Five biggest Cowboys offseason storylines: What to do with George Pickens?
The offseason has officially kicked off for the Dallas Cowboys after a second consecutive losing season for the first time since 2000-2002.
Led by head coach Brian Schottenheimer, the team will dive right into major offseason agenda points to correct the issues from this season. That will begin with Schottenheimer conducting individual exit interviews with each player on Monday and Tuesday, and each coach on Wednesday and Thursday.
After that, the work only intensifies.
“It’s going to be a busy offseason for us,” owner Jerry Jones said Sunday.
With a crucial offseason ahead for the team, here are the five biggest storylines to watch:
What to do at defensive coordinator
The most immediate issue to address is if (or when) the team should move on from defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
In his first season back in Dallas, the former Chicago Bears head coach led the 30th-ranked defense in the NFL in yards per game allowed (377.0), the worst defense in the league in pass defense (251.5 yards allowed per game) and the 26th-ranked defense in yards per carry allowed (4.7).
His seat is scorching hot, but don’t expect the Cowboys to make a swift decision on his future after Schottenheimer alluded on Sunday to a 10-to-12-day timeline to go through post-season evaluations.
If the expected move of firing Eberflus does happen, where does the team go?
Familiarity could play a role in the next hire, but the bigger question will be if the new coordinator is once again placed by the front office like Eberflus was, or if Schottenheimer will get to handpick his choice.
Notable names to watch will be Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz if the entire Cleveland staff gets canned, Denver Broncos passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard and Seattle Seahawks passing game coordinator Karl Scott.
Firings are already off and rolling, as the Atlanta Falcons put head coach Raheem Morris back on the coordinator market. Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg are also expected to be in the market as well.
The George Pickens extension
The front office hasn’t been perfect over the past year, but acquiring wide receiver George Pickens in a blockbuster trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers in May was an absolute smash.
In his first season in Dallas, Pickens set career highs in all major receiving categories, hauling in 93 receptions for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. The yardage total was the fourth-best year the franchise has seen in its 66 seasons of existence.
All good, but now comes the problem: It’s time to pay him.
Pickens arrived in Dallas on an expiring contract and is now set to hit free agency if the team can’t agree to a new contract extension with him — or place the franchise tag on him.
With a tag, the team would be able to keep Pickens on a one-year deal that is expected to pay around $28 million at his position in 2026. The team would need to place that tag by March 3 to prevent him from hitting the open market. At this point, that is the expectation so that the team and Pickens can have more time to work on a long-term extension for the rest of the offseason. They would then have until July 15 to work out a deal.
But if training camp rolls around and a deal is not done, will Pickens show up to Oxnard? How messy could this negotiation get with his agent, David Mulugheta, who also represented Micah Parsons in that fiasco last offseason?
The good problem at defensive tackle
As of now, the Cowboys are slated to pay $64 million to their defensive tackle trio of Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa in 2026. Even though that group is expected to be the core foundation of what the defense is built around moving forward, that is an astronomical number to pay to the position.
Because of that, the Cowboys will need to adjust one or two of those contracts.
The most likely scenario is a restructure of Clark’s deal. While he does have two years and $41.5 million left on his contract, none of that money is guaranteed, meaning the team could cut or trade Clark and not lose a penny along the way. Or, the two sides could sit down and work out a contract that benefits both sides moving forward.
Clark has expressed a desire to remain in Dallas. But if the money isn’t right, the two sides could split less than a year after he was a shiny throw-in piece in the Parsons trade.
Another option would be to work out an extension with Williams. Since Odighizuwa’s contract is largely immovable after being signed last offseason, Williams’ deal has the most freedom outside of Clark.
With a new deal for Williams, the team could create as much as $15.5 million in cap space toward 2026.
Big cuts and free agency
On Sunday, Jones spoke about the potential for the Cowboys to make as “dramatic a difference” as they’ve been able to make in a long time this offseason. To do that, they’ll need to create some cap space to take some swings in free agency.
The most likely options to create money include restructures on the contracts of quarterback Dak Prescott (up to $31 million in savings) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (up to $19 million in savings), along with cutting starting right tackle Terence Steele ($14 million in savings).
Safety Malik Hooker could also be a cut candidate with the team slated to save $7 million toward the cap with his release while taking on a dead cap hit of just $2 million.
The same could be said for veteran linebacker Logan Wilson, who does not have any remaining guaranteed money on his contract. By releasing him, the team would save $6.55 million without taking on any dead cap money.
Heading into the offseason, the team sits $33 million in the red toward the salary cap. However, the aforementioned options lay out savings of up to $74.55 million to give Dallas some breathing room in free agency.
The Cowboys haven’t historically been big players in free agency under Jones, but they did take some bigger-than-usual hacks at the plate last year in signing defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. and running back Javonte Williams along with trading for linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. and cornerback Kaiir Elam.
Re-signing Williams will be a top priority after his career year, as will getting veteran defensive end Jadeveon Clowney back for at least one more season after leading the team in sacks with 8.5. Then, bringing in talent from the open market will be big toward improving both sides of the ball in 2026.
Owning two first-round picks
Because of the two first-round picks acquired in the Parsons trade from Green Bay, the Cowboys have the chance to make two first-round selections this year for the first time since 2008. That year, they took running back Felix Jones and cornerback Mike Jenkins. Three years before in 2005, they also made two selections, picking DeMarcus Ware and Marcus Spears.
An encore of that 2005 double-dip would be just what the doctor ordered in 2026.
The team already knows that its first selection will come at the No. 12 pick, but its second pick in the opening round will depend on where the Packers finish in the playoffs.
Following those two picks, the Cowboys will have to wait until the fourth round to make another selection after sending its second-round pick to the New York Jets in the Quinnen Williams trade and its third-round pick to the Steelers in the Pickens trade.
That makes the necessity to hit on these two first-round picks that much more important — if they hold onto both.
As they’ve already shown by moving one of their 2027 first-round picks in the Williams trade, the Cowboys could spend one of the picks in a trade before the draft, or they could trade one of them out of the first round to acquire extra draft capital.
A plethora of options are on the table, and what the team decides to do with them will not only determine the success of the Parsons trade, but also the future success of the franchise.
This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 9:58 AM.
