DALLAS — Jerry Jones‘ silence this offseason signals confidence in the roster, ESPN analyst Chris Canty said Tuesday morning on First Take.
The show posted the segment five days before Dallas opens the regular season at the New York Giants. Canty played four seasons in Dallas after the Dallas Cowboys took him in the fourth round of the 2005 draft, 132nd overall, out of Virginia. He finished with 22.5 sacks across 11 NFL seasons and won Super Bowl XLVI with the Giants.
Canty said Jones has not started any conversations or controversies that people inside the organization have to answer for.
“Here’s the biggest reason why the Cowboys have to get out to a fast start. It’s because Jerry Jones, by and large, this entire offseason has been quiet,” Canty said.
Dallas went 7-9-1 last season and missed the playoffs for a second straight year. The defense ranked last in the NFL in points allowed and third-worst in yards allowed. Brian Schottenheimer is in his second season as Cowboys coach.
The risk arrives if things go left early and Jones starts talking, Canty said.
“And I believe that Jerry Jones’ silence is indicative of his confidence in what the product on the field is going to be this year,” Canty explained.
“If things go left early and Jerry starts talking, it doesn’t bode well for this team,” Canty continued, “because the last position you want to be in is football people having to answer for something that they didn’t do on the field because it’s something that the owner said in a postgame press conference.”
Jerry Jones On The Quiet Offseason Label At Cowboys Camp
Jones has never thought of the Cowboys as quiet or subdued, and he said at his precamp news conference on July 28 in Oxnard, California, that he has been guilty of stirring it up.
“I like the idea that the word is that we have had a quiet offseason, relative to dare I say off the field noise or chatter,” Jones said. “I like that, that hasn’t been the case. We’ve had a lot going on. We’ve had to really scramble a lot, the kind of stuff that you don’t see. But that should be that way, it’s supposed to be hard.”
Jones is 83 and enters his 38th season as the Cowboys’ owner and general manager. Dallas hired Christian Parker away from the Philadelphia Eagles in January to run the defense and brought in nine new assistant coaches. Five of the Cowboys’ seven picks in the 2026 draft were defensive players. The franchise has not won a Super Bowl since the 1995 season.
George Pickens, Quinnen Williams And The Dallas Cowboys’ Contract Slate
George Pickens signed his $28.3 million franchise tag, and the July deadline for a long-term extension passed without a deal, leaving no contract disputes hanging over camp. Pickens caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns last season, his first with Dallas, and made the Pro Bowl. The Cowboys can tag him again in 2027 at roughly $32.8 million.
A year ago the story in Oxnard was Micah Parsons, whose contract standoff ran through camp before Dallas traded him to the Green Bay Packers on Aug. 28, 2025.
Quinnen Williams arrived from the New York Jets on Nov. 4, 2025, in a deal that sent defensive tackle Mazi Smith, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 first-round pick to New York. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on July 28 that the team was “absolutely” open to a long-term deal with Williams and that talks with his agent about the process had already taken place.
Dak Prescott is signed through 2028. Kickoff at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is set for 7:20 p.m. CT Sunday on NBC.
