It was at last year’s NFL Combine that Dallas Cowboys fans learned Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and standout cornerback Jourdan Lewis wouldn’t be back. Fortunately, this year’s event in Indianapolis didn’t deliver the same gut punch to the team’s outlook.
Lawrence and Lewis were massive losses in their own right, but watching Lawrence win a Super Bowl in his first year with the Seattle Seahawks was the ultimate body blow. The 33-year-old called his shot upon arriving in Seattle that he was never going to win a Super Bowl in Dallas.
That still hurts, but the Cowboys could get their own version of revenge by signing Seahawks free agent pass rusher Boye Mafe.
Mafe checks in at No. 22 in Pro Football Focus' free agency rankings. PFF projects him to sign a three-year $49 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. The $16.33 million per-year average would slot him as the 22nd-highest-paid edge defender in the NFL. Seems more than doable for Dallas.
Signing Boye Mafe would make a lot of sense for the Dallas Cowboys
Pass rusher was arguably Dallas’ biggest need entering the offseason. Now that it's been revealed that Donovan Ezeiruaku underwent hip surgery and is expected to miss all of OTAs and minicamp, it needs to be the top priority, and Mafe checks a lot of boxes.
According to PFF, Mafe's 146 pressures over the past three seasons are the 31st most at the position. Considering how much high-end edge talent there is in today's NFL -- and how much depth Seattle has on its defensive front -- that's an impressive mark. During that same span, his 41 run stops rank 34th at the position.
A second-round pick in 2022, Mafe has developed into a reliable two-way defender. Over the past three years, his 41 run stops rank 34th at the position, per PFF.
The Cowboys need outside linebackers who can get after the quarterback and hold their own against the run. Mafe fits that bill, and he is also capable of dropping into coverage, which Christian Parker will ask his OLBs to do on occasion, assuming he borrows some of Vic Fangio's principles.
While Maye was also credited with two sacks in 2025, he was eighth among edge rushers with a 19 percent pass-rush win rate, per ESPN analytics, placing higher than Brian Burns, Maxx Crosby, DeMarcus Lawrence, Aidan Hutchison, Josh Hines-Allen, and Danielle Hunter.
It’ll be fascinating to see how Mafe’s market develops. His sack output trails fellow free-agent edge defenders Trey Hendrickson, Odafe Oweh, and Jaelan Phillips, but nearly every other metric points to him being an impact player.
Top edge prospects like David Bailey, Arvell Reese, and Rueben Bain are all expected to be taken before the Cowboys' turn at No. 12 overall. Locking in a multi-year deal for a proven edge like Mafe would net Parker a quality player and protect the front office from reaching in April.