New Year’s Day was a handful of days ago, but the Dallas Cowboys still have time to commit to the right resolution. And that’s to truly go all-in on 2026.

In 2024, owner and general manager Jerry Jones infamously used the term “all-in” in an offseason in which the Cowboys barely spent on free agents while dragging their feet on long-term negotiations with star players Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. At one point, it almost seemed like he was leaning on the term humorously.

In 2026, there’s no room for any of that. This is the time for the Cowboys to actually go on a spending spree in free agency to rebuild one of the worst defenses in franchise history, and star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams inadvertently told the front office why.

Cowboys can’t waste ‘Super Bowl winning’ offense

Addressing reporters following the Cowboys’ Week 18 loss to the New York Giants, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams was asked about his confidence in the Dak Prescott-led offense moving forward. His answer was crystal clear.

“Extremely confident, man,” Williams said Sunday. “They’re a Super Bowl–winning offense. And that strikes a match upon me, especially as a leader on the defense and a player that can help this defense turn this thing around and get it going in the right direction. That sense of urgency is going to be through the roof when we come back, to be able to get that turned around, because we do have a Super Bowl–caliber offense.”

For Williams, playing for a team in which one side of the ball isn’t as good as the other is nothing new. But it’s not something he enjoys.

“I’ve been on a couple teams with top-five defenses, and the offense struggled, and I’ve been on the other side of that, man,” Williams added. “That’s not a good feeling. The sense of urgency for me personally is through the roof this offseason, and getting this defense to go in the right direction.”

To hear Williams — who didn’t arrive at Dallas until November — being so fired up and ready to take on a big leadership role is highly promising for the defense. However, it’s also a message the front office can’t ignore.

Front office needs to get active

Football fans love to turn to the NFL Draft as soon as the season is over, and I don’t blame them. But the reality the Cowboys face cannot be fixed by rookies. The front office will need to fix the many issues on defense through experienced players who can make an immediate impact on the field. With draft picks, that is never a guarantee.

The defense has needs at every position except for defensive tackle, and even that is only partially true, as the Cowboys could use a true nose tackle. They can’t all be covered in April. Dallas needs a focused effort to add starting-caliber talent when free agency kicks off in March.

That implies the Cowboys need to adjust their free agency strategy, which mostly focuses on trying to find “bargains.” In 2025, the team added multiple former first-round picks who failed to meet expectations with their previous teams via free agency and trades. Among them, cornerback Kaiir Elam was cut before the end of the season, and linebacker Kenneth Murray was one of the worst players at his position.

Sense of urgency rises

If Williams admits he’s feeling urgency, so should the front office.

After all, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and head coach Brian Schottenheimer are all signed through 2028. Most of the roster is built with that three-year window in mind. With Prescott set to turn 33 in the 2026 season, it’s time to take some risks. He just finished playing one of his best years, even though he admits it doesn’t correlate with the team’s win-loss record.

Will Jerry, 83, keep watching himself gamble in his Netflix documentary? Or will he actually make serious bets on the 2026 Cowboys? We’ll find out soon enough.

UPDATE: Cowboys fire Matt Eberflus

For now, the Cowboys are already making changes to the coaching staff. On Tuesday, they fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.

Though the change will go against continuity—something Jerry Jones wished to build—it’s the correct move for the franchise. There’s a lot of changes coming to the roster anyways and Eberflus failed to make the sufficient tweaks to improve his unit all season long.

Now the question becomes who will coach Williams and Co. in 2026 and beyond? Usually, the Cowboys favor head coaching experience in their defensive coordinators. But the latest two hires didn’t work out for them. Are they willing to change the recipe?

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