Cowboys Clips
The Cowboys’ contract impasse with edge rusher Micah Parsons last year ended with a trade that sent Parsons to Green Bay and some might wonder if the same thing will happen with wide receiver George Pickens this year.
Pickens received the franchise tag from the team ahead of free agency, but he has not signed the tag and there have not been any signs that the two sides are close to an agreement on a long-term contract. If that remains the case, Pickens could take a page from the book Parsons and many others have followed by staying away from the team over the coming months.
That may happen, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be joining any other team’s offseason program. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday that the Cowboys have not received any trade inquires about the wideout from other clubs.
The deadline for tagged players to sign a long-term deal isn’t until mid-July and Parsons wasn’t traded until just before the season, so there’s plenty of time for things to play out for Pickens and the Cowboys before we’ll know exactly what the outlook will be for the 2026 season.
Cowboys safety Markquese Bell was arrested on drug charges Friday in the Dallas suburb of Prosper, Texas.
Collin County, Texas, records show that Bell was arrested on a felony count of possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.
No details have been released about the circumstances surrounding the arrest.
Bell signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2022 after a college career that saw him arrive at Maryland as a highly sought-after recruit, only to get suspended from the team and leave the school before ever playing a game. He then transferred to Coffeyville Community College and transferred again to Florida A&M.
Last year Bell played all 17 games for the Cowboys and was on the field for 32 percent of their defensive snaps and 63 percent of their special teams snaps.
The NFL and the NFL Referees Association have resumed their efforts to get a deal done. And the NFL, as expected, showed up with the big guns.
Via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the attendees at Thursday’s bargaining session included Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Kevin Seifert of ESPN reports that Thursday’s “meeting was productive and there is an expectation for continued discussions.”
While the current labor deal between the NFL and the NFLRA runs through May 31, the league has made noise about wanting to get a deal done by May 1, given that it plans to commence hiring replacement officials at that point.
The overriding question is the real deadline, and whether both sides agree on it. That’s the key. Setting a deadline and agreeing to it. Until that happens, both sides will be leery about moving toward their bottom-line positions.
So is it May 1? Is it May 31? Is it Week 1? The answer to that question will go a long way toward letting everyone know when nut-cutting time arrives.
The Cowboys have called Arlington home since 2009. They will call it home until at least 2055.
The Cowboys and the city of Arlington are finalizing a lease extension at AT&T Stadium, Mayor Jim Ross told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The original lease was set to expire in 2039, but will be extended by 16 years.
“A huge project that will hit the agenda next week is we’re extending the Cowboys’ lease here in Arlington to 2055,” Ross told the newspaper. “That is a phenomenal deal, because that means the small business around the entertainment district, and everybody else, has now 30 more years of having the Cowboys here in Tarrant County and the Cowboys here in Arlington. We are super stoked about what’s going on, and we have tremendous momentum.”
Despite its age, AT&T Stadium remains one of the marquee venues in the NFL.
It hosted a Super Bowl in 2011, NBA All-Star Weekend in 2010, the NCAA Men’s Final Four in 2014, a College Football Playoff National Championship in 2015 and became the new permanent home of the Cotton Bowl in 2010.
The Cowboys committed $295 million to renovate the stadium in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup.
The stadium will host nine matches this summer, the most of any venue in the tournament.
Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren appears headed to being a late first-round draft pick later this month.
McNeil-Warren has become a popular top-30 visitor.
He is currently visiting the Dolphins in Miami after recent visits with the Patriots, Browns, Cowboys and Falcons, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report. McNeil-Warren will head to Pittsburgh after finishing in Miami today.
McNeil-Warren earned second-team All-American honors last season when he totaled 77 tackles, three forced fumbles, two interceptions and seven passes defensed.
Dane Brugler of TheAthletic.com ranks McNeil-Warren as his 23rd-best player in the draft, third among safeties.
Cornerback Brandon Cisse is among the prospects making the rounds with the draft a little over two weeks away.
Jordan Reid of ESPN.com reports that Cisse recently visited with the Cowboys. He’s also set to meet with the Seahawks.
Cisse played two seasons at North Carolina State before transferring to South Carolina for the 2025 season. He had 27 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception while building a profile that has led many to project him as a second-day pick this year.
The Cowboys signed Cobie Durant to go with Shavon Revel, DaRon Bland and Caelen Carson at corner. The Seahawks parted ways with Riq Woolen this offseason, but the Super Bowl champs have Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe set to return.
The Cowboys are often in the spotlight and that should be the case when the first round of the draft gets underway in a couple of weeks.
Dallas currently holds the 12th and 20th overall picks, which gives them a lot of options when it comes to moving around the draft board to get the players they covet the most in this year’s class. They could also try to look to 2027 in deals for future assets and team owner Jerry Jones said the team will “absolutely” be considering all of those possibilities before and during the draft.
“When you’ve got the kind of assets or the kind of ammunition we’ve got in this draft, you should look at all machinations,” Jones said, via the team’s website. “It’s one thing to sit here right now, it’s another thing to sit and look at it three hours into the draft and see what you got there. So all of that is a possibility. This is an obvious statement, but nothing — no amount of skill, no amount of knowledge — can beat having a lot of draft capital, having a lot of picks.”
The Cowboys have eight overall picks, but lack a second-round selection after sending theirs to the Jets in the Quinnen Williams trade last season. A move down with one of their first-round picks could get them one, but it’s just one of the paths the team could take later this month.
Former Louisville wide receiver Chris Bell is set for a busy week.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Bell is visiting with the Jets on Tuesday. He’ll then head to Indianapolis for a meeting with the Colts and a Combine medical recheck.
Bell tore his ACL in a November game last year, which is why he’ll be heading for another medical check this week. He had 72 catches for 917 yards and six touchdowns before his injury and 151 catches for 2,166 yards and 12 touchdowns over his entire run with the Cardinals.
Rapoport adds that Bell is also slated to meet with the Raiders and Cowboys ahead of the draft later this month.
NFL teams are allowed to bring in local players for a workout that doesn’t count toward the league-mandated 30-visit limit, and when the Cowboys bought in their local draft prospects to Dallas Day, Texas A&M running back EJ Smith was among the players in attendance.
Smith was mostly a backup during his six-year college career and is not likely to be drafted, but he’s notable as the son of Cowboys Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith.
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, himself part of a football family, said he was glad to see the son of a Cowboys legend working out in Dallas.
“Very cool,” Schottenheimer said, via ESPN. “You know me, man, I’m family. I’m all family. And you watch his film and he was an incredible short-yardage runner, powerful. But, yeah, just watching him move, seeing him in person, the type of young man he is, it’s cool.”
Every team can bring in players who played high school or college football in their region for visits beyond the “top 30" visits, and Schottenheimer said that’s an advantage for the Cowboys, because the Dallas area is such a hotbed for football talent.
“We multiply our top 30,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re like top 45, top 48, whatever it is. And it’s because of the fact that we’ve got that location.
EJ Smith, who played four years at Stanford and two at Texas A&M and never gained more than 218 rushing yards in a season, would need to impress in pre-draft workouts just to get a chance to sign as an undrafted rookie. But he got a look with the Cowboys, and he might earn a longer look in a rookie minicamp, and perhaps beyond.
Once upon a time, the Cowboys beat the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. If the two teams somehow cross paths in the championship game in the not-too-distant future, Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman will definitely have a dog in the fight.
In an interview with Clarence E. Hill Jr. of DLLS Sports, Aikman made it clear that he’s now all-in for the Dolphins. It’s still not clear, however, what Aikman will be doing.
Aikman explained that he was approached by the Dolphins to assist with the General Manager search. Then, he was asked to help find a new head coach. Now, he’ll be sticking around.
“I’ll continue to help in ways that are yet to be defined,” Aikman said.
While Aikman’s specific role is TBD, the thinking is that Aikman can help the effort. In the same way that Tom Brady is helping the Raiders.
“I think all franchise quarterbacks that have been in the league for any length of time,” Aikman said, “I think we all come out of the game thinking that we could run a team, and know what it takes, and certainly having been a part of some championship teams, and I know what the locker room feels like, and what a winning locker room should be like.
“And so I really thought I would go in that direction when I was getting out of football, but because of things in my personal life, it kept me from really being able to devote time in that way. But, in the back of my mind, I kind of hoped it’d come along, and then, you know, I was so far removed at this particular time, I didn’t think it would ever happen. But so it’s kind of scratched that itch, but, you know, I don’t have any ownership. I don’t have the influence, if you will, that Tom seemingly has there with the Raiders. So it looks similar, but I’m not so sure that is.”
It is similar in one important respect that continues to be glossed over by the league and the broadcast networks. While calling games for all 32 teams, Aikman now has a clear interest in the success of one of them. And he apparently plans to leverage the things he learns in his primary job to assist the performance of his second one.
“I think the Dolphins were wise in understanding my relationships around the league,” Aikman said. “And knowing that I have information that they don’t have or can’t get. And I think they were smart in taking advantage of that — whether it was through me or through somebody else. The Cowboys have never elected to do that, at least with me. You know, maybe they have with others. But, no, I don’t feel there’s a conflict [with the Cowboys]. But I will say I’m pulling for the Dolphins . . . because now I have something at stake, and I think they hired two really talented, wonderful people, and I think that’s gonna prove itself out. . . But, yeah, I’m pulling for them. I want to see them do well because I feel like my fingerprints are on it as well.”
While there may be no direct conflict with the Cowboys until they play the Dolphins, the conflict of interest between Aikman’s main job and his side job is clear. And it will become an issue the moment Aikman shows up to visit another team’s facility and/or attend another team’s practice — especially if that team is on Miami’s 2026 schedule.
As to Aikman’s dual role, the league has said it will address the situation “at the appropriate time.” In the interim, Aikman will be in the draft room with the Dolphins, further cementing the fact that he’s on the payroll and working to advance the team’s interests.
Having a slice of equity doesn’t matter. Aikman is on the payroll. He wants the Dolphins to win. They’ve hired him, as Aikman said, due to the fact that he has “information that they don’t have or can’t get.”
His two jobs have clearly conflicting interests. One employer will expect him to gather information that will help him perform that job to the best of his abilities. The other employer will expect that the information gathered in the first job will be shared for strategic purposes in the second job.
Aikman is right about one thing: If the league is going to allow teams to hire broadcasters to funnel “information that they don’t have or can’t get,” every team should be smart enough to do it.
It all goes back to Brady’s dual role. The moment the league shrugged at Brady working as Fox’s No. 1 analyst and owning a piece of the Raiders, a bridge was crossed. Aikman is merely the second guy across that bridge. Unless the league burns that bridge down, any team that doesn’t follow suit will be at a competitive disadvantage.
