Cowboys News: Mock Drafts And Salary Cap Details

COLUMBIA, SC - NOVEMBER 29: Clemson Tigers defensive end T.J. Parker (3) during a college football game between the Clemson Tigers and the South Carolina Gamecocks on November 29, 2025 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia S.C. (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Dallas Cowboys 2026 NFL Draft: Clemson EDGE T.J. Parker Scouting Report – Marcus Mosher, The Landry Hat

This pass rusher prospect would help the Cowboys turn the pressure up on opposing offenses.

The Dallas Cowboys are in the market for defensive line help this offseason, and one potential target could be T.J. Parker of Clemson. Coming out of the 2024 season, it seemed like a lock that Parker would be a top 10 pick after recording 19.5 tackles for a loss and 11 sacks as a sophomore. But a lackluster junior season caused his stock to fall, and now he’s one of the biggest wild cards in the 2026 NFL Draft. After a strong showing at the Senior Bowl, Parker’s draft stock is back on the rise. Could he be an option for the Cowboys in Round 1? Here is our scouting report for the former Clemson star and his potential fit with Dallas:

Clemson EDGE T.J. Parker 2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Height: 6035

Weight: 263

Expected 40 Yard Dash Time: 4.64-4.68

Recruiting: 4-star recruit, No. 43 ranked prospect, No. 6 ranked DL

College Production: 39 games, 41.5 tackles for a loss, 21.5 sacks, 6 FF, 6 FR, 4 PD

Positives:

Looks the part of an NFL defensive end. And has the frame to add more weight and keep athleticism, if needed. 

Good size for the position. And knows how to use his length to his advantage as a pass rusher.

Powerful player with strong hands that can knock back offensive tackles. Lethal long-arm.

Forced six fumbles during the 2024 season. Uses his hands as a weapon when he punches at the ball.

Projects as a dominant EDGE setting defender in the NFL. 

Very young player (21) who still has a lot of room to grow. 

In a class with so many smaller EDGE rushers, Parker’s size and strength stand out. He has NFL power and knows how to use it. His production is off the charts, and he has multiple years of experience. The fact that he was so dominant during the Senior Bowl practices is a good reminder of how talented he is and what he might be able to be at the next level.

Cowboys finalizing defensive staff: Derrick Ansley, Ryan Smith officially hired – Tommy Yarish, Dallascowboys.com

The Cowboys add two more coaches Christian Parker’s staff.

FRISCO, Texas – Christian Parkers’ inaugural staff as a defensive coordinator is coming together, as the Cowboys hired Derrick Ansley to be their DBs coach/defensive pass game coordinator and Ryan Smith to be their secondary coach. Yesterday, the Cowboys and Smith, the former Arizona Cardinals cornerbacks coach, were working towards a deal and it was finalized on Saturday.

Ansley, the former Packers pass game coordinator, interviewed with the team earlier in the week and officially signed with the Cowboys on Saturday as well. Both coaches have ties to the collegiate and professional ranks, as Ansley spent time coaching at Northwestern, Virginia Tech and James Madison. Ansley has spent a lot of his career in the SEC, coaching at Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee, where he was the Volunteers’ defensive coordinator for two seasons in 2019-20.

Additionally, both coaches have learned under some of the best in the collegiate ranks. Ansley worked as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach under Nick Saban at Alabama, and Smith was the safeties coach under now national champion Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti. Ansley spent a year as the Raiders’ DBs coach in 2018 before taking the Vols’ DC job, and then returned to the NFL as the Chargers’ defensive backs coach in 2021. In 2023, Ansley was promoted to be the defensive coordinator, a role he held for one season before joining the Packers in 2024.

In the last two seasons as the Packers’ passing game coordinator, Green Bay has finished 13th and 11th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game. In 2024, the Packers were third in the NFL with 17 interceptions on the season. Now, both Ansley and Smith will be tasked with helping Parker, whose coaching history has centered around the secondary, rebuild Dallas’ secondary, a unit that allowed the most passing yards per game in the NFL a season ago.

Cowboys currently $31.4M over after NFL says 2026 salary cap numbers – K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire

The Cowboys have to move a lot of money around to be compliant with the current salary cap.

The NFL is completely in business-season mode now. With just one game remaining on the 2025 schedule — Super Bowl LX — the majority of the league is focused on the 2026 season. The final college football all-star games are almost over, setting the stage for February’s scouting combine and March’s start to free agency.

Teams need to know how much salary cap space they are playing with when free agency hits. While numbers have been bantied about, those have been projections from third-party resources. The league doesn’t send out info until this time of year and on Friday, announced the range the cap will fall into once the number is officially announced in early March.

Teams will have between $301.2 million to $305.7 million to play with. Taking the middle ground of $303.5 million, that projects the Dallas Cowboys around $31.4 million over the projected cap.

Dallas currently has 54 players under contract for the 2026 season, including players who have signed future deals since the end of last season. The part of the roster the NFL uses to calculate offseason cap compliance, the Cowboys’ Top 51 salaries, total $333.4 million, according to Over The Cap.

The team also is carrying $24.3 million of dead cap space from players who are no longer on the team’s roster, but who have been paid salary that hasn’t yet been accounted for on any prior year’s salary cap. This is done through NFL accounting where bonuses are paid, but the cap hit can be spread across future years’ caps.

With that $357.7 million, the Cowboys would be $54.2 million over the projected cap. However Dallas has unused cap space from the 2025 season that will roll over into 2026. While incentives (earned and not earned) are still being calculated for all 32 teams, Dallas is expected to gain an additional $22.8 million through that action, again projected by Over The Cap, to bring their amount due to $31.4 million.

Cowboys 2026 offseason preview: Tight ends – Jess Hayne, Blogging the Boys

Assessing the Dallas tight end room.

In an offseason with big questions at wide receiver, running back, and perhaps the offensive line, it’s nice that the Cowboys can feel comfortable about their tight ends. With a reliable starter and legitimate competition for the backup job, Dallas can afford to give less attention to the position and direct resources to more critical needs in 2026.

Under Contract

Jake Ferguson – Ferguson bounced back in 2025 to the form that got him a multi-year contract. He finished third among all TEs in catches, with a fantastic 80% success rate on receptions when targeted. He also posted a career-high eight touchdowns, tied for third league-wide and more than doubling his career total from previous seasons. You’d like to see more RAC from Ferguson, but he fulfills his primary role as a reliable chain-mover. Costing well below the likes of George Kittle and Trey McBride, Ferguson has strong value as a Pro Bowl-worthy starter.

Luke Schoonmaker – While he still has a job in Dallas, which is more than most of the 2023 draft class can say, Schoonmaker enters the final year of his rookie contract on shaky ground. He is getting pushed from below by undrafted prospect Brevyn Spann-Ford

Brevyn Spann-Ford – While Schoonmaker had more total snaps last year, that edge came early. Over the second half of 2025, Spann-Ford was tying him for snaps as the superior blocker.

Free Agents

Currently, the Cowboys are not listing any other tight ends am0ng their 2026 free agents. They may keep an eye on guys they’ve worked with like Princeton Fant or John Stephens Jr., but Fant wasn’t signed to a futures deal despite finishing the season on the practice squad. It appears the team’s planning to freshen up its training camp depth this offseason.