When you start mapping out the Dallas Cowboys’ 2026 season, the first thing that jumps out is how much can swing one way or the other for a few key players. That’s the nature of a roster built on bets, and these three names sit right in the middle of the uncertainty.
Shavon Revel is one of the biggest wild cards on the team. A lot seems to depend on him making the jump the Cowboys believed he could make when they got what they viewed as a bargain in last year’s NFL draft.
Dallas didn’t make a ton of moves at cornerback this offseason, and there’s a sense that Christian Parker could help lift the whole room. Even with that in place, Revel still has to become the player the Cowboys thought they were getting.
He could rise to the top of the position group, or he could end up looking like another bargain that never really paid off.
DaRon Bland carries his own kind of uncertainty. The Cowboys gave him an extension last year, and at the time it felt like a move that helped push everyone past the Micah Parsons trade.
It was a practical decision, but it was also a major commitment to a player who has not looked like his 2023 version since then. That exact peak may not be coming back, but there’s still a path to Bland being a strong player again, closer to the version Dallas had in 2022.
On the other hand, it wouldn’t be surprising if he slips even further.
Then there’s Donovan Ezeiruaku, who might have the widest ceiling of the group. There’s a real scenario where he ends up as the Cowboys’ best pass rusher, and maybe even a top 10 pass rusher overall.
He flashed in training camp last year, but the regular season brought a mess around him, especially with everything that happened to the defense and the Parsons trade. That’s not the case anymore.
Dallas has reshaped the defense, and Quinnen Williams gives the interior a stronger presence than it has had in a long time. No one is pinning a specific expectation on Ezeiruaku, but the second-round pick has to justify where he was taken.
He could absolutely do that. In fact, that feels likely.
But when a second-round pick and the Cowboys are in the same sentence, there’s enough history there to make anyone pause. If Ezeiruaku doesn’t take the step, it would be another painful miss for Dallas.
This season should tell us which direction his story is headed.
In Other News...
Cowboys Suddenly Have A Huge DaRon Bland Problem Again
DaRon Blands place in the Cowboys future was supposed to be settled long before the season turned into another test of depth at cornerback. Dallas locked him up on a four-year extension worth up to $92 million, betting on the kind of impact he flashed in his breakout 2023 run, when he became one of the leagues most disruptive playmakers and looked like a cornerstone on the back end.
Instead, the conversation around Bland has shifted back to health and availability, with recurring foot problems once again clouding his role. He tried to play through the pain in 2025 and still gave Dallas useful snaps, but the production never matched the standard he set two years ago, leaving the Cowboys waiting on a return to form at a position where they cant afford many more setbacks. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Fans Just Got Another Brutal Micah Parsons Reality Check
Micah Parsons keeps stacking up the kind of company that reminds Dallas just how rare his rise has been. In ESPNs annual survey of NFL executives, coaches and scouts, the former Cowboys star was again viewed as one of the leagues premier pass rushers, and his place in the sports record book only sharpens the point. Parsons already belongs to a small group of edge defenders who have piled up at least 65 sacks through their first five seasons, a list that includes names like T.J. Watt, J.J. Watt, Derrick Thomas and Reggie White.
For Cowboys fans, the sting is not just what Parsons has become, but what the roster looks like without him. Dallas did not have any of its current edge rushers crack the surveys top 10, a reminder of the talent gap that has opened since Parsons was traded to the Green Bay Packers. Even with the season now moving forward, the comparison lingers because Parsons production would still have towered over the Cowboys pass rush, and that is the reality check that keeps hanging over the franchise. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Secondary Could Get A Veteran Twist Fans Did Not Expect
Dallas spent last season trying to patch together a pass defense that never really stabilized, and the front office is still banking on better years from DaRon Bland and Shavon Revel in 2026. There are other corners in the mix too, including Caelen Carson, Cobie Durant and Devin Moore, but the bigger question is whether the Cowboys want to add another proven body to a room that badly needs help after finishing at the bottom of the league against the pass.
One analyst has floated a veteran name as a possible fit, and the idea comes with plenty of baggage. The corner in question was released by Washington earlier this offseason and is trying to work back from a torn ACL, with availability and performance both in question after he has not topped 10 games in a season since 2021. For Dallas, it is the kind of move that would make sense on paper if the team wants insurance, but it would also force a hard look at whether the upside is still worth the risk. [Read more 🡒]