{"id":786587,"date":"2026-03-02T12:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/786587\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T12:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:13:13","slug":"could-they-be-competing-with-cowboys-for-an-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/786587\/","title":{"rendered":"Could they be competing with Cowboys for an Eagle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 2, 2026, 6:15 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Everyone knows the Washington Commanders<\/a> must improve their defense to return to contender status in 2026. That also applies to the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both teams were horrible defensively in 2025. Dallas traded away its best player, edge rusher Micah Parsons, before the season. It received multiple first-round picks and veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark in return. Later in the season, the Cowboys acquired Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys still had issues. And, according to owner\/GM Jerry Jones, Dallas plans to spend more in free agency this offseason than usual. One defensive target has emerged for the Cowboys under their new defensive coordinator Christian Parker: Eagles<\/a> linebacker Nakobe Dean.<\/p>\n

Mike Garofolo of the NFL Network believes Dean will depart<\/a> Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN believes the Cowboys are a team to watch for Dean<\/a>, in part because of his connection to Parker, who spent the past two seasons with the Eagles.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cowboys are crafting a detailed free agency plan to bolster their defense. The new scheme under coordinator Christian Parker needs replenishment. Eagles linebacker\u00a0Nakobe Dean\u00a0is someone to watch as a green-dot player in the middle of the defense. The Cowboys will monitor the top of the pass-rush free agent options, too. They aren’t guaranteed to spend big, but I believe they will get a pass rusher at some point.<\/p>\n

The Commanders<\/a> need linebacker help, too. Could this become a Washington vs. Dallas battle for the 25-year-old former Georgia Bulldog? Bobby Wagner is a free agent for the Commanders. With Washington’s desire to get younger and faster, moving on from the future Hall of Famer seems likely. Fowler also mentioned that the Commanders were in the mix for linebackers when free agency opens next week.<\/p>\n

Dean has battled injuries during his four-year career. Over the past two seasons, he has missed nine games. In four seasons, Dean has missed 21 out of a possible 68 games. When on the field, he’s been a productive part of one of the NFL’s top defenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 2, 2026, 6:15 a.m. ET Everyone knows the Washington Commanders must improve their defense to return to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2069],"tags":[95878,427,7,6,95993,95994,95882,96000,96256,99169,96167,111116,97021,95888,101611,95895,95899,96191,97325,95883,96006,95881,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-786587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-commanders","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sstssportsnflcommanders","13":"tag-sstsncommanders","14":"tag-tagamerican-football","15":"tag-tagbobby-wagner","16":"tag-tagdallas-cowboys","17":"tag-tagkenny-clark","18":"tag-tagmicah-parsons","19":"tag-tagnakobe-dean","20":"tag-tagnfc-east","21":"tag-tagnfl","22":"tag-tagnfl-free-agency-signing","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","25":"tag-tagphiladelphia-eagles","26":"tag-tagquinnen-williams","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","29":"tag-typestory","30":"tag-washington","31":"tag-washington-commanders","32":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}