FRISCO, Texas – If only the Dallas Cowboys could have been blessed with clairvoyancy back on March 12, 2025, the start of NFL free agency.
If only had they known that defensive end Micah Parsons was never going to play for his guaranteed $21.3 million fifth-year option during the 2025 season or that their leader in sacks four years running would never accept the Cowboys' long-term extension offer owner Jerry Jones insisted during training camp would be "a lot more" than anyone speculated.
Or that they would be hesitant to devote upwards of $45 million a year to sign Parsons to a long-term deal, growing uneasy they might not could trust him enough to invest that much salary cap money in him.
If only the Cowboys could have predicted the future with two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs, who after another knee surgery insisted on rehabbing on his own, not with the team trainers in the offseason. Or that he would not be ready to participate in the non-mandatory offseason practices, nor the start of training camp and not be a fulltime player by the start of the season.
Or that Diggs would suffer that mysterious home-related concussion, and between that and a sore knee with worrisome future complications, end up playing just eight games.
Because those two guys were eating up a combined $30 million in salary cap space at the time. The Cowboys eventually unloaded Parsons to the Green Bay Packers right before the start of the regular season and came to the conclusion they no longer wanted Diggs on the team going forward, actually releasing him before the final game of the season. The final straw was him refusing to return Christmas night after the game at Washington on the charter flight back, instead remaining in the D.C. area.
Just wasted presumed cap space.
Maybe then they could have invested in re-signing their 12th year veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence – not only a four-time Pro Bowler but their very best defensive end whose Lisfranc foot injury limited him to just four games in 2024 – even though he was turning 33 in 2025.
But who knew?
And as it turns out, man, the Cowboys needed D-Law on this historically porous defense, but instead Lawrence will be lining up at defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams. He started 16 of 17 games in 2025, thanks to signing on March 12 a three-year free-agent deal with the Seahawks to play for his former Cowboys defensive line coach Aden Durde, now the Seattle defensive coordinator, for a $32.5 million package with just a $3 million signing bonus, $13 million guaranteed at signing, an $8.5 million base and a $500,000 incentive if being selected to his fifth Pro Bowl.
Well, guess what? Lawrence was one of three defensive ends selected to the NFC Pro Bowl team after finishing with 53 tackles; second on the team with six sacks, one off the lead; second on the team with 20 QB hits, just two off the lead; leading the team with 11 tackles for losses; and his three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries leading the team while playing 59 percent of the snaps.
Speaking of prescient, Lawrence had this to say as to why he left the Cowboys as a free agent, saying, "For me to have another opportunity to win a Super Bowl with a good team, the pieces are in place, had to take my opportunity," pointing out the offer from the Cowboys was never there. He also flippantly said he would have a better chance winning a Super bowl in Seattle than remaining here.
Well, Lawrence is one win away from reaching that illusive Super Bowl. And the other two guys?
Parsons got his money but suffers a season-ending torn ACL in Game 14 with the Packers, and the Cowboys got their two first-round draft choices (2026 and 2027) and defensive tackle Kenny Clark in return. Diggs, after being claimed on waivers by the Packers for cornerback insurance heading into the playoffs, played just the final regular season game while they were resting many of their starters and one snap in their first-round playoff loss to the Bears. No way the Packers were going to keep the oft-injured corner for his $14.5 million base salary in 2026, plus a $58,800 active-per-game bonus, totaling $1 million if playing in all 17 games.
Dang, if only the Cowboys had known.
- Short Timeout: Will pause our impending football conversations with some heartbreaking news of the passing of Cowboys longtime bus driver Emory Tyler earlier this week. Emory retired a few years ago after being with the Cowboys for nearly 20 years. I am totally indebted to Emory for being alive today to write this since it was Emory that summer of 2016 saving our lives on our road trip to training camp in Oxnard, California. The bus was involved in a fatal crash on an Arizona highway when a passenger car illegally crossed in front of us. Emory's skilled driving prevented the bus, knocked off the road and into a culvert, from turning over, despite the windshield glass flying in his face. More on his funeral services scheduled for next week to come.
- Follow The QB: Of the record-tying 10 NFL head coach openings in one off season, three of the four having been filled by 3 p.m. Wednesday know who their quarterbacks will be. John Harbaugh joining the Giants with Jaxson Dart. Robert Saleh joining the Titans with Cam Ward. Kevin Stefanski signing on with the Falcons with Michael Penix. The only exception is Jeff Hafley with the Dolphins, who might be unsure of Tua Tagovailoa. The next two top-rated openings would be the Bills with Josh Allen and the Ravens with Lamar Jackson. After that, I'd say the four other teams are likely unsure of who their quarterbacks are going forward: Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Arizona. In fact, the only two teams firing their head coach finishing with a winning record are Buffalo (12-5) and Pittsburgh (10-7), both being eliminated in the playoffs.
- After Championship Games: More candidates to fill head coach vacancies and the Cowboys trying to fill their defensive coordinator vacancy likely will move forward next week following the conference championship games. Any candidates on those four teams will then be eligible to conduct in-person interviews, including coaches on winning-team staffs since there is two weeks between those games and the Feb. 8 Super Bowl in Santa Clare, California. Plus, teams potentially losing defensive coordinators to head coach positions will start moving to fill some of those vacancies, possibly with DC candidates from their owns staffs being considered by several teams for promotions.
- Striking Stat: In the Chargers' 16-3 first-round playoff loss to New England, quarterback Justin Herbert was sacked six times and hit another 11 times while being able to score just a field goal. Now, don't mean to pile on but in the Cowboys' 34-17 loss to the Chargers in the regular season, Herbert threw for 300 yards, had a season-high 132.8 QB rating while completing 23 of 29 pass attempts. For the season, Herbert was sacked 54 times. The Cowboys failed to sack him once, the only game Herbert did not suffer at least one sack, and only one time one sack. Oh, that defense.
- The Feet Have It: Many moons ago when growing up, my great-uncle Tony gave me this advice: Before you get married, make sure you "checka her feet," since his wife Carmela, after all their years of marriage, was having problems walking around without his help because of her foot problems. Well, guess this feet stuff might pertain to cornerbacks, too, since the Cowboys' one-time Pro Bowl corner DaRon Bland – 2023 with nine interceptions and five returned for TDs – just went through another round of foot surgery. Am told the screw inserted to promote the healing of his fractured fifth metatarsal during training camp, eventually spending 10 weeks on IR to the start 2024 season, cracked and a bigger screw has been inserted this time. He spent the final three weeks on IR in 2025 while struggling through most of the season. Said owner Jerry Jones when speaking on his cornerback situation going forward, "I don't like that at all," of another surgery to repair Bland's fractured fifth metatarsal. "I don't like the sound of that. You have to watch feet, relative to the future." Making it sure sound as if a cornerback might just be a priority with one of those two first- round draft choices.
- Shots Galore: About time tight end Jake Ferguson has been honored for the 2025 season he produced. After finishing second on the team with 82 catches and his eight touchdown receptions second to George Pickens' nine, while playing through some nicks and bruises to appear in all 17 games, he has been selected as the alternate NFC Pro Bowl tight end to replace the 49ers' George Kittle (torn Achilles) … Jimmy Smith, the Cowboys' former 1992 second-round draft choice out of Jackson State, played just one year before a burst appendix cost him the 1993 season. He was released in 1994 but went on to a five-Pro Bowl career with Jacksonville and is now being inducted into the Black College Hall of Fame in the Class of 2026 on June 6 in Atlanta … On this day in Cowboys history, Jan. 21, 1979, the Cowboys were beaten in Super Bowl XIII, 35-31, by the Pittsburgh Steelers, despite the Cowboys scoring two touchdowns within 2 minutes, 5 seconds in the final 2:27 of the game, but coming up short to become the first Super Bowl team at the time to score 30 points and lose.
And for this week's final word, with the East-West Shrine Bowl being played next week and Senior Bowl practices also starting next week, we turn to Cowboys COO and co-owner Stephen Jones, discussing on DallasCowboys.com some interesting factors with the Cowboys pursuing their next defensive coordinator.
"I do think it gives more opportunity, the fact that some of the staffs are opening. You know, when the head coach goes usually a lot of the staff goes with it, and some of these teams are coming off historically really good football teams," Jones said, referring to an offseason beginning with 10 teams hunting for a head coach, and only four of those positions having been filled as of Wednesday. "In particular, the ones I just mentioned, the Ravens and the Steelers, those are obviously teams that have been playoff contenders year in and year out, and pretty much the whole tender of Coach [Mike] Tomlin and Coach [John] Harbough's coaching tenders.
"So I think there are opportunities out there, and we'll continue, as I said, to cast a wide net, learn a lot and hopefully come up with a guy that we want, that complements Coach Schottenheimer's offense and the culture that we want to have here with the Dallas Cowboys."
And let the search continue.
