“This Is Dallas’ Year,” - NFL Analyst Believes the Cowboys Are Built to Win the NFC East

Dallas entered draft weekend with a familiar contradiction attached to its name. A roster talented enough to excite national analysts, but recent enough in disappointment to make every big prediction sound loaded. Pete Prisco leaned directly into that tension. The CBS Sports analyst did more than praise the Cowboys’ draft approach.

He pushed Dallas beyond “improved” and into the category that always raises the temperature around Jerry Jones’ franchise: a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The Cowboys finished second in the NFC East at 7-9-1 in 2025, behind the 11-6 Philadelphia Eagles, and missed the postseason despite an offense that scored 471 points.

Their problem was defense. Dallas allowed 511 points, the most in the NFL and a franchise-worst total. So when Prisco praised the Cowboys after they added defensive reinforcements in the first round, his argument was less about the Dallas brand and more about whether the roster finally had enough balance.

Dallas traded up for Ohio State safety Caleb Downs at No. 11, then selected UCF edge rusher Malachi Lawrence at No. 23, giving new defensive coordinator Christian Parker two young pieces for a unit that needed immediate repair. Dallas is entering 2026 with a high-powered offense, a rebuilt defense, a new coordinator, and enough roster movement to make supporters believe that this could be Dallas’ year.

1. Prisco Declares Cowboys Could Be Super Bowl Contenders

Prisco’s statement was emphatic from the start, and the force of the comment came from how directly he confronted the skepticism that always follows Dallas. He said, “I love it! I love it, I love it, I love it. And by the way, I’m going to sit here in late April and say it. The Dallas Cowboys are not only going to win the damn division, they’re going to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. And how many times have we heard that in Dallas, right? ‘Oh my god, this is Dallas’ year.’” Then he continued, “You know what? For all the criticism that Jerry Jones has taken, and believe me, a lot of it is deserved, when this team takes the field and the way they’re constructed right now, new look defense, you add those guys to that defense, you add a pass rusher with twitch, you add the guy in the back end—the Dallas Cowboys are going to score a ton of points on offense. That team is going to be a Super Bowl contender and they will win.”

2. Inside the Massive Cowboys Defensive Rebuild

The roster question was whether the defense could move from liability to functional support. Prisco’s answer is a yes, and his confidence is tied directly to the Cowboys’ draft-night investment. The Cowboys did not need to reinvent the offense to become more dangerous. They needed the other side of the ball to stop forcing Prescott and the skill players into weekly shootouts. The organization had already begun that reset before the draft. Dallas hired Christian Parker as defensive coordinator on Jan. 22, 2026, making him the youngest defensive coordinator in franchise history. Parker came from Philadelphia, where he had worked as passing game coordinator and secondary coach under Vic Fangio’s defensive structure. The Cowboys also moved resources into the defensive front and secondary. Their offseason rebuild included a trade for edge rusher Rashan Gary and the additions of safeties Jalen Thompson and P.J. Locke and cornerback Cobie Durant. The Cowboys’ first major draft move was trading up to No. 11 for Caleb Downs, one of the most polished defensive backs in the class. Dallas moved one spot ahead to secure Downs after the Giants passed on him at No. 10, sending two fifth-round picks to Miami to make the deal. Downs gives Parker a flexible back-end piece. Parker is expected to use sub packages heavily, creating multiple ways for Downs to see early snaps even if the Cowboys also have veterans at safety.

3. The “Twitch” Edge Rusher Filling the Parsons Void

Downs is not simply a traditional deep safety in this context. He is a defensive chess piece for a coordinator trying to modernize a unit that was too easy to attack last season. The second major addition was Lawrence, the UCF edge rusher Dallas took at No. 23 after trading down from the first-rounder tied to the Micah Parsons trade. Lawrence gives the Cowboys the “pass rusher with twitch” Prisco referenced. Lawrence had seven sacks, 11 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in his senior season, then tested with a 4.52-second 40-yard dash, a 40-inch vertical and a 10-foot-10 broad jump at the combine. Lawrence is also directly tied to the Cowboys’ post-Parsons reality. The Cowboys’ Lawrence pick is being seen as an attempt to help fill the pass-rush void created by Parsons’ departure. Together, Downs and Lawrence give Dallas two immediate answers to the two areas that made its 2025 defense so vulnerable, i.e., coverage structure and pressure generation. Prisco’s confidence also depends on the part of the team that did not require a rebuild. Dallas’ offense was already productive, and the Cowboys retained one of the league’s most dangerous receiver combinations in Lamb and Pickens. The Cowboys are not pursuing a long-term deal with Pickens for the 2026 season, instead keeping him under the franchise tag. That means Dallas can run back the Prescott-Lamb-Pickens core, but Pickens’ future beyond the season remains unsettled. Pickens signed his franchise tag after a career year in which he caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns, earning his first Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors. For 2026, though, the offensive case is clear. Prescott was a Pro Bowler, Pickens had the best season of his career, Lamb remained a 1,000-yard receiver, Ferguson caught 82 passes and Williams supplied balance in the run game. The larger issue is whether the defense can close the gap enough for that offense to matter in January. In 2025, Dallas had the scoring profile of a dangerous team and the defensive profile of a team that could not consistently protect leads. In 2026, the franchise is betting Parker, Downs, Lawrence, Gary and the rest of the rebuilt unit can change that equation.

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• Malachi Lawrence
• Caleb Downs
• Dak Prescott
• George Pickens