Dallas heads to Oxnard with two first-round defensive picks in the fold, a real competition behind Dak Prescott, and a win total that has already moved since February.
A Defense Built to Answer Last Year’s Problem
The Dallas Cowboys spent the 2025 season allowing more points than every other team, and that number decided how the offseason went. Brian Schottenheimer enters his second year as head coach with a defense that looks almost nothing like the one that finished 7-9-1.
Dallas traded defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to the San Francisco 49ers, added edge rusher Rashan Gary in a deal with the Green Bay Packers, and committed $33 million to safety Jalen Thompson in free agency.
Schottenheimer also hired Christian Parker as defensive coordinator, a 34-year-old with some lesser coordinator experience, a bet that mirrors the one Dallas made on offensive coordinator Klayton Adams a year earlier.
An analyst who has tracked Dallas’ defensive rebuild pointed to the team’s two first-round players as the swing factor heading into camp. “Christian Parker inherited a unit that gave up 30 points a game last season, worse than every team,” the analyst said.
“Adding Rashan Gary off the edge and Caleb Downs at safety changes the math before a single snap gets played in September.”
The Backup Quarterback Job Nobody Expected to Matter
Dak Prescott remains the starter, but the more interesting competition in Oxnard belongs to the players fighting to back him up.
Schottenheimer said reps at the position would split evenly between Joe Milton and Sam Howell, a decision that carries weight given how thin the room looked a year ago.
Milton attempted just 24 passes in 2025, with 13 of them coming in a Week 18 loss to the Giants, while Howell started 17 games for Washington in 2023 and threw 21 touchdowns against 21 interceptions that year.
“Neither one of these guys profiles as a starter in this league right now,” one observer following camp said. “But a backup who can win a game or two matters more than people think, and this camp is the first real audition either of them has gotten.”
For North Carolina Bettors, the Roster Overhaul Changes the Conversation
Speaking to BetCarolina, whose independent coverage includes the state’s seven legal sportsbook apps, one analyst noted: “Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb carried a top-10 scoring offense a year ago, and that group returns almost fully intact. The number that actually has to move is the 30 points a game the defense gave up.”
Dallas opened the offseason at plus-6000 on the Super Bowl market and sat at minus-130 on the over on its win total back in February. Both numbers have shifted since.
That movement shows up most clearly in the futures market; currently, projections have the Cowboys at 8.5 wins for 2026.
Dallas is priced at plus-2200 to win Super Bowl LXI and plus-100 to make the playoffs, numbers that reflect a defense nobody expects to be as bad as it was in 2025.
Training Camp Decides How Much of This Is Real
Caleb Downs went 11th overall for a reason, and George Pickens playing this season on the franchise tag gives Schottenheimer every incentive to keep the receiving room together beyond 2026.
The offensive pieces are largely the same ones that scored 471 points a year ago. The question during training camp is whether Parker’s defense can hold up its end.
“Caleb Downs went eleventh for a reason, and this secondary needed a player who tackles the way he does,” a fan wrote after minicamp wrapped. “If Pickens and Lamb stay this productive, the offense was never the problem.”
Dallas opens training camp in Oxnard later this month, and the competition behind Prescott will get its first look under pads.
The growing case for Sam Howell winning that job has already started building among fans who watched the spring workouts, and a clearer answer should take shape well before the Cowboys open the season on September 13 at the New York Giants.
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