The Cowboys’ table-setting for the start of the 2026 league year included parting ways with a defensive lineman on Thursday.
The league’s daily transaction wire shows that they have waived Perrion Winfrey.
Winfrey signed with the Cowboys last June after playing in the UFL, but missed much of the season with a back injury. He returned to make one appearance and had two tackles.
Winfrey also played in 13 games for the Browns in 2022, but was released the next summer after being accused of threatening a woman with a gun. He played one game for the Jets in 2023 and had 25 tackles and a half-sack over those two stops.
The 49ers are adding an experienced defensive coach to their staff.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Matt Eberflus is joining San Francisco as the club’s assistant head coach of defense.
Eberflus fills the role vacated by Gus Bradley, who followed former 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to Tennessee.
Eberflus, 55, was the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator in 2025 after serving as Bears head coach from 2022-2024.
The 49ers hired Raheem Morris to be their defensive coordinator to replace Saleh.
Last week, running back Javonte Williams re-signed with the Cowboys. It’s been called a three-year, $24 million deal.
We’ve gotten more information about the contract. Here are the full details, per a source with knowledge of the terms.
1. Signing bonus: $6 million.
2. 2026 base salary: $1.75 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 per-game active roster bonus: $1 million, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
4. 2027 base salary: $6.25 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2027 per-game active roster bonus: $1 million, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
6. 2028 base salary: $7 million.
7. 2028 per-game active roster bonus: $1 million.
The contract also includes de-escalators based on the failure to participate in the required percentage of offseason workouts. It’s a common term in Cowboys contracts.
While per-game roster bonuses typically are included in the calculation of base pay, $1 million per year is a large amount that is tied to being in uniform every week. For each game Williams misses over the next three years, he’ll lose $58,823.
It will be interesting to compare the Williams deal to the other running back contracts to come. Our guess? Some will be better, and some will be not as good.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t use the term “all in” this offseason, but he did say last week at the Scouting Combine that he was ready to “bust the budget,” while being “aggressive” in free agency.
Jones also wants to add players ready to play now.
Dak Prescott expressed excitement at the possibility of adding veteran defenders to a unit that set a team record for most points allowed in a season.
“Heck yeah, most definitely,” Prescott said Wednesday, via Tommy Yarrish of the team website, “especially when he said . . . no redshirts.
“We’ve got a coach [Brian Schottenheimer] in his second year. We had some ups and downs and shined some good moments last year. This is the year that you make a big jump, and getting big-time players who can help immediately is a part of that.”
The Cowboys are expected to pursue linebackers in free agency as they switch to the 3-4, and Nakobe Dean could be an early target. Cowboys new defensive coordinator Christian Parker was on the defensive staff in Philadelphia, where Dean played the past four seasons.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer said last week that the Cowboys want restricted free agent offensive linemen Brock Hoffman and T.J. Bass back with the team in 2026. They placed a second-round tender on Bass, who has started 10 games in his career, but they will have to reach a deal with Hoffman to retain him.
According to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report, the Cowboys do not plan to tender Hoffman, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Hoffman, 26, has started 14 games the past two seasons.
He has played center, left guard and right guard.
“Both of those guys are studs,” Schottenheimer said at the Scouting Combine when asked about Hoffman and Bass. “They’re glue pieces for us. They’re always prepared. They’re ready. Both of those guys could start for other teams in the league. We’re just very, very talented. Both of those guys coming back would be big for us.”
