched the surface with Pickens. A goal for the upcoming season is to find more ways to move Pickens and CeeDee Lamb around in the offense.
More aggressive in free agency
The Cowboys haven’t been a major player in free agency in over a decade. That could be changing in the coming weeks, according to Jones.
“I can see us being aggressive in free agency,” he said Friday. “I would bet that we will spend more money in free agency than we have.”
The offense is in a great spot with running back Javonte Williams re-signing. All of the key pieces are in place to again have one of the NFL’s best offenses. But several upgrades are needed defensively to have any realistic shot of making the playoffs. Two first-round picks will help, but multiple areas will need to be addressed before the draft in free agency, or via trade.
The Cowboys plan to restructure several of their top contracts, including Prescott, Lamb and Tyler Smith. They are also expected to move money around with the contracts belonging to Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa. Each of those veteran defensive tackles makes more than $20 million per season. To be a bigger player in free agency, significant salary-cap space needs to be created.
“All of those players have a long future, relative to their careers, with us,” Jones said. “We have the ability to extend their contracts.”
Trade talk
The player who stands out in NFL trade rumors is Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby. Having two first-round picks, the Cowboys have what would likely be needed to execute a deal, if they think Crosby would be the ideal fit for what they’re trying to accomplish. But will the Raiders make the five-time Pro Bowler available?
“I don’t know that I expect it,” Jones said of potential trades, “but we have the ammunition to be good in it. And I wouldn’t hesitate to be good in it if it will help our team and help the timeline that we’re talking about, especially on defense. That is a potential there because of really our draft picks that we have.”
Will the Cowboys make a push for edge rusher Maxx Crosby, if he’s available? (Stephen R. Sylvanie / Imagn Images)
The Cowboys made several notable trades last year, which included acquiring Pickens, backup QB Joe Milton, CB Kaiir Elam, LB Kenneth Murray, DT Kenny Clark and DT Quinnen Williams. Most notably, Dallas traded away star pass rusher Micah Parsons.
Offensive line update
The preference is to keep Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith at that position after he closed the season getting work at left tackle. The Cowboys are hopeful that 2024 first-round pick Tyler Guyton can stay healthy and continue to grow at left tackle. He will also get competition from Nate Thomas. Dallas is good with Terence Steele remaining the starting right tackle. The hope is that Smith, center Cooper Beebe and right guard Tyler Booker can stay at those positions, providing an outstanding interior.
“I don’t know exactly what the answer is for the future,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said last week on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “(But) I know this, when we have those three inside guys playing together, it’s one of our greatest strengths. So do we kinda want to soften one of the things we’re really good at to try to make up at another position? I think in an ideal world, no.
“Where we were at at the end of the season last year was: This is how we get our best five (offensive linemen) on the field. And I believe in that pretty firmly as a coach. But I think going into this offseason, in my mind, the way I see it is: How do we get a little bit better and more consistent play out of the tackles? Well, we need to get those guys on the field and they need to play.”
Defensive line update
One of the most notable defensive changes going from a 4-3 to a 3-4 is a different profile at edge rusher. Under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, Dallas’ outside linebackers are what would be defensive ends in the Cowboys’ previous scheme. Parker’s looking for edge rushers who can stand up and occasionally drop into coverage. Of course, if they have an elite edge rusher, there won’t be many times when that player is asked to drop into coverage. The Cowboys feel Ezeiruaku is already a good fit for the transition. They also believe Marist Liufau will be better utilized as an outside linebacker with the help of a weight gain.
A player who doesn’t really fit that profile is Jadeveon Clowney. In late December, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on The Fan that they “absolutely” wanted Clowney back. “He’s played at a very high level,” Jones added. “We’ll be talking with his guys right away. … Hopefully with his willingness to want to be here and us wanting him to be here, hopefully we can figure something out.”
But a new defensive coordinator has changed things. Stephen Jones said last week that there had been no contract talks with Clowney.
“We’re gonna work through with (Parker),” he said. “A lot of it will happen this coming week, in terms of the type of player (we’re looking for). We’re gonna continue to have those talks, and then we’ll make final decisions on who we think will be productive in this particular system.”
Speaking of edge rusher changes
Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay was asked on The Fan if there have been defensive end changes to their draft board.
“Not really,” he responded. “It just depends if that end can play a five-technique, six-technique or can he stand up, can he run back? Those are all the things that you have to go through when you’re talking about putting pieces in the defense. So there’s more to it then, and you guys do some great mock drafts and all that stuff, but if you don’t know the nuts and bolts of the scheme, you can only throw, it’s like parts of a car, spark plugs don’t fit in every car. You’re trying to build an engine, and you have to build the engine with the right parts.”
Defensive turnaround
Jerry Jones leans on the optimistic side of most topics. That includes how quickly he thinks that arguably the worst defense in franchise history can be turned around. Dallas ranked 30th in total defense last season at 377 yards per game. The Cowboys also allowed a franchise-record 511 points, which ranked last in the league.
“One of the better (defenses in the NFL)? That may be a stretch,” Jones said. “A defense that could support an offense the way that we played at the level last year, and get us into the playoffs, and give us a chance to get good after we get in the playoffs? I see that defense this year. I do. We don’t have to do much to get better. And I’m not trying to be trite. We just don’t have to do much.
“But better, just better, would not get it done, in my mind. We’ve really got to come out and be sound. And I think we’ve addressed every phase of it, and I think we’re very capable of doing not only better, but playing defense at a level that would get us in the playoffs. I believe that strongly.”
Christian Parker is moving the Dallas defense to a 3-4 scheme, and Parker and his staff are assessing their personnel. (Jon Machota / The Athletic)
More understanding of new DC
There’s still uncertainty about what Parker is looking for to fill out the defensive roster. But it’s become clear that the mental side of the game is very important to him when looking for players.
“I still think that you want a lot of athletic, fast guys because there are gonna be times where there is space, and you have to eliminate it,” he said last week on The Fan. “We’re not trotting out a YMCA basketball team. We still want to be fast and aggressive, but I will say, there’s a premium on instincts, there’s a premium on the brain. At different spots, they have to handle a different mental workload in terms of where their eyes have to be.
“You want guys to be able to process those things quickly. But you can’t go out there with just a bunch of height, weight, speed guys, either. This is not an operation where we’re gonna roll the ball out in the Whataburger parking lot and just play seven-on-seven. We got to be able to process and do those things the right way.”
Brandon Aubrey
The Cowboys made Aubrey a contract offer before the start of last season that would’ve made him the NFL’s highest-paid kicker in terms of average annual value. At the top of that list is Kansas City’s Harrison Butker at $6.4 million per season. A deal has not gotten done, meaning Aubrey is about to become a restricted free agent. Despite Stephen Jones saying last week that the contract negotiations with Aubrey’s representatives have been a “journey,” the expectation remains that a deal will get done.
“I think that you’ve heard that we want to make him the highest-paid (kicker),” Jerry Jones said. “We think he’s outstanding. Love his story. Love the fact that the story is with the Cowboys. We feel good that what we are talking about is an appreciation of what he can do for us. That’s a way of, not trying to negotiate with anything that I might say here, but we’ve got a good offer on the table for him.”