As hard as it may be to believe, it's already been more than a month since the big free agency boom began, and we now have less than two weeks before the 2026 NFL Draft gets underway, as the festivities kick off with Round 1 on Thursday night, April 23.
Now, while there are still some players who've yet to find a team for the 2026 campaign, we're thinking it's safe to say that most teams are set with the rosters they have heading into the draft. We'll see some trades during the draft, of course, and maybe a couple ahead of time, but you get what we're saying.
With most player personnel in place, our good friend Lou Scataglia over at NFL Spin Zone recently constructed a new set of pre-draft power rankings, and the Dallas Cowboys came in at No. 15 overall, with the following being the reasoning from Scataglia for his placement:
"Dallas has already made notable defensive change that makes you believe the unit can at least be average in 2026. If that's the case, they'll flirt with double-digit wins."
As it only took 11 wins for the Philadelphia Eagles to win the NFC East this past year and only took nine wins for the Green Bay Packers to take the final wild-card slot in the conference, double-digit wins would obviously be welcomed by fans of America's Team. And Scataglia is certainly correct in his assessment that Dallas has improved defensively.
The Dallas Cowboys are already stronger on defense than they were in 2025
For those wondering, Dallas ranked eighth among NFC teams, and here's how the conference shook out as a whole:
- Seattle Seahawks (No. 1)
- Los Angeles Rams (No. 3)
- Chicago Bears (No. 8)
- San Francisco 49ers (No. 9)
- Detroit Lions (No. 10)
- Green Bay Packers (No. 12)
- Philadelphia Eagles (No. 13)
- Dallas Cowboys (No. 15)
- Minnesota Vikings (No. 17)
- Carolina Panthers (No. 19)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 20)
- Atlanta Falcons (No. 22)
- New Orleans Saints (No. 23)
- Washington Commanders (No. 24)
- New York Giants (No. 27)
- Arizona Cardinals (No. 32)
I'm not going to pretend I agree with every single thing on that list. But the Cowboys are probably pretty close to where they should be at this point. But it'll certainly be interesting to see where they land after the draft.
As for Scataglia's comments, it's certainly no secret that Dallas had one of the worst defensive units in the entire league last season, ranking 30th in total yards allowed per game (377.0) and dead last in scoring defense (30.1 points per game). And those 511 points they surrendered, by the way, were the most in franchise history and the sixth-most by any team ever.
So, yeah, changes were needed. And that change started, of course, with Jerry Jones firing defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and replacing him with Eagles assistant Christian Parker. Poaching from a rival is always nice, you know?
But there have been some necessary changes in on-the-field personnel as well, of course, including some addition by subtraction, as a plethora of players who were problematic this past year are gone.
The Cowboys certainly didn't make as many big defensive moves as some were hoping for, but trading for Rashan Gary was a solid move, even if they may have been able to get him without giving up a fourth-round draft pick, and signing safety Jalen Thompson undoubtedly makes the secondary stronger. Plus, a full season of Quinnen Williams is in the cards, so that almost feels like another addition in itself without actually being one.
Dallas still needs to add some depth at linebacker, as that position was grossly mishandled in free agency, but one would assume that one of the team's two first-round draft picks will be used to address that issue.
There are still holes to fill, of course, but from an overall standpoint, the Cowboys are undoubtedly already stronger on paper on defense than they were at this time last year.