The Dallas Cowboys‘ defense needs improvement this offseason after a challenging 2025 NFL season. Last year, Dallas decided to move on from Micah Parsons, but it came at a cost: The team recorded 35 sacks, per StatMuse.
As a result, bolstering the team’s pass rush is a must-do this offseason. Moreover, if the Cowboys can find a replacement for Parsons, that would be an ideal scenario, and there’s a name who could do it: Former Texas Tech Red Raiders’ David Bailey.
Bailey recorded 14.5 sacks for Texas Tech last season, and Bobby Belt of 105.3 The FAN believes that if the 22-year-old falls outside of the Top 5, Dallas should consider trading up for the edge rusher.
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“I should say, in that last mock draft that we had there from Luke Easterling, he had David Bailey falling to No. 6 again,” Belt said on March 16. “So this is a couple of mock drafts that we’ve seen that have David Bailey, the edge rusher from Texas Tech, falling out of the top 5.
“If that happens, I would trade the two picks and go up there because I want him. He’s really, really good.”
This month, the Cowboys made a series of defensive moves, trading for pass rusher Rashan Gary while signing Otito Ogbonnia, Jalen Thompson, Cobie Durant, P.J. Locke, and Tyrus Wheat in free agency.
With the draft fast approaching, if Bailey is within the Cowboys’ reach, perhaps they could consider trading up for him, since team owner Jerry Jones understands that the defense cannot be what holds them back in 2026.
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“What we’ve done on defense, plus what we have set up for the draft, plus what we have coming back from our veteran defensive players that really didn’t play that much last year, injury issues, things like that, gives us a lot of promise,” Jones said (h/t Pro Football Talk).
“When you have the challenges we had last year, there’s no place to go but up on the defensive side of the ball. Had we played a lick of defense last year, we would’ve had ourselves, I think, a real playoff run.”
It will be interesting to see whether the Cowboys think highly of Bailey and decide to move up to keep the edge rusher in the state of Texas.