The Dallas Cowboys' spending budget just saw another projected jump. Now the question? What will they do in response.
The Dallas Cowboys soon will finalize their coaching staff and enter the offseason with a list of high-quality free agents to hone in on when the new league year officially begins on March 12.
Among those are wide receiver George Pickens and runnning back Javonte Williams, two pillars of Dallas' high-powered offense that the front office has expressed early interest in retaining ... for obvious reasons.
Pickens and Williams each posted over 1,000 yards receiving and rushing, respectively, in addition to quarterback Dak Prescott playing at near his very best during a fully-healthy campaign and pieces like CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson playing at Pro-Bowl level, too.
Co-owner and COO Stephen Jones expressed that much in how he described the fear the Cowboys' offense put in opposing defenses. It was something he heard prospective defensive coordinators bring up during their conversations with the Cowboys in recent weeks.
“Talking to these defensive guys we brought in, we were a pain for them,” Jones told Yahoo Sports' Jori Epstein at the Senior Bowl in Alabama this week. “They start talking about, ‘Oh my gosh, when we had to play you guys, that was a problem.’ They have to decide, ‘Hey, put your best cornerback on one and double the other,’ or do a lot of moving parts how they did it …
“Your offense caused a lot of problems.’”
And with the latest bit of news breaking out of the league office, the Cowboys have an opportunity to keep it that way.
It's reported that the NFL has begun notifying teams that the 2026 salary cap will officially exceed $300 million next season, settling somewhere between $301.2 and $305.7 million by the time we reach March 12.
It's a near $100 million increase just in the last four years ($208.2 million salary cap in 2022). This year, teams were to stay below $279.2 million.
Business is booming, indeed.
Now as it pertains to Pickens, he's arguably the player with the simplest path forward. All signs tell us that the Stephen and Jerry Jones are preparing to put the star wideout on the franchise tag, which would keep him in Dallas at a reasonable $28 million salary and avoid him hitting the open market where he could potentially field more offers.
Regardless of what the exact plan and timing is (franchise tag or long-term contract extension), the Cowboys want to keep Pickens around.
“That's just something we'll have to work through,” Stephen Jones added. “Obviously, we think George is going to be back and we can effectuate that. But at the same time, we want to be open-minded to anything.”
More open-mindedness may be necessary in Williams' negotiation, especially as the Cowboys survey what the rest of the running back market gets. It's justifiable for the standout ball-carrier to get double his 2025 salary, which would be a raise up to $6 million APY, but his story shows that this Brian Schottenheimer-led offense can produce quality rushing from a player in practicaly any financial bracket.
Time will tell on those two cases, as well as the rest of the Cowboys' roster not currently under contract, but for now, one thing is for certain.
The Joneses will have upwards of $300 million to play with.
It's plenty enough to keep this offense together and continue being "a pain" for opposing defenses.