INDIANAPOLIS — Now 30 years since the Dallas Cowboys’ last Super Bowl appearance, owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he has let the fans down with his team’s championship drought.
“I really can’t accept just the thought of winning one Super Bowl and then what?” Jones said Friday night from the NFL scouting combine. “I’ve got more time on my clock than that in my mind. And so I don’t see it that way. I see a chance to put a team together and basically be knocking at the edge and get another one or get a chance at a another one.
“It runs that way in my view. … Make no mistake about it now, if you told me I could, because I’ve done a lot of hitchhiking in my life. … I’d start here with you right now and hitchhike back to Dallas to win a Super Bowl.”
After a 7-9-1 finish in 2025, Jones promised change. One change will be the team’s approach to free agency.
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The Cowboys have not relied heavily on free agency in years, choosing to pick their spots to shore up holes on the roster with cost-effective players.
“I would bet that we will spend more money in free agency than we have,” Jones said.
To do so, the Cowboys will first have to create salary cap room. Well over the $301.2 million cap that was set Friday, they will restructure the contracts of quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and left guard Tyler Smith, which will create $66 million of room.
Jones said the Cowboys will rework the contracts of defensive tackles Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams and Osa Odighizuwa, who are scheduled to count around $63 million against the cap. With Clark and Williams, the Cowboys can look to add voidable years to their contracts then restructure that way.
“I want you to know that the only way to push more [out] is for me to go borrow some of my future, OK?” Jones said. “Expect me to go borrow some of my future.”
To Jones, it goes beyond his personal Super Bowl wishes.
“I look at where we are with Dak and I look at where he is in his career. 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 that we just signed [Javonte Williams],” Jones said. “And so all of those things I want to do everything we possibly can to stop somebody and to basically win some third downs more than we did last year. And so I think that would be the area 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.’ But I guess what I’m doing is saying, yes, I intend to do that if given the opportunity.”
The Cowboys defense finished at or near the bottom of the league in yards and points allowed in 2025. Christian Parker has been hired as the new defensive coordinator, and Jones acknowledged the need for more than just one or two new players, while also saying players that were on the defense in 2025 will be better in 2026 “because the situation has changed.”
With two first-round picks, the Cowboys have an opportunity to add more talent to their defense. Jones would not rule out the possibility of making trades, like the additions of Williams from the New York Jets and Clark from the Green Bay Packers for Micah Parsons.
“I don’t know that I’d expect it 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.”
Now 83, Jones was introspective at times during the hourlong meeting with reporters. His resolve to win a championship is strong.
“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.”
