Dallas eyes Denver safety P.J. Locke, a former Christian Parker player, as a potential defensive boost in free agency.
FRISCO - The connections make sense.
Consider …
The Dallas Cowboys need help in the backfield of the NFL’s worst defense.
Candidates to come here via NFL free agency could have ties to new coordinator Christian Parker.
Some prospects might be lured into Texas homecomings.
The Dallas Cowboys continue to promise they will spend big on the open market to boost the roster on the defensive side of the ball - “Bust the Budget” has become a motto of owner Jerry Jones - and a new name fits.
Broncos safety P.J. Locke, who played under Parker from 2021 to 2023 when Parker served as Denver’s defensive backs coach for the Broncos, is being linked to Dallas by Cowboys insider Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News.
"When free agency starts, count safety P.J. Locke among the names the Cowboys expressed interest in," Watkins wrote on Twitter.
The Cowboys - who are installing a new "3-4 Hybrid'' defense that Locke has played in - might be in transition at the position as safety Donovan Wilson is a free agent.
We’ve named some bigger (and better) safety names, including free agent Reed Blankenship of the Eagles (where Parker recently coached) and trade target Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Dolphins.
But Locke - among other things - figures to be an affordable get.
He’s a Beaumont native who entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Texas in 2019 and eventually landed with the Broncos, where he’s been a part-time first-teamer, having started 26 games in the last three years.
In January 2025, Locke, 29, underwent a transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion surgery but put that serious concern behind him and was the field in 2025 for 16 games, three as a starter.
Locke (5-19, 202), projected to sign somewhere for less than $4 million APY, happens to be represented by David Mulugheta, which causes concern in some quarters. (he repped Micah Parsons on his way out of Dallas in a Green Bay trade a year ago and now represents George Pickens here.)
But the fact is, the Cowboys’ tie to Locke might very well be the result of the team’s meeting with the agent this week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.