Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones repeatedly made it known during and after the 2025 season that he blamed the club’s defensive woes for the fact that Dallas ended Week 18 without a playoff berth in hand and with a record of 7-9-1.
Jones recently once again touched upon what seemingly is still a sore subject for the outspoken figure.
Jerry Jones: 2025 Cowboys didn’t play “a lick of defense”
“I’ll tell you, when you have the challenges we had last year, there’s no place to go but up on the defensive side of the ball,” Jones explained, per Tommy Yarrish of the Cowboys’ website. “Had we played a lick of defense last year, we would’ve had ourselves, I think, a real playoff run.”
According to ESPN stats, the Cowboys ended this past regular season ranked last in the NFL with an average of 30.1 points surrendered per game and 30th with an average of 377.0 yards allowed per contest. Dallas parted ways with often-criticized defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus in January, and the Cowboys later hired former Philadelphia Eagles defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Christian Parker for that role.
As it pertains to the roster, the Cowboys acquired former Green Bay Packers pass-rusher Rashan Gary after Jones learned that the Baltimore Ravens planned to send two first-round draft picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for Maxx Crosby. Dallas has also added safeties Jalen Thompson and P.J. Locke, cornerback Cobie Durant, defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia and linebacker Tyrus Wheat since the start of the new league year.
Jerry Jones has “a lot of promise” regarding the 2026 season
“Of course, we actually have touched some offense with a great blocker (offensive lineman Matt Hennessy), but more importantly, what we’ve done on defense,” Jones added about his offseason activities. “That, plus what we have set up for the draft, plus what we really have coming back from our veteran defensive players that really didn’t play that much last year, injury issues, things like that, gives us a lot of promise.”
In short, it sounds like Jones isn’t done attempting to bolster the Dallas defense following all that went wrong for that unit this past season. However, there’s no indication he will attempt to trade for Crosby after the Ravens backed out of their deal due to a failed physical.