The Cowboys know exactly what they're looking for when the scouting process begins for the NFL Draft.
For a large portion of Dallas Cowboys fans, once Brian Schottenheimer's team lost to the Detroit Lions in Week 14, attention turned to the draft.
Thanks to the Micah Parsons trade, the Cowboys will now have two first-round picks at their disposal.
Defense is the glaring need, and not just one position, but several.
Safety, linebacker, corner, and pass rusher are where all eyes will be on the draft.
Why? Because, for the most part, the offense with Dak Prescott is set. Bring back George Pickens and Javonte Williams, and you're good to go into 2026.
But defensively? Definitely not.
Since he was first announced as the Cowboys' head coach, Brian Schottenheimer has preached what he's looking for in a player.
The biggest one is that you have to be someone who loves football and doesn't just go through the motions.
And as the Cowboys prepare for the offseason, which includes scouting and attention to various workouts, including the Scouting Combine, Cowboys Vice President of Player Personnel Will McClay has revealed exactly what sort of person, not player, Dallas is looking for.
"You're looking for a guy that loves the game of football, and you have to dig to try and figure that out," McClay said on The Huddle. "You can see it on tape. But not only loving the game, but the process of the game, it's the practices. It's the meetings, all of that."
For most, what McClay just described should be a given.
But we know that not everyone is wired that way, which is fine.
However, it is clear that if you aren't, you won't be a Cowboy in 2026.
But more than what's inside a person, what they do on the field can nearly trump everything else.
If the talent is there, sometimes teams will overlook a blemish because the player they're getting is going to be a star, or at least they hope.
"You're looking for guys that have instincts with the way college football is played, and then you come to the NFL, it's changed," McClay added.
"There's so many things that happen, but people that have the instincts are able to react at the right time in the right way, We're digging to find those football instinctive guys as well."
With the NFL Draft months away, the Cowboys, like all other 31 teams, have already gotten started on preparations for the offseason.
And they know exactly what they want from their draft prospects.