Heading into the 2026 NFL season, the bulk of Dallas Cowboys fans and even stalwart media members had ginned up their enthusiasm about the team based on some presumptions. One was that turning over the roster on the defensive side of the ball was necessarily a good thing, and that the Cowboys had upgraded the talent. The other was that new defensive coordinator Christian Parker was a wunderkind who could install a defensive system so sophisticated that even mediocre personnel could shine.
As many said this spring and summer, the Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones were “moving different,” a grammatically questionable sentiment that has proven to be questionable in terms of football sentiment as well. The Cowboys, at least based on what we’ve seen through five weeks, are moving quite the same as they did last year, when the rotten defense might have been a tick better than this year’s rotten defense.
Cowboys Did Not Upgrade Talent
There were Cowboys skeptics, though. Yes, the team brought in six new NFL starters, but who were those starters? Rashan Gary, a player the Packers were ready to cut? Dee Winters, who the 49ers gave away for a fifth-rounder? Cobie Durant and PJ Locke, two players added for $4 million each?
The Cowboys hate spending in the free-agent market, and the only significant player they got was Jalen Thompson, a good-not-great safety they paid three years and $33 million, hardly a needle-moving addition.
The Cowboys used two first-round picks on defensive players, Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence. That was, arguably, different. But those moves have not had the impact they hoped.
Christian Parker Has Little to Work With
Clarence Hill, the longtime Cowboys beat writer who now works for DLLS Cowboys, was one of the skeptics. While Christian Parker is under fire for the performance of the defense, and the hiring of Mike Pettine as a consultant is a sign that there might not be that much confidence in Parker internally. But Hill said it’s on the Cowboys for giving Parker some bottom-of-the-barrel defensive retreads rather than making actual talent upgrades.
He noted, amongst a series of posts yesterday: “Dak Prescott opened camp talking Super Bowl Did the Cowboys leave no stone unturned to give him the best roster possible to get there. The best team environment. Set up to fail.”
And he wrote of Parker specifically, “You can’t be a star coach without a bunch of star players. Run tell that”
He added: “Difference makers abound Allegedly having different players doesn’t mean they have appreciably better players But hey What do I know after covering this team for 30 years up close and talking to decision makers.”
The Cowboys have time to turn things around, of course. But Hill’s telling some blunt truth about the state of the roster.
Cowboys Called Out as Christian Parker ‘Set Up to Fail’