March 20, 2026
Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images
The Cowboys used their franchise tag again, this time on WR George Pickens.
Now that we're almost two weeks into NFL free agency and the list of decent available players has been picked clean, let's grade what each of the NFC East teams did, starting with the Dallas Cowboys.
• EDGE Rashan Gary: The Cowboys traded a 2027 fourth-round pick to Green Bay for Gary, who had 7.5 sacks for the Packers each of the last two seasons, and he has averaged just under 8 sacks per season over the last five seasons. He was scheduled to have cap numbers of $19.5 million in 2026 and $22.5 million in 2027, but the Cowboys were able to re-work his deal so that he'll make $32 million over the next two years, a pretty significant pay cut.
Gary is 28. In theory he could have a few good years left. However, there's a good argument that his play is already in decline, and his pay cut backs that notion.
• S Jalen Thompson: The Cowboys signed Thompson to a three-year deal worth up to $33 million. Thompson has been on my radar in the past as a possible Eagles target at trade deadlines, after he had a productive three-year stretch from 2021 to 2023, when he had 8 INTs and averaged over 100 tackles per season. However, in the last two seasons, Thompson has 0 INTs and 1 FF. He turns 28 in July.
This was probably the Cowboys' biggest free agency signing. 😬
• CB Cobie Durant: The Cowboys had all kinds of injury issues at corner in 2025, as DaRon Bland, Shavon Revel, Caelen Carson, and Trevon Diggs were all banged up. Durant gives them more depth, and could start in some kind of role, whether that's outside or in the slot.
• S P.J. Locke: Depth safety.
• DT Otito Ogbonnia: Depth lineman.
• QB Sam Howell: Depth quarterback. He'll presumably compete with Joe Milton for the QB2 job.
• OL Matt Hennessy: Depth center.
• EDGE Tyrus Wheat: Depth edge defender.
• FRANCHISE TAG 🏷️: WR George Pickens: Last offseason, the Cowboys traded a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Steelers for Pickens and a sixth-round pick.
That trade was looking like a home run for a while, as Pickens was having a career year through the first 13 games of the season, as he had 73 catches for 1,142 yards and 8 TDs. However, in their Week 14 loss to the Lions, the Cowboys needed Pickens to be the guy after CeeDee Lamb had to leave with a concussion. And how did he respond? He ran lazy routes, and just generally looked disinterested. He was called out for his poor effort both nationally and locally. And then in Week 15 in a bad home loss to the Vikings that effectively ended the Cowboys' season, Pickens kind of no-showed again, making 3 catches on 6 targets for 33 yards.
Ultimately, Pickens finished with 93 catches for 1,429 yards and 9 TDs, and was named Second-Team All-Pro. But he also left doubt on whether to commit to him long-term, given that he came up small in the two games that sunk the Cowboys' season.
Pickens was scheduled to be a free agent this offseason, and the Cowboys more or less had three choices to make with him:
They chose to franchise tag him, which I don't hate. Pickens is too talented of a player to just let walk out the door, and also not steady enough to commit huge money to over the next three-to-four-years.
Of course, over the last 15 years, the Cowboys have used the franchise tag more than any other team in the NFL (h/t Jon Machota):
• 2012: Anthony Spencer
• 2013: Anthony Spencer
• 2015: Dez Bryant
• 2018: DeMarcus Lawrence
• 2019: DeMarcus Lawrence
• 2020: Dak Prescott
• 2021: Dak Prescott
• 2022: Dalton Schultz
• 2023: Tony Pollard
• 2026: George Pickens
In many of those previous examples, the Cowboys should have just worked out long-term deals with their best players instead of holding them hostage and creating animosity via the tag. But in the case of Pickens, it does make sense.
• RFA TENDER: K Brandon Aubrey: Aubrey is one of the Cowboys' best players, and a major weapon. After just three NFL seasons, he has six made field goals of 60+ yards, and has a range that potentially exceeds 70 yards. (His career long is a 66-yarder, in a preseason game. His regular season long is 65 yards.)
Aubrey was a restricted free agent this offseason, and the Cowboys tendered him at the second-round level. He is scheduled to make roughly $5.8 million in 2026. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
This is a player the Cowboys should just pay... now. And maybe they will. There's still time. Or maybe they'll drag their feet like they do with so many of their other best players and franchise tag him next offseason.
• RFA TENDER: OL T.J. Bass: Aubrey wasn't the only player the Cowboys tendered as a restricted free agent. They also tendered Bass at the second-round level. He too will make $5.8 million in 2026.
In three seasons with the Cowboys, Bass has appeared in 48 games, with 10 starts. He has played 1,009 snaps, all at LG or RG.
He projects as a backup guard in 2026.
Brandon Aubrey — a guy who can actually swing outcomes of games — has to be looking at T.J. Bass and thinking, "How am I making the same amount of money as this guy?"
And that's one of the issues with tendering or tagging your best players instead of just paying them.
• RB Javonte Williams: Williams had a breakout season for the Cowboys in 2025, rushing 252 times for 1,201 yards (4.8 YPC) and 11 TDs. The Cowboys had a trash rushing attack in 2024, but it was vastly improved in 2025 with Williams serving as the bell cow back. He re-signed on a three-year deal worth $24 million.
• EDGE Sam Williams: After a promising first two seasons in 2022 and 2023, Williams missed the entire 2024 season with torn ACL and a partially torn MCL in his left knee. In 2025, he had 37 tackles and 1 sack in 17 games (5 starts). The Cowboys re-signed him to a one-year deal worth $3 million.
• DT Osa Odighizuwa: Last offseason, one of the rare Cowboys moves I liked was re-signing Odighizuwa to a team-friendly four-year deal worth $20 million. This offseason, they traded him to the 49ers for a third-round pick.
Odighizuwa's stats aren't as good as I thought they were (8 sacks the last two seasons), but he is still a disruptive interior rusher and a good player. I'd have just kept him. 🤷♂️
• DT Solomon Thomas: The Cowboys traded Thomas to the Titans for a seventh-round pick.
• WR Jalen Tolbert: Tolbert didn't pan out the way the Cowboys would have hoped as a third-round pick in 2022. He's moving on to Miami.
• LB Jack Sanborn: Sanborn was a starter for Dallas in 2025, but he only played in six games because of a groin injury that ended his season. He's headed back to Chicago, where his career began.
• S Juanyeh Thomas: Mainly a special teams guy. He signed with the Colts.
In 2024, Jerry Jones said that the team was "all-in." And then they did virtually nothing to make the team better. In 2025, they lost a bunch of good players, they mostly sat out free agency, and they traded their best player, Micah Parsons.
This year, Jones said, "I would bet that we will spend more money in free agency than we have." And then, well, he didn't.
The Cowboys were in on Maxx Crosby, but like the Ravens they were reportedly also scared off by the health of his knee. They were also in on linebackers like Nakobe Dean — who would have been a perfect fit with new defensive coordinator Christian Parker — and Quay Walker. But neither player landed in Dallas. Losing Dean to the Raiders of all teams is a bad look, in my opinion, especially for a team that has delusionally prided itself on always landing the players it wants.
The Cowboys do have a couple of first-round picks, so they can certainly improve their roster through the draft. It's also worth noting that this free agent class was one the worst I've ever seen, so I don't fault the Cowboys for not overpaying average players.
Still, I'm looking at a team here that went 7-9-1 last year that didn't get any better in free agency, as usual.
Grade: C-
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader
