It’s the first time in many years the Dallas Cowboys miss important NFL list, and it calls for a Christian Parker solution
The NFL world isn’t very high on the Dallas Cowboys’ group of edge rushers, and it’s a reminder of what defensive coordinator Christian Parker needs to solve ahead of the 2026 season.
It’s easy to forget the Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons trade to the Green Bay Packers happened days before they kicked off the 2025 NFL season in Philadelphia. But on Wednesday morning, we got quite the reminder that also brings up some difficult questions.
You see, in the sluggish days of the NFL in early July, one of the most intriguing things that goes on is the work of national insider Jeremy Fowler over at ESPN. For the seventh consecutive year, he’s polling league executives, coaches, and scouts to rank the Top 10 players at each position.
And for a while there, the Cowboys always made one of the most important lists: edge rusher. That includes 2025, since everyone expected Parsons to be on the team in July even amid hostile contract negotiations.
But not this year. And I have some thoughts.
This year’s Top 10 is a tough reminder for the Cowboys
With Parsons in Green Bay, the Cowboys unsurprisingly did not have an edge rusher ranked in the Top 10. They also didn’t get an honorable mention and—again, unsurprisingly—did not have a single player receiving a Top 10 vote.
It’s one of the biggest questions facing the Cowboys: who will step up as a pass rusher?
One potential answer is Rashan Gary, whose fit in defensive coordinator Christian Parker’s scheme is expected to make him a more production version of himself compared to the second half of last season.
Gary started the 2025 season with 7.5 sacks in seven games. From Week 9 forward, however, Gary did not register a single sack. An encouraging sign is Gary has averaged eight sacks per season since 2021, per Pro Football Reference.
Even still, the upside there is limited. That is not true for the likes of second-year Donovan Ezeiruaku and first-round rookie Malachi Lawrence. Known as pass rushing specialists, both players have a lot to prove in the NFL but have the tools to develop into serious threats for opposing quarterbacks.
The Cowboys added pass rush specialist BT Jordan, who works with many NFL players in the offseason, to their staff in an effort to develop the young pass rushers.
As you can tell though, there’s little certainty in the Cowboys’ outside linebacker room.
Parker’s scheme will be key
With a lack of proven pass rushers on his roster, it will be intriguing to see how Parker goes about scheming up pressure. The main goal of his scheme is to make everything look the same for opposing quarterbacks pre-snap.
That combined with a group of inside linebackers who are legit threats as blitzers (like DeMarvion Overshown) should show some solid returns.
In the last couple of years, Parker coached in a defense that did not blitz often. Per PFR, the Eagles were a bottom 5 team in blitz rate each of the last two seasons. Not that that was up to him, but it will be a significant change. He should be ready for it though, as in Denver he was a part of a blitz-happier defense (the Broncos had the fifth-highest blitz rate in 2023).
With serious questions at cornerback, affecting opposing quarterbacks with a solid pass rush will be major. If the Cowboys’ edge rushers do not step up, Parker will have to. Ideally, Dallas will get a mix of both.