The NFL draft is less than a month away. On Sunday, Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones and coach Brian Schottenheimer will head to Phoenix for the NFL owner’s meetings.
Schottenheimer is scheduled to speak with the media Monday morning. Jones, at some point during the two-and-a-half days of sessions, will chat with reporters, too.
Cowboys coaches, front office personnel and scouts are visiting college campuses and hosting college prospects at The Star.
It’s part of the process of building a roster for the 2026 season. With the owner’s meetings around the corner, we look at the state of the franchise:
Cowboys
NFL draft prep
The Cowboys have eight draft picks, including two first-round selections (No. 12 and No. 20) and three picks in the fifth round. One of the best things the Cowboys did this offseason was to acquire a second-day pick (third round) in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers. There was a thought the Cowboys might have to package one of their first-round picks to get a Day 2 pick (second and third rounds), but trading Osa Odighizuwa for the third-rounder solves that issue. So now the Cowboys have three draft picks among the Top 100 players in the draft. Based on what Jerry Jones said at the NFL scouting combine, this is no time for redshirts or gambling on players coming off injury. The Cowboys are looking for players to make an immediate impact. Schottenheimer has attended several pro days — Miami, Texas and Texas Tech among them — and the coaches have conducted group dinners with prospects at some schools. Romello Height, an edge rusher from Texas Tech, Sonny Styles, a linebacker from Ohio State, and Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper have scheduled visits or already made the trip to The Star as part of the 30 visits from draftable prospects. It seems as if the Cowboys are taking an aggressive approach to visiting with players in groups more so than in the past.
Free agency update
The needs of this team centered on the defense. The Cowboys sought an inside linebacker, slot corner, defensive end and a safety. The Cowboys traded for defensive end Rashan Gary to fill that need.
Of the seven free agents signed by the Cowboys this offseason, only safety Jalen Thompson signed a multi-year deal. Thompson signed a three-year contract worth $33 million with $22 million guaranteed. The other safety, P.J. Locke, corners Cobie Durant and Derion Kendrick, and Thompson showed they can play multiple positions. It’s something defensive coordinator Christian Parker seeks in his 3-4 scheme. That’s a big reason they were signed.
One position where the Cowboys failed to address in free agency, at least for now, is inside linebacker. The team had interest in Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker and Patrick Queen. Dean and Walker signed with the Raiders as free agents, each getting three-year deals with a combined $48 million in guaranteed money. The Cowboys elected not to trade for Queen, who enters the final year of his contract that will pay a base salary of $10.8 million. Queen already had his $2.5 million roster bonus picked up by the Steelers.
The Cowboys also wanted to build some depth along the offensive line after guard/center Brock Hoffman signed with Pittsburgh. The team placed a second-round tender on T.J. Bass ($5.76 million) and signed center/guard Matt Hennessy to a one-year deal. In a weak free agent market, the Cowboys filled most of their needs with less than a month to go before the draft. The team could make another trade for a player to fill the remaining needs, like they did with Gary.
The Pickens/Aubrey deals
The two biggest players on the Cowboys without long-term deals, wide receiver George Pickens and kicker Brandon Aubrey, remain in a holding pattern. The team placed the franchise tag on Pickens ($27.2 million) and haven’t opened any meaningful discussions about a long-term contract. The going rate for a wide receiver has risen. Rockwall native and Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba has the highest average salary at $42.15 million. Smith-Njigba and Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase are the only two receivers averaging over $40 million per season. CeeDee Lamb has the fourth-highest average salary at $34 million. After the Cowboys traded for Pickens last year, his representatives felt that if he produced a solid season, asking for at least $30 million per season would be reasonable. Well, here we are. There are six receivers with a total valued contract over $130 million and four that make $100 million in guaranteed money. Lamb is on both lists. Will Pickens join him?
Pickens hasn’t signed the franchise tag, and the team could reach an agreement for a one-year deal that would boost his salary beyond the tag. The other uncertainty is whether Pickens attends offseason workouts or training camp without a long-term deal. The Cowboys are expecting Pickens to attend.
The Cowboys had significant contract talks with Aubrey before the start of the 2025 season but things stalled. Aubrey’s reps asked for $10 million per season, but the Cowboys offered just under $7 million. The contract offer by the Cowboys would make Aubrey the highest-paid kicker in the NFL. But Aubrey’s reps stopped talks before the start of the 2025 season. This offseason, the Cowboys placed a second-round tender on Aubrey ($5.7 million). When the Cowboys placed the tender on Aubrey, he ranked second in average salary among kickers. But Houston signed Ka’imi Fairbairn to a two-year extension worth $11.66 million with an average salary of $6.4 million, tops in the league among kickers. If Aubrey doesn’t sign a new contract, he’ll be the third-highest-paid kicker in the NFL.
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