The Cowboys are getting to know one of the top receivers in this year’s draft a bit better.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Indiana wideout Omar Cooper Jr. is visiting with Dallas.
Cooper, 22, won the CFP National Championship with the Hoosiers in 2025, leading the team with 69 receptions and 937 yards. He also had 13 touchdowns, which was second on Indiana to fellow receiver Elijah Sarratt’s 15 TDs.
The Cowboys currently have a pair of top-flight receivers in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens — who received the franchise tag to keep him with the club this offseason. Adding a receiver of Cooper’s caliber could be a way to double down on the position’s strength, or it could open up the Cowboys to the possibility of another move.
Cooper caught a total of 115 passes for 1,798 yards with 22 touchdowns in his 42 games at Indiana. He also rushed five times for 97 yards with two TDs.
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The Cowboys added another free agent this week when they signed cornerback Darrion Kendrick and head coach Brian Schottenheimer weighed in on the team’s overall moves over the last few weeks while at the University of Texas Pro Day workout on Tuesday.
Kendrick joins Rashan Gary, Jalen Thompson, P.J. Locke, Otito Ogbonnia, and Tyrus Wheat as new additions to a defense that failed to perform last season. They’ve also held onto players like running back Javonte Williams and wide receiver George Pickens on the other side of the ball, which Schottenheimer believes has positioned the team to focus on adding the best available players in next month’s draft.
“I think we did a really good job of setting ourselves up to be able to draft natural and draft pure, which is what you want to do,” Schottenheimer said, via the team’s website. “You don’t want to have to be forced to reach for a player, that’s when you make mistakes.”
The Cowboys currently have eight picks in the draft, including a pair of first-round selections that they can use to keep building a roster they hope will make a run at playoff contention in Schottenheimer’s second season as the head coach.
The Cowboys are signing cornerback Derion Kendrick to a one-year deal, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
Kendrick, 25, spent time with the Rams and Seahawks last season, playing a total of 15 games. He totaled 10 tackles, two interceptions and five passes defensed while seeing action on 135 defensive snaps and 112 on special teams.
The Rams made Kendrick a sixth-round pick in 2022.
He missed all of the 2024 season with a torn ACL, but in four seasons, Kendrick has appeared in 47 games with 18 starts. He has recorded 102 tackles, three interceptions and 19 passes defensed.
Kendrick has not started a game since 2023.
The new deep dive regarding the Maxx Crosby trade to the Ravens that wasn’t includes more information about the Cowboys’ interest in trading for Crosby, before the Raiders struck an ultimately failed deal with Baltimore.
Via Ryan McFadden of ESPN, the Cowboys made three different offers to the Raiders.
First, they offered the 20th overall pick in the first round of the 2026 draft and defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. Second, they offered the 12th overall pick in round one and a third-round pick, but not Odighizuwa.
The third and final offer was the 12th overall pick and a second-round pick, but not Odighizuwa.
The Raiders, as PFT reported during Scouting Combine week, wanted two first-round picks and a player. They eventually got two first-round picks from the Ravens, until the Ravens decided not to proceed.
Earlier this month, Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones didn’t rule out making another run at Crosby. (So much for not talking about players under contract with other teams.) The magnitude and number of the offers shows that the Cowboys were very interested.
Given that they’ve yet to make good on Jerry’s vow to “bust the budget” with defensive talent, Crosby could still be the ace in Jerry’s glory hole.
The player most immediately impacted by the new Jaxon Smith-Njigba contract is Cowboys receiver George Pickens, who has seen the bar for his next deal move to at least $42.15 million per year — even though he’s boxed in by the $27.298 million franchise tag. Another player’s immediate financial future has been affected by the JSN contract.
Like Smith-Njigba, Rams receiver Puka Nacua has had three great NFL seasons. And Nacua has more catches (313 vs. 282), more yards (4,191 vs. 3,551), and more total touchdowns (21 vs. 20).
Both were unanimous All-Pro selections in 2025. Smith-Njigba won the offensive player of the year award. Nacua finished third.
Like JSN, Puka is eligible for a new deal. Unlike Smith-Njigba, Puka is entering the last year of his rookie contract.
Nacua is due to make $5.7 million in 2026, a number that has been increased over the slotted amount based on his performance to date. But that’s a far cry from the new market value.
A four-year contract with a $43 million new-money APY becomes a five-year, $177.7 million deal. It’s a $35.54 million per year value from signing.
On Monday, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network suggested that the Rams will wait to do Nacua’s deal until “further into the summer.”
Regardless of the time, Nacua shouldn’t set foot on a practice field until he gets his next contract. And the longer the Rams wait, the more expensive it will be. Especially if the Cowboys wake up from their chronic contractual foot dragging and drive the market even higher than it currently is by paying Pickens.
Ultimately, the market is the market. And the market keeps going up. Because the salary cap keeps going up. That’s the way the business works. The cap has exploded from $182.5 million to $301.2 million in only five years. And Nacua has proven his value.
Through three years, the Rams have gotten tremendous value. For those 313 catches, 4,191 receiving yards, and 21 total touchdowns, the Rams have paid $2.93 million — an average of less than $1 million per year.
It’s time to pay the piper. Or the Puka. Or whatever.
It never gets cheaper. That’s why the Seahawks moved when they did. And it’s why the Cowboys and Rams shouldn’t wait. The bar will keep going up. Pickens and Nacua should be the next two receivers to benefit from that simple NFL business reality.
Free agent offensive guard Robert Jones is signing with the 49ers, NFL Media reports.
Jones, 27, signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Cowboys last offseason but did not play a down. He broke a bone in his neck during a training camp practice in July and spent the season on injured reserve.
He visited the 49ers earlier Monday.
Jones, an undrafted free agent in 2021, spent four seasons with the Dolphins. He played 49 games, starting 30, including all 17 at left guard in 2024.
He played 1,078 snaps in 2024 and has 2,025 in his career.
The Cowboys re-signed cornerback Corey Ballentine, according to the NFL’s transactions report.
Ballentine, who turns 30 next month, spent part of last season with the team. The Cowboys signed him to the practice squad on Sept. 25 after the Patriots waived him, and Ballentine bounced between the practice squad and the active roster.
In five games, he made two tackles, seeing action on 23 defensive snaps and 47 on special teams.
The Giants made him a sixth-round pick in 2019, and he has also played for the Jets, Lions and Packers.
In his career, Ballentine has totaled 103 tackles, an interception, nine passes defensed and two forced fumbles in 75 games. He has made 11 starts.
The 49ers met with a possible addition to their offensive line.
The NFL’s daily transaction report for Monday shows that Robert Jones came in for a visit with the team.
Jones signed with the Dolphins after going undrafted out of Middle Tennessee State in 2021. He started 13 of the 30 games he played in his first two seasons and then started every game at left guard for Miami in 2024.
The Cowboys signed Jones last year, but he missed the entire season with a neck injury.
The 49ers saw one starting guard move on in free agency when Spencer Burford signed with the Raiders, but Dominick Puni remains under contract with the NFC West team.
When it comes to paying star players, it never pays to wait.
The Cowboys learned that lesson (again) on Monday, when the market for the receiver position moved from $40 million per year to $42.15 million per year, thanks to the new contract signed by Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
That’s particularly relevant to Cowboys receiver George Pickens, whose path to free agency was blocked by the franchise tag. He’ll make $27.298 million without a long-term contract. And his desire to get a long-term deal will only become stronger, now that two other receivers have made it to the $40 million threshold.
The Cowboys and Pickens have until July 15 to get a multi-year deal signed. There has been no indication that any negotiations have begun. The Cowboys will likely push it to the deadline, while also lamenting Pickens’s absence from the offseason program.
Regardless, the price will keep going up. The Rams likely will be signing receiver Puka Nacua to a new deal, sooner than later. He’ll quite possibly be the next player to get to $40 million per year. That will make Pickens even more determined to get there.
No, delays never help get deals done. Especially since the Cowboys may have been able to get Pickens signed during the 2025 season for something less than $40 million per year.
Still, it’s on brand. They take too long to pay their stars. They did it with Dak Prescott. They did it with Ezekiel Elliott. They did it with CeeDee Lamb. They did it with Micah Parsons — and it blew up on them.
What will happen with Pickens? That’s largely up to the Cowboys. But the market is the market, and the market has once again changed. If the Cowboys truly want to keep him, they need to dig deep. If they keep dragging their feet, they’ll eventually need to dig ever deeper.
The Cowboys went into the offseason with the goal of improving their defense and one of the players they’ve brought in believes the team has taken the right steps to start that process.
Safety Jalen Thompson signed with the team as a free agent this month and said his prior relationship with secondary coach Ryan Smith from the Cardinals played a role in his decision to sign with Dallas. Smith will be working with the team’s new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who has helped oversee an effort that has resulted in the additions of Thompson, defensive end Rashan Gary, safety P.J. Locke and cornerback Cobie Durant.
“I just feel like we have all the right pieces,” Thompson said, via Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “[Parker] puts the players in the right places. Players that have worked under him have been All-Pros. He brings that versatility to the defense where he puts guys in different places that do the right thing for the team. We got all the right pieces. We’re ready to go. I’m excited to get going with the guys and meet the others as well and create our identity this year as a defense. We got to show that it’s not the same defense as last year.”
Thompson mentioned Parker’s versatility and the safety has shown plenty of it himself by lining up deep, in the box, in the slot and elsewhere over the course of his NFL career. He said he’s open to playing “wherever they need me” on a Cowboys defense that needs to make a major step forward in 2026.
