Each day leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft — April 23-25 — TeamFB7 will break down a different team’s biggest draft need and the best selection to address it. Granted, teams will most often use their first-round pick on the best available player/value and not necessarily always their biggest need, so this isn’t going to compile together into a mock draft in the end. It’s more a breakdown of how each team could best address its most paramount priority if it chooses.
With owner/general manager Jerry Jones set to turn 84 years old this fall, the Dallas Cowboys remain perpetually in win-now mode and operating with urgency … even if they may not really be built to “win now” and trading away star edge rusher Micah Parsons last year set any sort of championship timeline back even further.
For a franchise intent on winning Super Bowls, the Cowboys have now gone 30 seasons without even reaching the NFC championship game.
Let that sink in for a minute.
They’ve won one playoff game in the last seven years and missed the postseason entirely the last two seasons.
Yet despite all of that, as long as Jones is around and in charge, the Cowboys will continue to operate as if a Super Bowl is in reach every year.
Keeping quarterback Dak Prescott healthy through a full season has been part of the challenge, though he played all 17 games last year and the team still went 7-9-1.
Ultimately, the problem is that instead of copying the blueprint it used in the early 1990s to build a dynasty and win three Super Bowls in four years, Dallas has instead copied … well … the present-day Cincinnati Bengals (with a better offensive line) in recent years.
Per Spotrac.com, Prescott and wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens have a combined $90,783,127 salary cap hit in 2026 — and that’s only after strategic cap management as the average annual value on their contracts is actually $121,298,000. Any way you slice it, it’s a lot of money invested solely in the passing attack (not to count the other WRs, offensive line and tight ends, of course).
Especially for a team that gave up the most points in the NFL (30.1 per game) last season and ranked 29th in total defense (377.0 YPG) with so many weak spots defensively.
To circle back to the Bengals comparison, Cincinnati’s trio of oft-injured QB Joe Burrow and WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins accounts for a combined cap hit of $100,686,157, while its defense ranked 31st in giving up 380.9 YPG and 30th in allowing 28.9 PPG.
At least the Bengals reached a Super Bowl and back-to-back AFC championship games in 2021-22 when it still had a respectable defense before becoming truly one-dimensional and missing the playoffs the last three years.
These Cowboys peaked with three straight 12-win seasons but just the one playoff victory from 2021-23.
Free Agency Helped A Little
So the problem is clear — fixing it on the fly, less easy.
Former Eagles and Broncos defensive backs coach Christian Parker takes over as defensive coordinator, replacing one-and-done Matt Eberflus. That’s a start.
Per ESPN, the Cowboys were a whopping $55 million over the salary cap before reworking the contracts of Prescott, Lamb and left guard Tyler Smith ahead of free agency to clear at least a little wiggle room to operate.
Of the six free agents to which Dallas gave contracts of at least $2 million, five were defensive players (including re-signing edge rusher Sam Williams). But the only big-ticket item was former Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson, who got 3 years and $33 million. He’s posted at least 95 tackles four of the last five years with 8 interceptions in that time and is a nice upgrade for the Cowboys’ secondary.
Meanwhile, Dallas gave former Rams cornerback Cobie Durant and former Broncos safety P.J. Locke (who has mostly been a rotational reserve in his career) 1-year, $4-million deals while former Chargers reserve defensive tackle Otito Ogbonnia got 1 year and $2.75 million among other low-investment additions.
So what’s going to be different in 2026 for Dallas?
That would seem to still hinge largely on this upcoming draft.
What Are Biggest Needs For The Dallas Cowboys In The First Round Of 2026 NFL Draft?
The Cowboys ranked second in the NFL in total offense in 2025 (391.9 YPG) and seventh in scoring (27.7 PPG), and in addition to Prescott, Lamb and Pickens (playing on the franchise tag in 2026), they re-signed running back Javonte Williams for 3 years and $24 million, locked up Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson last offseason and returned all their key offensive linemen except versatile G/C Brock Hoffman (now with the Steelers).
So just as it did in its limited work in free agency, Dallas needs to be all about defense in this draft as well, and fortunately the Cowboys do have the draft capital to make a real impact.
In addition to their own No. 12 overall pick, the Cowboys hold another first-round selection at No. 20 from the Parsons trade to the Packers. They also have the following picks: 3rd round (No. 92 overall), 4th (112), 5th (152), 5th (177), 5th (180), 7th (218).
In assessing the pressing defensive needs, we can cross off defensive tackle (taken care of by 2025 trade additions Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams along with FA signing Ogbonnia) and safety (big FA signing Thompson pairs with incumbent Malik Hooker, with Locke and Markquese Bell as depth).
That leaves linebacker, edge rusher and cornerback as areas to consider with those two first-round picks.
At linebacker, DeMarvion Overshown made it back from major knee injury (torn ACL, MCL and PCL) to play in six games late last season, while leading tackler Shemar James (91 tackles in 14 games) is back, but Dallas let second-leading tackler though overall underwhelming trade addition Kenneth Murray Jr. become a free agent (still unsigned) and released mid-season trade addition Logan Wilson (who has since retired).
At edge rusher, the Cowboys acquired Rashan Gary from the Packers for a 2027 fourth-round pick. He had 7.5 sacks last season and 46.5 overall in seven years in Green Bay. But the rest of the depth chart is underwhelming with James Houston (5.5 sacks), Donovan Ezeiruaku (2 sacks as a second-round pick last year) and Sam Williams (1 sack). Dallas let veterans Jadeveon Clowney (team-high 8.5 sacks, 12 TFLs) and Dante Fowler Jr. (3 sacks) become free agents.
Meanwhile, at cornerback, it wasn’t long ago the Cowboys thought they had this position set for years to come with Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.
Diggs, a 2020 second-round pick, led the NFL with 11 interceptions in 2021 (with 2 returned for TDs), earned first-team All-Pro status and back-to-back Pro Bowl nods. But he tore his ACL early in the 2023 season, and persistent injuries (groin, that same knee again and then lingering concussion symptoms) derailed the rest of his Cowboys tenure and he was released last Dec. 30, picked up by the Packers and subsequently released again after the season.
Bland, a 2022 fifth-rounder, looked like a draft steal when broke out in 2023 with an NFL-leading 9 INTs and an incredible 5 returned for touchdown as he earned first-team All-Pro honors and finished fifth in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting. But he was limited to 7 and 12 games the last two seasons by injuries. He signed a four-year, $92-million extension before last season, so he’ll be counted on heavily in 2026, but his durability is now a question mark.
Shavon Revel Jr., a third-round selection last year, missed most of his rookie season recovering from a torn ACL before playing in the final seven games (with five starts). He’s still a bit of an unknown with plenty to prove.
Signing Durant (3 INTs, 7 passes defended last season for the Rams; ranked 39th out of 114 CBs by PFF) helped with the depth, but this is certainly a spot the Cowboys could look to augment further.
Who Should Dallas Take In First Round Of 2026 NFL Draft?
As for how the Cowboys should maximize their two first-round picks to upgrade the defense and address those needs, they should have some intriguing options — but projecting the No. 12 pick depends on a lot of unknown variables as the draft plays out.
We can safely assume Dallas won’t be taking a linebacker with that No. 12 pick, as Ohio State star Sonny Styles should be long gone by that point of the draft and the next-best option, Georgia’s C.J. Allen, is considered a fringe first/second-round pick.
The Cowboys will have options at EDGE and CB at that spot, though.
The big question now, for all teams to consider, is what to make of the recent report about Miami EDGE Rueben Bain Jr.’s involvement in a 2024 vehicle accident in which one of his passengers was left in a coma and ultimately died. Per documents acquired by The Read Optional, Bain was cited for careless driving for the accident that occurred at about 4 a.m. when he rear-ended another vehicle, veered into a concrete barrier and then ricocheted into another barrier.
However, charges against Bain were dropped and the family of the victim has issued a statement declining to be brought into fresh coverage of the matter and wishing Bain well.
So it’s unknown how NFL teams will evaluate the matter or if it changes how they view Bain as a draft prospect.
In this series, we’ve recommended Bain at several points to EDGE-needy teams drafting as high as the Titans at No. 4. That was, of course, before this revelation.
This is a complex matter to sort out, and only the teams doing their own vetting and investigations into it can be sure how relevant it is or isn’t to them. So it’s hard to make a steadfast recommendation to invest or not invest premium draft capital in Bain.
From a purely football standpoint, though, if he is on the board for the Cowboys at No. 12, he’d be an obvious consideration given their needs.
We’d expect top cornerback prospect Mansoor Delane, from LSU, to be gone by this point, as we spotlighted him as an obvious consideration for the Chiefs, Bengals and Dolphins at picks 9-11. But Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy is another mid-first-round option who should be there for the Cowboys, although his draft stock is surging.
McCoy had 6 INTs and 16 passes defended over two seasons between Oregon State and Tennessee before missing all of 2025 with a torn ACL.
He wasn’t able to take part in testing drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he cemented his draft stock at Tennessee’s Pro Day running a 4.38-second 40-yard dash and posting a 38-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-7 broad jump.
Both positions can also be addressed with that No. 20 pick due to the depth of talent in the draft at both positions.
So we’re going to have to leave our recommendation fluid for the first time in this series, given the fresh uncertainty around Bain, and say that either he or McCoy, based on the Cowboys’ evaluations and comfort level with each, are the most logical choices at No. 12.
At No. 20, a bevy of options come into play.
At EDGE, Bain’s Miami teammate Akheem Mesidor, Clemson’s T.J. Parker, Auburn’s Keldric Faulk and Missouri’s Zion Young could all be considerations.
Scouts and draft analysts love the 6-foot-6, 276-pound Faulk’s untapped upside, but he had just 2 sacks in 12 games last season after posing 7 as a sophomore. He’ll turn 22 years old in September and isn’t a finished product yet, but if Dallas is operating with urgency and wanting an immediate difference-maker in 2026 this may not be the right pick.
The 6-foot-6, 262-pound Young didn’t truly break out until his senior season at Missouri with 6.5 sacks and 16.5 TFLs after posting just 5 sacks combined his first three seasons between Michigan State and the Tigers, but his draft stock has been on the rise.
The 6-foot-3, 259-pound Mesidor, meanwhile, is already 25 after spending six seasons in college, peaking with 12.5 sacks and 17.5 TFLs last season on Miami’s run to the national championship game. His previous highs were 7 sacks and 10.5 TFLs back in 2022. He would seem to come into the NFL with a fairly high floor as a Day 1 contributor.
The 6-foot-4, 263-pound Parker might be the safest choice of the bunch, though, after posting 21.5 sacks and 41.5 TFLs in three seasons for the Tigers — including 11 sacks, 19.5 TFLs and 6 FFs as a sophomore in 2024. PFF had him with 41 total pressures in 2025.
At cornerback, McCoy’s Tennessee teammate Colton Hood and South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse would be considerations, but that might be reaching a bit at No. 20.
Ditto for linebacker with Georgia’s Allen.
With that said and taking a cautious approach on the Bain matter (while also considering this may not affect his draft stock at all and he may be off the board by this point), an ideal Cowboys’ first round, in our opinion, would be snatching McCoy at No. 12 and Parker or Mesidor at No. 20. Dallas could also look to trade back from No. 20 if it’s sold on Allen.
McCoy is already 15 months into his ACL recovery and should be ready to contribute immediately for Dallas, but as noted, the Cowboys can at least patch together the cornerback spots if he needs to be eased along. Both Parker and Mesidor should be ready to make an impact in the EDGE rotation on Day 1.
If Bain falls to No. 12 and the Cowboys are comfortable with the matter, that could change everything, though.
