After addressing their defensive needs, the pressure appears to have eased for the Dallas Cowboys, who missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons largely due to their defense roster needs.

During their Day 3 post-draft press conference, the Cowboys' owner, Jerry Jones, was asked about the team’s 30-year Super Bowl drought.

“I haven’t been living like it was a 30-year drought. It’s been each year, the opportunity,” Jones said.

“You would like to have done better, but we’ve done some good things around here that when I go to sleep at night. In other disciplines, it isn’t failure to be second or third or fourth. It is in the NFL."

Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram further asked whether the Cowboys have made any changes this offseason to take the next step toward the championship. 

Jerry Jones answered, “Let me give you an easy one - we've done enough to improve on where we ended up last year."

"And I think if we play the defense that we dream of playing with the changes we've made and we can continue doing what we did offensively last year, we've got a heck of a future around here", Jones added.

The Dallas Cowboys surrendered 1,193 total yards and 92 points in just the first three games and allowed 6,409 yards overall in the 2025 season. This poor defense marked the second-worst three-game start in franchise history in yardage allowed.

Despite ranking second in offense, the Cowboys struggled defensively, allowing a league-worst 30.1 points per game and finishing near the bottom in yards allowed.

Those gaps ultimately cost the Cowboys in 2025, as a 7-9-1 season saw them miss the playoffs for a second straight year and marked 30 years since their Super Bowl win.

Jerry Jones Admits Costly Mistake Behind Cowboys’ Playoff Miss

During the Cowboys’ post-draft conference on Day 2, Jerry Jones admitted his mistake of ruining the playoff chances by not paying attention to the alarming defense. 

“We’ve changed this defense. …This is a product of 3, 4, 5 years of not getting where we’re trying to go and being a contender. … We’re doing something about (fixing) this defense,” he said, per X post of Jon Machota.

And since then, the Cowboys have been working hard to fix their defense, starting with replacing their former defensive coordinator, Matt Eberflus, with Christian Parker. 

According to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, Parker was brought in this offseason to fix Matt Eberflus’ defense, which struggled across the board, conceding a franchise-record 511 points. 

As soon as Christian Parker joined the Cowboys, he shifted the defense from 4-3 to 3-4, and the team needed players to back it up.

Accordingly, the Cowboys have prioritized filling those defensive gaps, a focus that was fully evident throughout the 2026 NFL Draft.

You can read more at the Dallas Cowboys Community!

Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Kalp Thaker