Blogging The Boys
The 2025 season did not go as planned for the Dallas Cowboys. There was a lot of excitement heading into the regular season, but just a few days before kickoff against the Philadelphia Eagles, Jerry Jones did the unthinkable by trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse and the defensive struggles were too much to overcome to make the postseason. With the season coming to an end for the Dallas Cowboys, here are some final thoughts on the season for the Dallas Cowboys as we look towards 2026.
Despite continued talks about wanting to keep continuity on the coaching staff, Matt Eberflus’ performance in 2025 should have management seriously reevaluate that decision. It’s almost hard not to feel a little bad for Eberflus, giving the franchise altering move the front office made by trading Parsons right before the season, but we watch coaches every year figure it out with star players missing time due to injury. Eberflus could not answer that call, and led the Cowboys to one of the team’s worst defensive seasons in franchise history.
Despite the Parsons trade, Eberflus had to have a heavy say in trading for Kenneth Murray and Kaiir Elam, and the coverages the defense ran for most of the season did not match with the personnel they were putting on the field from week-to-week. It may be a tough sell for the Jones to want to hire a new defensive coordinator for a third consecutive year, but relying on continuity over a capable play-caller on the defensive side of the ball would be a huge mistake for a team with a rather small window left.
One of the scariest aspects of this offseason for the Cowboys is how much work is needed to be done on the defensive side of the football. Heading into 2026, the Cowboys need to completely rebuild their secondary with DaRon Bland coming off another foot injury, Shavon Revel Jr. having an unevenrookie season, and Trevon Diggs now in Green Bay.
Along with the struggles in the secondary, the Cowboys pass rush room needs a lot of attention. Outside of Donovan Ezeiruaku, the only player in the defensive end room who played above expectations in 2025 was Jadeveon Clowney (who was signed after the start of the season).
Dallas should be in a good spot to draft an impact edge rusher in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft, but needing help at edge, corner, safety, and linebacker, the Cowboys investment in defensive players will need to be aggressive throughout free agency, trades, and the draft this upcoming offseason.
One of the few wins for the Cowboys front office this year was the trade for George Pickens. Pickens has been the Cowboys best offensive skill player in 2025 and posted monster numbers...
