Stephen Jones Says Cowboys Still Working Trade, Free Agent Markets Ahead of 2026 Season

The Dallas Cowboys aren’t done shopping. Just over a month before their regular-season opener, Stephen Jones confirmed the front office is still working the phones — both on trades and on the veteran free agent market — as training camp winds down in Oxnard.

According to Joseph Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News, Jones said on a team broadcast Saturday that Dallas has talked with other teams about trade options and with veteran free agents. That report was independently corroborated by Yardbarker, which added that Jones pointed to camp specifically as the window when these moves tend to get done — “players are generally willing to look at a deal during camp because they are not into the season yet and can see how the market has moved around them,” Jones said, per that report.

Edge Rusher Remains the Watch Spot

Per Hoyt’s reporting, edge rusher is the position to monitor for an addition, with the Cowboys “optimistic about the progression” their defensive backs and linebackers have shown in camp. That framing lines up with what’s already public: Dallas pursued Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby earlier this offseason before a failed physical sent that deal back to Las Vegas. Jerry Jones said this week the team “did not walk away” from that interest, according to Pro Football Rumors, citing Jon Machota of The Athletic — though Stephen Jones has since said the team wouldn’t pursue Crosby again given his current status with the Raiders.

Other names have circulated without confirmed traction. NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk reported that Dallas had interest in a trade for Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks this offseason, but Miami’s asking price was too steep — Miami has since signed Brooks to a three-year, $51.3 million deal, closing that door. Free agent linebacker Bobby Wagner remains unsigned and has come up in Dallas radio chatter, though nothing beyond speculation ties him to the Cowboys specifically.

The Bigger Priority: Locking Up Quinnen Williams

Running alongside the trade talk is a contract situation that may matter more to the roster’s long-term shape. Jones has repeatedly called a Quinnen Williams extension the club’s top priority, telling reporters “he’s at the top of the list of people we want to keep around here long term,” per CBS Sports. Williams’ agent, Nicole Lynn, spent most of Saturday’s practice at Oxnard with the team’s cap staff, according to the same Yardbarker report that confirmed Jones’ trade comments — a detail that suggests those talks have moved past the pleasantries stage.

The timing isn’t neutral. Philadelphia signed defensive tackle Jalen Carter to a four-year, $152 million extension this offseason, and Tennessee’s Jeffery Simmons landed a three-year, $105.8 million deal — both resetting the interior defensive line market upward while Dallas has yet to close its own deal. Williams, acquired from the Jets last November for a 2026 second-round pick, a 2027 first-rounder, and defensive tackle Mazi Smith, is signed only through 2027. The longer an extension waits, the more that Carter and Simmons number becomes the floor, not the ceiling, for what Dallas will have to pay.

What It Means for Dallas

Taken together, the trade chatter and the Williams extension are really one story: a front office trying to finish building a defense that cratered last season even as Dak Prescott and the offense carried the team. Dallas already spent both of its first-round picks this year on defense, including safety Caleb Downs at No. 11 and edge rusher Malachi Lawrence at No. 23, and it dealt Micah Parsons to Green Bay last August in a trade that returned two future first-round picks — the same aggressive posture Jones is now describing again.

None of this is confirmed as a completed move. It’s a stated intent from the team’s co-owner, corroborated across multiple outlets, but not yet a trade or a signed contract. If Dallas adds an edge rusher via trade before Week 1, or gets a Williams extension done during camp — something Jones said the team has typically managed once or twice a summer — that’s the story that actually changes the roster. For now, the Cowboys open the preseason Saturday, August 15, at Seattle, with the regular season kicking off September 13 against the New York Giants.