Jerry Jones has boldly proclaimed that the Cowboys' front office is going to “bust the budget” this offseason. And NFL Insider Ian Rapoport has asked fans to remain cautious.

“First of all, it’s Jerry’s budget, so there’s no ‘busting’ it; it’s whatever he decides,” NFL expert Ian Rapoport said, urging fans to wait and see. “I expect them to be active. I don’t know, are they gonna, like, spend like crazy? I don’t know. They’ve never really done it,” he said.

The Cowboys have been infamous among fans for being a conservative bunch with a history of not bringing out the checkbook to sign free agents. According to Over the Cap, the Cowboys have spent $54.75 million in signing free agents in the last five years, which is the least out of all teams. The next team was the Ravens, who spent roughly $20 million more.

In the same time frame, the Carolina Panthers have spent $297 million, and 27 teams have spent upwards of $100 million. Despite this, Jerry Jones is somehow confident that he will be busting the budget this offseason.

Ian Rapoport also agrees that he expects the Cowboys have a lot of activity in the offseason. We might see a lot of defensive additions to the team.

"But I expect a lot of activity. And what I thought last year was so interesting with Dallas was, you know, there were some free agent moves. Don't get me wrong. But it seemed like at the beginning they were like, we don't love the free agent class. We are going to go make trades. And they made, I think, five or something like that,” Rapoport observed.

Is Jerry Jones Going to Keep His Promise?

Frustrated fans have heard all too well the promises of Jerry Jones and been disappointed time and again.

In 2024, Jones’ mantra was to go “all-in”, which ended up with the Cowboys spending one of the least in the league when free agency came by. The Cowboys spent $23.4 million in 2025. To put things in perspective, the New England Patriots spent the highest amount of $192.9 million, while the Seattle Seahawks ranked fifth with $101.5 million.

The Cowboys, however, seem to be off to a good start. For starters, they have retained Javonte Williams on a 3-year $24 million contract and are looking to franchise tag wide receiver George Pickens.

Talks are also underway with kicker Brandon Aubrey, where reports suggest the Cowboys may be giving a second-round RFA tender of $5.8 million.

What do you think of the Jerry Jones “bust the budget” motto? Let us know in the comments.

Written by

Shyam Hari

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar