DALLAS — Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Friday that he would put more of the team’s future resources into this season’s roster, depending on what becomes available. The most logical place for an addition would be the defense, Jones said.
Jones made the comments on the K&C Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan, two days before Dallas opens the season against the New York Giants. The NFL trade deadline is Nov. 10.
Entering his 38th season as owner, Jones gets more amped up for an opener than he used to. It comes with knowing what it takes to get Dallas into position.
“All camp, frankly, all year, I’ve been saying I’m excited about this team,” Jones said. “I’m excited about the makeup of the team. I can say more so than in years past and many years. And so that’s when it’s logical, if doable, take some of what you’re going to use in the future years and put it into this year’s team. We’ve done that fairly well, really. We’ve done it a lot for this year.”
“But would I do it some more?” Jones continued. “And the answer is yes, totally predicated on the availability and the circumstances. If we had a chance to improve it, more than likely, I’ve said that it would be on the defensive side of the ball, not to take away anything from the players and where we think we are defensively right now. It’s just that’s probably the more logical place.”
Jerry Jones On The Dallas Cowboys’ Future Draft Picks
Jones said at the NFL Scouting Combine that defense was the area where he would bust the budget, according to DallasCowboys.com. He said there to “expect me to go borrow some of my future.”
Dallas had already sent a 2027 first-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick to the Jets for Quinnen Williams at last season’s deadline. Williams had 1.5 sacks in 7 games for Dallas after the trade.
In March, the Cowboys sent a 2027 fourth-round pick to Green Bay for edge rusher Rashan Gary. Gary had 7.5 sacks last season. He then took a pay cut. Void years added to the reworked deal dropped his 2026 cap number to $5.44 million, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported.
On Aug. 29, Dallas sent 2027 third- and sixth-round picks to Pittsburgh for offensive tackle Broderick Jones and a 2027 fourth-round pick.
Jerry Jones On The Dallas Cowboys’ Salary Cap Room
Last week, Dallas restructured the contracts of Kenny Clark, DaRon Bland, and Jake Ferguson to clear more than $19 million in cap space. Jones said Tuesday on the Shan & RJ show that Dallas has serious room to make a trade right now.
What is left to decide is when to spend that room and who to spend it on.
“We would have made that cap room one way or the other,” Jones explained. “We would have made it. Certainly people are getting real savvy about this cap. It’s just like your own bank account. If you want something to spend next year, then don’t spend it this year. It’s all fungible. It doesn’t multiply a cap room. You’ve got to decide when you’re going to spend it, obviously who you’re going to spend it on.”
Jones said there “really could be” an opportunity.
Later in the segment, Jones said some of his good purchases with his own money have surpassed all the bad ones.
“Man, if you saw those legal pads, those pads of failures that I’ve done with my money, you wouldn’t be impressed with the thing I have to say about it,” Jones said. “But thank goodness some of the goods have surpassed all the bads. But in terms of numbers, I’ve made a lot more bad ones than good ones.”
Kickoff Sunday at MetLife Stadium is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
