How the Cowboys Strengthened Their Defense for the 2026 Season
The Dallas Cowboys have worked very hard during the 2026 NFL Draft to improve their defense ahead of the upcoming football season, making multiple trades for draft picks and players. The team gambled on their draft choices, hoping to win big. The looming question on every fan’s mind is: how well did they do? Did the Cowboys actually fix their problems, or merely put a Band-Aid on them?
For starters, it’s important to know where they came from. This is to judge how much they will have improved. The Cowboys' defense was ranked 30th for total defense, 32nd in pass defense, and 23rd in rush defense. So defensive coordinator Christian Parker and head coach Brian Schottenheimer had plenty of work to do in order to improve their odds.
Second, we have the smart choices that they made during the draft. The actions the Cowboys took are important to gauge how effectively the leadership acted. They brought in Caleb Downs, Malachi Lawrence, and Jaishawn Barham, amongst others. The players are facing enormous pressure to improve the issues plaguing the Cowboys. The management was trying to fix the defense, notably stopping the run and focusing on specialties. In terms of the intelligence involved, others would give them an A, which definitely seems reasonable and fair.
Now, the final category is the actual score the Cowboys deserve for the changes they’ve made. They released Logan Wilson to put Jaishawn Barham in his place. Wilson's overall PFF grade was 52.6. Barham, on the other hand, was 79.3, a 26.7 point upgrade. Jalen Tolbert hasn’t played enough to have a grade, whereas Anthony Smith has a 69.7 PFF grade, giving them some definite numbers to work with. Replacing Juanyeh Thomas with Downs, playing for defense, had their score shoot up from 60 to 83.7. Finally, for the offensive lineman, the Cowboys went from Sidney Fugar’s unknown PFF numbers to Drew Shelton’s 70.6. Overall, they raised their PFF scores on average by 47.675 while eliminating two players who didn’t have any PFF information. Parker and the other administrative staff have made some outstanding moves that deserve another A.
