Dallas, TX
3 Dallas Cowboys Entering Make-or-Break Offseasons
The Dallas Cowboys have already made some major moves this offseason.
The team fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, replacing him with Christian Parker, and is reportedly set to franchise tag wide receiver George Pickens.
However, the Cowboys still have some other notable decisions to make this offseason as they look toward next season and beyond.
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Jaydon Blue, RB
Blue entered training camp as a rookie with some notable hype from the fan base but quickly became an afterthought in the running back room as the season began.
Javonte Williams certainly deserved all of the attention after impressing early on, but few fans likely predicted that Malik Davis would eventually become the team’s backup running back while Blue remained sidelined as a healthy scratch.
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After Miles Sanders suffered a season-ending injury, Blue appeared set for more reps but the coaching staff clearly didn’t trust him yet.
If Blue can’t show some notable improvement during training camp this summer and next season, the Cowboys won’t have much of a reason to hold onto him and could look elsewhere once next offseason rolls around.
Jake Ferguson, TE
This might be a controversial pick to some, but Ferguson will need to prove that he can live up even further to the four-year, $50 million deal he signed with the Cowboys before this past season.
“Make-or-break” for Ferguson’s situation doesn’t mean he’s in danger of getting cut or anything, but if he repeats his forgettable late-season stretch in 2026, there will definitely be some concern if his contract extension was worth the price that Dallas paid.
After catching six touchdowns across the first seven games of the season, Ferguson had just two scores in the final 10 contests while failing to post more than 60 yards in a single game during this span.
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Sam Williams, DE
Williams is set to be a free agent this offseason, but if he signs a one- or two-year deal with the Cowboys to return for 2026, he immediately re-enters make-or-break territory.
Williams had 8.5 sacks combined during his first two seasons in Dallas before injury kept him out all of 2024.
He had just one sack this past season and will need to get back to his prior form in order to have a role in the Dallas defense moving forward.
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Morton started 15 games in 1972 for an injured Staubach, who eventually returned in the playoffs. The Cowboys decided to trade Morton in 1974 to the Giants, who sent back a first-round pick, which turned out to be the No. 2 overall pick in 1975. The Cowboys used that selection to take Randy White, a 10-time Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer.
Ironically enough, White’s best game was likely Super Bowl XII, when he was named Co-MVP with Harvey Martin. The Cowboys’ Doomsday defense dominated the Broncos, who were quarterbacked by Morton.
Overall, Morton played for the Cowboys, Giants and Broncos before officially retiring at the end of the 1982 season.
His career ended with 27,908 passing yards, ranking him 71st in NFL history, just ahead of Hall of Famer Joe Namath (27,663).
With the official NFL schedule coming this week, the Dallas Cowboys have revealed when, where and against who their Week 1 contest will be.
The Cowboys announced that they will square off against the New York Giants on the road in Week 1, with the game set for Sunday, Sept. 13, at 7:20 p.m. CT. So, it’s prime time for the Cowboys to start the season.
This is the second game we know about for the Cowboys this year. Of course, we know they will be playing on Thanksgiving, also.
The official schedule will drop on May 14, the NFL announced last week. Schedules for all 32 teams will be revealed on ESPN and the NFL Network, but each team will unveil its own schedule on social media, also.
The Cowboys were always likely to play a road game in Week 1 because of an Usher and Chris Brown concert taking place at AT&T Stadium that week.
Dallas will also be impacted by an Ed Sheeran concert in Week 7, so that’s another potential road game. They could also play on Monday or Thursday that week, or have a bye.
Cowboys’ strength of schedule
According to Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis, the Cowboys are not going to have an easy road to make the postseason.
The Cowboys have the fourth-toughest schedule in the NFL going into the 2026 season, with only the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and Carolina Panthers having tougher slates.
Dallas’ schedule is also the third-toughest in the NFC, and the most difficult in the NFC East.
Sharp does his strength of schedule rankings based on win totals from Vegas oddsmakers rather than utilizing the previous season’s records because that metric doesn’t factor in offseason changes.
The Cowboys will play home games against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders.
On the road, Dallas will square off against the Giants, Eagles, Commanders, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.
Of those opponents, seven of them made the postseason in 2025, a list that includes the Jaguars, 49ers, Eagles, Texans, Rams, Seahawks and Packers.
All of those teams should be as good in 2026, and teams like the Colts, Titans, Ravens, Bucs, Giants and Commanders have a very real chance to be improved as well.
It won’t be an easy road for Dallas to get back to the playoffs in 2026, but there’s at least hope following a defensive overhaul.
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