Stephen Jones says Dallas Cowboys have begun extension talks with this free agent
The offseason is off and rolling for the Dallas Cowboys, as they work through their main agenda items on improving a team that failed to make the playoffs for the second season in a row in 2025.
Team executive vice president Stephen Jones touched down in Mobile, Alabama, on Monday night for the annual Senior Bowl, as he works with the scouting department to get an up-close look on evaluating talent in the upcoming draft class.
But even amid that, he’s also pitching in on tasks back in Frisco. After hiring Christian Parker as defensive coordinator last Thursday, he is helping assist in getting the entire defensive staff hired by the end of the weekend.
Filling out the coaching staff
“We’re hard at it again to fill out his staff now,” Jones said. “Coach [Brian] Schottenheimer and Christian have done a good job putting together a good group of candidates, and we’ll do the same thing. We’ve Zoomed with most of them, and we’ll have the rest of the guys in here starting tomorrow.”
Jones spent time commending Parker’s ability to be a teacher for his players and for the scheme he plans on bringing to Dallas. While he studied under longtime NFL defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Parker showed the front office some nuances to his scheme that will differ in a way they see as positive.
“You want to start with great teachers,” Jones said about filling out the staff. “These young guys want to play fast, they want to come in here, and they want to learn. You want to give them a chance to be successful, and I think it all starts with how you communicate.”
Free agency has already begun
After that agenda item is complete, the front office will put focus into an upcoming free agency period that will see them put emphasis on keeping a handful of internal free agents in-house.
“Obviously, there’s guys that we want to keep from last year,” Jones said. “Whether it’s George Pickens or it’s Javonte [Williams], 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.”
As for Pickens, Jones kept the team’s plans mostly hidden when asked if he wanted to get a long-term deal done with the Pro Bowl receiver this offseason. When the new league year begins in mid-March, Pickens will be a free agent, although the team is likely to use the franchise tag on him prior to that deadline to work toward a long-term deal in the coming months.
“We won’t get into any details right now,” Jones said. “Certainly, we want George to be back here in Dallas, and we’ll go from there.”
While the team hasn’t met with Pickens’ representation about his future yet this offseason, they have met with representation of Williams ahead of his free agency. Both sides are in favor of a multi-year deal that would keep the running back in Dallas after a career year that saw him post 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“We’ve certainly visited with Javonte,” he said. “We haven’t had a lot of those visits, most of those happen at the combine. Obviously, we still have some time before free agency starts. We’re always visiting the representatives about our players.”
Fixing the defense — and special teams
Obviously, the big offseason focus for the Cowboys will be to fix a defense that was 30th in yards allowed in 2025 and dead last in the league in passing yards allowed.
While a major overhaul has already begun with the hiring of Parker, Jones did mention players that the team views as key parts of its future: defensive tackle Kenny Clark, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, cornerback Shavon Revel Jr., cornerback DaRon Bland and defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku.
“It starts with what we just did in hiring our defensive coordinator, and come up with what type of players we want to be successful in this scheme,” he said. “[Parker] gave us a vision that will help us utilize the pieces we already have in place, and we’ll need a vision on where we need to improve. That’s where it starts ... The next steps will be to improve through free agency and the draft.”
“The biggest thing is we want to get the personnel on defense evolving to one of the top defenses in the league. Obviously, you have one of the top offenses in the league, and then the same holds true for special teams; we want to be better there.”
As for the forgotten third phase that wasn’t particularly strong in 2025, Jones did confirm that special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen will be retained for the 2026 season, but that he’s looking for improvements there as well.
But for all intents and purposes, there’s no room to be defensive about simply getting better on defense. Needing to be better on that side of the ball is a fact.
“We want to be one of the top defenses in this league,” Jones said. “If we do that with what we have on the offensive side, we can have a really great football team.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 4:39 PM.
