Still looking to fill the Micah Parsons-sized hole in their defense early in the 2025 NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys took a random flyer on Jadeveon Clowney. He made his debut in Week 4, and across the 13 games that he played for America's Team, Clowney was a revelation.
Despite playing just under 44% of the defensive snaps a year ago under Matt Eberflus, he led the team in sacks and tackles for loss by a mile with 8.5 and 12, respectively. Clowney wasn't re-signed this offseason to play in Christian Parker's defense, but the Cowboys could still use help on the edge.
The hope, at least in the minds of some fans, was that a late Clowney reunion was still in the cards to potentially save this Dallas pass rush, if the new pieces aren't all that they are billed up to be. However, Clowney returned to the Houston Texans, the team that drafted him, on a one-year deal on Sunday.
With Clowney off the board, if things go sideways at Cowboys camp, Dallas' pass rush could be doomed.
Jadeveon Clowney's Houston return means Dallas is running out of options to improve pass rush
So... do we think Maxx Crosby is actually in play?
At this point, he may be the only option to upgrade this defensive front, with Joey Bosa likely retiring and the free agent market looking rather slim. The hope, however, is that Parker and defensive line coach Marcus Dixon can change the narrative with this group in the coming season.
Rashan Gary is a solid veteran, albeit not quite the sack artist that Clowney or Parsons were. Malachi Lawrence is a rookie with a lot of promise, and Donovan Ezeiruaku is poised for a big Year 2. Heck, even Sam Williams is thriving at training camp in the early going.
But Cowboys fans have seen promise turn into letdown before. Clowney is a known commodity, whereas Lawrence, and even Ezeiruaku and Gary, to an extent, are a bit up in the air. What version of these players will Dallas see in 2026? That remains to be seen.
If this fairly young group gets off to a slow start, fans will be wishing their team had Clowney back, and Jerry Jones will be kicking himself. Things could even come to a head in Week 4 when the Cowboys travel across the state to NRG Stadium to face Clowney and the Texans.
Outside of a potential Crosby trade, and we know that Jones is a wild card in trade discussions and really anyone could end up wearing The Star, it is hard to imagine that the Cowboys find an external candidate that seriously upgrades their pass rush.
And maybe that's okay. Perhaps Dallas has all it needs to make life difficult for opposing quarterbacks already in the building. But Clowney signing with Houston took a legitimate option off the table for the Cowboys to upgrade their pass rush, and they could soon be doomed because of it.
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