Now that the Dallas Cowboys have their defensive coordinator hired and he has started cleaning house with his staff, it is time for Jerry Jones to move to the next few things that should be on his agenda.
The 2026 NFL free agency signing period officially begins on March 11, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. ET. While legal tampering and negotiations with agents can start on March 9, 2026, no contracts can be formally signed or authorized until the new league year officially starts on March 11.
Still, Teams can re-sign their own players before they become free agents, and, as in the 2025 season, a “franchise tag” window opens in mid-February, which is a method to keep a player from hitting the open market.
Three Key Players
With all that information said above, Jerry Jones should make a move on his pending three unrestricted free agents.
George Pickens, Javonte Williams and Jadeveon Clowney. Those three guys are set to be unrestricted free agents this season, and these are the main three outside of Brandon Aubrey that I want Dallas to bring back.
“Obviously, there are guys that we want to keep from last year,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Tuesday, via Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Whether it’s George Pickens or it’s Javonte, those are all guys that play into the free agency picture. We’ve got work to do on the defensive side of the ball. Whether that’s through free agency or the draft, there’s a lot of resources there that we can use to make our defense better.”
It shouldn’t be whether to keep Pickens or Javonte. They can clear nearly 100M in cap space this offseason, and they will have plenty of money to do so!
Pickens was named second team All-Pro after recording 93 catches, 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. The front office can also place the tag on him, but do we really think he is going to play if he gets that?
As for Williams, he had 1,000 yards this year, and bringing him back for like a 2 year deal, I would be all for it, but if it comes down to him or Pickens, I will take GP.
Not much was worth cheering for on this defense from a year ago, but the one guy you have to bring back for Parker and his staff is Clowney.
He made his debut for Dallas in week 4 as they signed him off the couch, but once he settled in he was one of the few bright spots for the worst defense in football.
Going into 2026, the only two defensive ends the Cowboys have under contract are Donovan Ezeiruaku and James Houston. Clowney, Fowler, Turner and Sam Williams are all unrestricted free agents.
As a unit, the Cowboys finished with 35 total sacks, tied for 22nd in the league. That said, they were tied for 14th in pressure rate (34.7%). Despite playing in just 13 games, Clowney ended up leading the team in sacks with 8.5, and Houston followed him up with 5.5.
The front office has been moving quickly this year and that is a start. Normally they wait until the end of the dang winter to start marking these changes, but they are in a good spot right now.
I would say trying to get these three players to resign would be an awesome way to head into the draft in April and keep all the focus there.
My guess is that they probably won’t be signed until the summer, but let me wish big, okay?
The good news is, I think Pickens will have no choice but to stay here, because if he does get a contract done, they will place the tag on him, and then he won’t be able to sign with anyone at least until 2026.
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a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s the only and best way to fix the Cowboys problems is get rid of Jerry Jones as owner and G.M.