Jerry Jones hints at a spending spree, aiming to boost the Cowboys' defense. Get ready for a bold free agency push and potential cap-busting moves.
FRISCO - Stop Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones if you’ve heard this before - of course, once Jerry gets to a-geein' and a-hawin', it’s really hard to stop him - but this week aboard his Party Bus at the NFL scouting combine, he once again went all-in on “All-In.”
And this time, he means it. Maybe.
"I would bet that we will spend more money in free agency than we have," Jones said. “I guess what I'm doing is saying, yes, I intend to do that (bust the budget) if given the opportunity."
After a 7-9-1 finish in 2025 - and a second straight non-playoff year - Jones has been promising change.
One huge alteration in the way this franchise has operated for the last 15 years or so would be its approach to free agency.
The Cowboys spend like crazy to retain their own star players. But in part due to a more conservative approach from Jerry’s son, Stephen, Dallas has seemed allergic on to idea of being buyers in “outside” free agency.
But now, as Jerry approaches age 84 and with those three Super Bowls from the 1990s a 30-year-drought fading memory …
Real change?
READ MORE: Cowboys To-Do List in Free Agency, NFL Draft
As we have detailed often in this space, part of the process will be for the Cowboys to create room under the new $301.2 million salary cap for 2026
Per the plan, they will soon restructure “flip the switch”) on the contracts of quarterback Dak Prescott, receiver CeeDee Lamb and offensive lineman Tyler Smith.
Jones is openly saying the Cowboys will massage the contracts of defensive tackles Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa.
Part of this process can be simple bookkeeping tricks, including the addition of voidable years that spread out cap impact over an increased number of years.
"I want you to know that the only way to push more (money out) is for me to go borrow some of my future, OK?" Jones said. "Expect me to go borrow some of my future."
Jones mentioned what we’ve called “The Dak Window” as part of his newfound motivation to spend. Prescott is about to turn 33; the Cowboys time to try to get back to a Super Bowl is here.
"I look at where we are with Dak and I look at where he is in his career,” Jones said. “And I look at some of the pluses that we have on our front and what we think we can do there. And what we can do with (George) Pickens and Lamb and what we can do with our running back (Javonte Williams) that we just signed. …
"And so I think that would be the area (Dallas’ NFL-worst defense) that you would see me bust the budget. Where you would see me do that is what we're doing defensively.
"And I would expect anybody that's a Cowboy fan or a critic of the Cowboys to say, 'Duh, that's not hard to see, Jerry, to do.'”
The Cowboys can create more than $110 million in cap room (one reason they are comfortable with the idea of keeping franchise-tagged Pickens) and they own two first-round picks.
So free agency, the NFL Draft and big trades can - and should - all be in play.
"I don't know that I'd expect (trades) but we have the ammunition to be good at it," Jones said. "And I wouldn't hesitate to be good at it if it will help our team and help the timeline that we're talking about."
Jerry talks a great deal on the idea that he’d pay anything for another Super Bowl.
"It's every bit the prize of anything I have, with the exception of family and your love for family," Jones said. "I guess what I would say is make no mistake about it, I don't have a higher priority than to go and win a Super Bowl."
Good. And now “the big spender” gets a chance to prove that.