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By Jon Machota, Jourdan Rodrigue, Jonathan Jones and Zak Keefer
Sept. 9, 2026 Updated 5:45 am CDT
It’s been three decades since the Dallas Cowboys last played in a Super Bowl. While the franchise has had five or six teams capable of reaching the biggest stage, they haven’t even returned to the NFC Championship Game.
This year’s team has the makings of being one of those groups capable of double-digit wins and a potential deep playoff run. That certainly wasn’t the feeling the previous two seasons at this time of year. But when something hasn’t happened for 30 years, understandably, most go with the “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it” approach.
Up until this week, everything had been heading in a positive direction for the Cowboys. The team announced after Monday’s practice that Tyler Smith, its best offensive lineman and arguably the top offensive guard in the game, will be out four to six weeks after needing left thumb surgery to repair damaged ligaments. Dallas should be able to keep things afloat until he returns, but it was especially notable because the Cowboys avoided any major injuries during training camp and the preseason.
Good health, no George Pickens contract drama, returning one of the league’s best offenses, and what appears to be a much-improved defense have created some noticeable positive vibes with this year’s team.
And this isn’t just a media or fan observation. Players have acknowledged as much.
“I mean it’s definitely different,” said Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who is entering his 11th season. “I’m optimistic going into every season kind of with that mindset. It’s an NFL season; positive vibes and good energy doesn’t win you games. So understanding that we’ve put ourselves in a great position, we put ourselves right where we need to be to go and give ourselves the best chance to have a great week of practice and win Week 1 up there in New York.
“Right now, the energy and everything is great, but we got to make sure we’re doing everything to be accountable to each other and just continue on that trajectory. We’ve got to go do it. We’ve got to go win games.”
Others in key positions around the NFL have also taken notice. The Athletic’s Mike Sando recently polled six executives about the NFC, having each rank all 16 teams. The Cowboys finished fourth behind the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles. One executive ranked the Cowboys as high as second. None ranked the team lower than eighth. Three executives called them Super Bowl contenders.
“It’s easy to talk,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Monday. “We put our (Super Bowl) goals out there for the world to see and hear and debate, and it’s OK. It’s the way we want to be, because we do believe in ourselves and we have a lot of confidence. … I think what Dak’s talking about with all the positive vibes is real.”
To get a little different perspective on how the Cowboys are viewed nationally entering this season, we asked The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue, Jonathan Jones and Zak Keefer five questions to get their take on this year’s team.
1. What do you see as the Cowboys’ biggest reason for optimism entering the 2026 season?
Rodrigue: This is a well-coached, well-built team with elite talent at multiple premium positions — most specifically: quarterback, receiver and defensive tackle (I would count Quinnen Williams as the rare example of an interior defensive lineman in the “premium position” category). The Cowboys’ offensive structure, especially, makes them incredibly difficult to defend. They are multiple threats in the pass and run game, so defenses have to essentially pick which type of offense they can stomach allowing points and yards, for the sake of stopping a more powerful attack (the “pick your poison” cliché). Their offensive line is good and can be great (with more variance possible now that starting guard Tyler Smith will be out 4-6 weeks). Their scheme is ahead of the curve.
Defensively, the vision to significantly raise the floor is clear despite remaining questions about personnel. One of the best qualities a Super Bowl contender has is that it knows what it is, and knows what it is not (and can adjust to mask that). I don’t yet know whether Dallas is a Super Bowl contender, but for once, it has this quality.
Jones: Their offense and, specifically, their quarterback. Someone once said to me Dak Prescott is the most talked-about player in the NFL, and I had no good counterargument. Put Prescott in a Los Angeles Chargers uniform, and he’s regularly in the top-five discussion. Each year, half the NFL cycles through offensive coordinators, and though there are contrary examples, continuity matters. Brian Schottenheimer has been working with Prescott since 2023. Couple that with a great offensive mind in Klayton Adams (shoutout Jourdan), and Dallas has an edge.
Keefer: While the offense has all the makings of a top-three unit, at least — Dak Prescott isn’t thinking top three, he’s thinking No. 1 — it’s the other side of the ball that offers real opportunity. Simply put, the Cowboys cannot be worse on defense than they were a year ago: dead last in EPA per play, dead last in third-down percentage, dead last in passing yards allowed. Jerry and Stephen Jones were so impressed with Christian Parker in the interview process that they broke out of their comfort zone and hired a first-time coordinator. For years, without exception, Dallas recycled former head coaches for that role.
With some much-needed additions, starting with first-round pick Caleb Downs, this unit should be far more respectable this season. Paired with an elite offense, that could translate into three or four more wins.
2. What is the biggest hurdle for this team to make a playoff run?
Rodrigue: This team has talked about wanting to be in the Super Bowl conversation. They’ve been neutral to poor over the last several seasons, and that brings complacency. Sometimes teams with continuity must talk themselves out of complacency however they can, even as competitive as they are. But they also have to stay realistic about where their personnel is still limited (the secondary) and be ready to take big swings if they see the opportunity ahead of the trade deadline. No second-guessing, no half-measures … no complacency. Let it rip.
Jones: Themselves. And I don’t mean to sound annoying, but I have found it curious how openly the Cowboys have talked about the Super Bowl. It obviously is the reason everyone plays the game, but their offseason talk stands out because they’re the only team of 32 talking like that. They have won two playoff games in a decade and are 18-14 in December and January the past five seasons. Do Dallas know what it takes to make such a playoff run?
Keefer: The secondary. This unit couldn’t stop a nosebleed last year. It should be better this fall, thanks to Parker’s scheme and some new faces, and the regular-season schedule isn’t exactly loaded with top-tier quarterbacks. This unit has plenty of opportunities to gel by November, when the schedule softens a bit before a potential playoff push. The issue with making a deep postseason run? There’s nowhere to hide. Putting together two or three clean games in the defensive backfield might be too tall a task for a unit that’s still on its way up. I’m proceeding with caution.
3. To be a realistic contender, the defense has to be much better. Can a first-time coordinator like Christian Parker lead that kind of immediate turnaround?
Jones: If the Cowboys are going to reach their goals, Parker has to be to Dallas what Steve Spagnuolo was to the 2007 New York Giants. It’s been done before, and it will be done again. The hype around Christian Parker is real. Philadelphia knew it would lose him and still hated to see him leave. The Cowboys immediately involved him in free agency and draft prep. As much as you can invest in a 34-year-old stranger from a division rival to turn around your defense, Dallas has.
Keefer: Yes, it can be done. Look at what Josh McDaniels did last year with the New England Patriots’ offense. Look at what Liam Coen did with the Jacksonville Jaguars’ unit. Back in 2004, the Chargers improved from 31st in points allowed to 11th after the arrival of new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. (In the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals are trying to do the same thing.) And since that side of the ball is more reliant on personnel, start there: The Cowboys, dating back to last season, have added several key cogs that will change the way this unit plays. Quinnen Williams. Rashan Gary. Von Miller. Downs might prove the steal of the draft. The list goes on. If the defensive front becomes a problem, like the Cowboys hope, every unit working behind them will be better.
Rodrigue: My colleagues bring up some fantastic examples. To be clear, the defense does not have to go from worst to first. We have seen many examples of contending teams with an elite offense or defense, which lifts the other phase. The Cowboys’ defense has to go from worst to competent and steady. I believe their offense can be that good — that even a middle-of-the-league defense is OK and worthy of contention. Parker, who is as good as it gets as an up-and-coming young coach, is realistic about that, and it’s a good thing that he’s not going to ask more of the personnel on this defense than they can achieve.
4. How do you view 83-year-old Jerry Jones? Does he do too much to prevent the Cowboys from ever winning big again?
Rodrigue: I don’t think Jerry Jones is getting enough credit for who he has put in place to run this team. Recently, it seems like those professionals are all getting to do what they were hired to do. I was — maybe unpopularly — high on the Brian Schottenheimer hire from the beginning. He has taken to the role like a fish in water, and additionally, he has hired outside a typical “coaching friendship pool” to bring in coordinators who give Dallas an edge in Adams and Parker. Will McClay, the Cowboys’ VP of player personnel, is talked about in league circles as a top “GM who never was.” Dallas’ analytics, training, medical, scouting and facilities staff are all among the top of the league — seriously. This team should be a behemoth. It’s time to actually go do it.
Jones: There’s a pretty decent argument that Jones has learned from the mistakes of the early 2020s, when he waited far too long to get deals done for players, and it cost the team cap dollars. Dallas has had good drafts, and while it’s still early, you like the return on the Micah Parsons deal. McClay could have been a GM — and a successful one, in my opinion — somewhere else the last few years, if he wanted to leave. There have been past years where Jones did too much, but I don’t necessarily believe that so strongly today.
Keefer: Jones deserves credit for how he’s attacked his roster this offseason, bolstering the defensive line, adding depth at key spots in the secondary and refusing to overcommit to talented but temperamental wideout George Pickens. Several of these improvements started with the haul the Cowboys got in the Parsons trade last summer, which has afforded Dallas opportunities to address the gaping holes on this team.
Jones has also ceded some power to his 62-year-old son, Stephen, who’s never had more of an imprint on the day-to-day roster than he does now. That could be a good thing. This might not be the best Cowboys team of the last several years, but there’s no reason this group can’t win the NFC East and advance to the divisional round of the playoffs — if not further.
5. Is it realistic or not for the Cowboys to return to the NFC Championship Game — even the Super Bowl — for the first time in 30 seasons?
Rodrigue: To me, the three best teams in football right now are the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles. That’s a tough one for the Cowboys, who, of course, are also in the NFC. The numbers don’t favor an improving team in that regard — but remember, the Cowboys should have top quarterback play, top receivers, good-to-great offensive line play and a good-to-great run game. That will get you a playoff run, at the very least.
Jones: Six different participants have reached that game the past three years, so recent history suggests it’s possible. Three of those have come from the NFC West, though. I’m penciling in an NFC West team in the final four, which means Dallas doesn’t have a 1-in-8 chance of making it there, but instead a 1-in-15 chance. At their best, the Cowboys can win the NFC East and make it back to the conference title game. But we’ve said that more years than not over the past three decades.
Keefer: I’m willing to go that far — the NFC Championship Game — but at this point, I don’t see the Cowboys as a Super Bowl team. Just getting the defense to average feels like a significant step forward; that still doesn’t make you a championship contender. More and more, it’s complete teams that win consistently in the NFL, and Dallas has yet to prove it’s one of them. There’s also this: The NFC is loaded, starting with the superteam in Los Angeles. The Seahawks are defending champs. The Eagles are always a factor. The Bears, Lions, Packers and 49ers are lurking. Winning the NFC for the first time since January 1996 would be quite a story.
Sept. 9, 2026 Updated 5:45 am CDT
It’s been three decades since the Dallas Cowboys last played in a Super Bowl. While the franchise has had five or six teams capable of reaching the biggest stage, they haven’t even returned to the NFC Championship Game.
This year’s team has the makings of being one of those groups capable of double-digit wins and a potential deep playoff run. That certainly wasn’t the feeling the previous two seasons at this time of year. But when something hasn’t happened for 30 years, understandably, most go with the “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it” approach.
Up until this week, everything had been heading in a positive direction for the Cowboys. The team announced after Monday’s practice that Tyler Smith, its best offensive lineman and arguably the top offensive guard in the game, will be out four to six weeks after needing left thumb surgery to repair damaged ligaments. Dallas should be able to keep things afloat until he returns, but it was especially notable because the Cowboys avoided any major injuries during training camp and the preseason.
Good health, no George Pickens contract drama, returning one of the league’s best offenses, and what appears to be a much-improved defense have created some noticeable positive vibes with this year’s team.
And this isn’t just a media or fan observation. Players have acknowledged as much.
“I mean it’s definitely different,” said Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who is entering his 11th season. “I’m optimistic going into every season kind of with that mindset. It’s an NFL season; positive vibes and good energy doesn’t win you games. So understanding that we’ve put ourselves in a great position, we put ourselves right where we need to be to go and give ourselves the best chance to have a great week of practice and win Week 1 up there in New York.
“Right now, the energy and everything is great, but we got to make sure we’re doing everything to be accountable to each other and just continue on that trajectory. We’ve got to go do it. We’ve got to go win games.”
Others in key positions around the NFL have also taken notice. The Athletic’s Mike Sando recently polled six executives about the NFC, having each rank all 16 teams. The Cowboys finished fourth behind the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles. One executive ranked the Cowboys as high as second. None ranked the team lower than eighth. Three executives called them Super Bowl contenders.
“It’s easy to talk,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Monday. “We put our (Super Bowl) goals out there for the world to see and hear and debate, and it’s OK. It’s the way we want to be, because we do believe in ourselves and we have a lot of confidence. … I think what Dak’s talking about with all the positive vibes is real.”
To get a little different perspective on how the Cowboys are viewed nationally entering this season, we asked The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue, Jonathan Jones and Zak Keefer five questions to get their take on this year’s team.
1. What do you see as the Cowboys’ biggest reason for optimism entering the 2026 season?
Rodrigue: This is a well-coached, well-built team with elite talent at multiple premium positions — most specifically: quarterback, receiver and defensive tackle (I would count Quinnen Williams as the rare example of an interior defensive lineman in the “premium position” category). The Cowboys’ offensive structure, especially, makes them incredibly difficult to defend. They are multiple threats in the pass and run game, so defenses have to essentially pick which type of offense they can stomach allowing points and yards, for the sake of stopping a more powerful attack (the “pick your poison” cliché). Their offensive line is good and can be great (with more variance possible now that starting guard Tyler Smith will be out 4-6 weeks). Their scheme is ahead of the curve.
Defensively, the vision to significantly raise the floor is clear despite remaining questions about personnel. One of the best qualities a Super Bowl contender has is that it knows what it is, and knows what it is not (and can adjust to mask that). I don’t yet know whether Dallas is a Super Bowl contender, but for once, it has this quality.
Jones: Their offense and, specifically, their quarterback. Someone once said to me Dak Prescott is the most talked-about player in the NFL, and I had no good counterargument. Put Prescott in a Los Angeles Chargers uniform, and he’s regularly in the top-five discussion. Each year, half the NFL cycles through offensive coordinators, and though there are contrary examples, continuity matters. Brian Schottenheimer has been working with Prescott since 2023. Couple that with a great offensive mind in Klayton Adams (shoutout Jourdan), and Dallas has an edge.
Keefer: While the offense has all the makings of a top-three unit, at least — Dak Prescott isn’t thinking top three, he’s thinking No. 1 — it’s the other side of the ball that offers real opportunity. Simply put, the Cowboys cannot be worse on defense than they were a year ago: dead last in EPA per play, dead last in third-down percentage, dead last in passing yards allowed. Jerry and Stephen Jones were so impressed with Christian Parker in the interview process that they broke out of their comfort zone and hired a first-time coordinator. For years, without exception, Dallas recycled former head coaches for that role.
With some much-needed additions, starting with first-round pick Caleb Downs, this unit should be far more respectable this season. Paired with an elite offense, that could translate into three or four more wins.
2. What is the biggest hurdle for this team to make a playoff run?
Rodrigue: This team has talked about wanting to be in the Super Bowl conversation. They’ve been neutral to poor over the last several seasons, and that brings complacency. Sometimes teams with continuity must talk themselves out of complacency however they can, even as competitive as they are. But they also have to stay realistic about where their personnel is still limited (the secondary) and be ready to take big swings if they see the opportunity ahead of the trade deadline. No second-guessing, no half-measures … no complacency. Let it rip.
Jones: Themselves. And I don’t mean to sound annoying, but I have found it curious how openly the Cowboys have talked about the Super Bowl. It obviously is the reason everyone plays the game, but their offseason talk stands out because they’re the only team of 32 talking like that. They have won two playoff games in a decade and are 18-14 in December and January the past five seasons. Do Dallas know what it takes to make such a playoff run?
Keefer: The secondary. This unit couldn’t stop a nosebleed last year. It should be better this fall, thanks to Parker’s scheme and some new faces, and the regular-season schedule isn’t exactly loaded with top-tier quarterbacks. This unit has plenty of opportunities to gel by November, when the schedule softens a bit before a potential playoff push. The issue with making a deep postseason run? There’s nowhere to hide. Putting together two or three clean games in the defensive backfield might be too tall a task for a unit that’s still on its way up. I’m proceeding with caution.
3. To be a realistic contender, the defense has to be much better. Can a first-time coordinator like Christian Parker lead that kind of immediate turnaround?
Jones: If the Cowboys are going to reach their goals, Parker has to be to Dallas what Steve Spagnuolo was to the 2007 New York Giants. It’s been done before, and it will be done again. The hype around Christian Parker is real. Philadelphia knew it would lose him and still hated to see him leave. The Cowboys immediately involved him in free agency and draft prep. As much as you can invest in a 34-year-old stranger from a division rival to turn around your defense, Dallas has.
Keefer: Yes, it can be done. Look at what Josh McDaniels did last year with the New England Patriots’ offense. Look at what Liam Coen did with the Jacksonville Jaguars’ unit. Back in 2004, the Chargers improved from 31st in points allowed to 11th after the arrival of new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. (In the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals are trying to do the same thing.) And since that side of the ball is more reliant on personnel, start there: The Cowboys, dating back to last season, have added several key cogs that will change the way this unit plays. Quinnen Williams. Rashan Gary. Von Miller. Downs might prove the steal of the draft. The list goes on. If the defensive front becomes a problem, like the Cowboys hope, every unit working behind them will be better.
Rodrigue: My colleagues bring up some fantastic examples. To be clear, the defense does not have to go from worst to first. We have seen many examples of contending teams with an elite offense or defense, which lifts the other phase. The Cowboys’ defense has to go from worst to competent and steady. I believe their offense can be that good — that even a middle-of-the-league defense is OK and worthy of contention. Parker, who is as good as it gets as an up-and-coming young coach, is realistic about that, and it’s a good thing that he’s not going to ask more of the personnel on this defense than they can achieve.
4. How do you view 83-year-old Jerry Jones? Does he do too much to prevent the Cowboys from ever winning big again?
Rodrigue: I don’t think Jerry Jones is getting enough credit for who he has put in place to run this team. Recently, it seems like those professionals are all getting to do what they were hired to do. I was — maybe unpopularly — high on the Brian Schottenheimer hire from the beginning. He has taken to the role like a fish in water, and additionally, he has hired outside a typical “coaching friendship pool” to bring in coordinators who give Dallas an edge in Adams and Parker. Will McClay, the Cowboys’ VP of player personnel, is talked about in league circles as a top “GM who never was.” Dallas’ analytics, training, medical, scouting and facilities staff are all among the top of the league — seriously. This team should be a behemoth. It’s time to actually go do it.
Jones: There’s a pretty decent argument that Jones has learned from the mistakes of the early 2020s, when he waited far too long to get deals done for players, and it cost the team cap dollars. Dallas has had good drafts, and while it’s still early, you like the return on the Micah Parsons deal. McClay could have been a GM — and a successful one, in my opinion — somewhere else the last few years, if he wanted to leave. There have been past years where Jones did too much, but I don’t necessarily believe that so strongly today.
Keefer: Jones deserves credit for how he’s attacked his roster this offseason, bolstering the defensive line, adding depth at key spots in the secondary and refusing to overcommit to talented but temperamental wideout George Pickens. Several of these improvements started with the haul the Cowboys got in the Parsons trade last summer, which has afforded Dallas opportunities to address the gaping holes on this team.
Jones has also ceded some power to his 62-year-old son, Stephen, who’s never had more of an imprint on the day-to-day roster than he does now. That could be a good thing. This might not be the best Cowboys team of the last several years, but there’s no reason this group can’t win the NFC East and advance to the divisional round of the playoffs — if not further.
5. Is it realistic or not for the Cowboys to return to the NFC Championship Game — even the Super Bowl — for the first time in 30 seasons?
Rodrigue: To me, the three best teams in football right now are the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles. That’s a tough one for the Cowboys, who, of course, are also in the NFC. The numbers don’t favor an improving team in that regard — but remember, the Cowboys should have top quarterback play, top receivers, good-to-great offensive line play and a good-to-great run game. That will get you a playoff run, at the very least.
Jones: Six different participants have reached that game the past three years, so recent history suggests it’s possible. Three of those have come from the NFC West, though. I’m penciling in an NFC West team in the final four, which means Dallas doesn’t have a 1-in-8 chance of making it there, but instead a 1-in-15 chance. At their best, the Cowboys can win the NFC East and make it back to the conference title game. But we’ve said that more years than not over the past three decades.
Keefer: I’m willing to go that far — the NFC Championship Game — but at this point, I don’t see the Cowboys as a Super Bowl team. Just getting the defense to average feels like a significant step forward; that still doesn’t make you a championship contender. More and more, it’s complete teams that win consistently in the NFL, and Dallas has yet to prove it’s one of them. There’s also this: The NFC is loaded, starting with the superteam in Los Angeles. The Seahawks are defending champs. The Eagles are always a factor. The Bears, Lions, Packers and 49ers are lurking. Winning the NFC for the first time since January 1996 would be quite a story.