There is a lot of hope and expectation surrounding the Cowboys' defense in 2026.
The Dallas Cowboys defense has been getting a lot of love over the course of the offseason as Christian Parker takes over the unit from Matt Eberflus.
There have been several new additions to the defense, with free agency and the draft seeing the Cowboys largely go in a defensive direction.
Given how poor the defense was last year and how settled the offense is, that made sense.
But there has also been a lot of change off the field with the coaching moves as well, so you can make the case that the defense is nearly completely overhauled from a player and coach standpoint.
And in truth, you can't say it wasn't needed.
However, many just look at the changes as a whole, but NFL.com's Matt Okada has gone through the numbers, and it is a little surprising.
Yes, there have been a lot of new faces coming through the doors of The Star this offseason, and Okada has landed on 15. That's how many new players this defense will have in 2026.
"Between eight free-agent signings, two trades and five draft picks that involved defensive players, Dallas added 15 new faces on that side of the ball this offseason," Okada wrote.
"Pro Bowl pass rusher Rashan Gary, first-round safety Caleb Downs and others join 2025 additions Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark in an attempt to resurrect a struggling unit that ranked bottom three in scoring and total defense in each of the last two campaigns and allowed a league-high 30.1 points per game last season."
Ok, so Williams and Clark were last season, so do we actually count them?
Either way, if we don't, 13 is still a lot of change for one side of the ball, but given how diabolical the defense was under Eberflus, those changes simply had to be made.
Now, with Parker at the helm, along with 15 new players under his guidance, the long road to getting back to being a competent defense begins.
Will Parker's unit be middle of the pack? Or even higher? In truth, just being average in Year 1 would suffice, I'd imagine.
There is often a lot of roster turnover each offseason, but the Cowboys went through the defense with a broom and welcomed 15 new faces to the unit.
Time will tell if that's enough to turn this embattled ship around.
