Reddy Steward #27 of the Dallas Cowboys
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Reddy Steward #27 of the Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys will need to remake the team’s defensive backfield after a brutal showing in 2025, one in which Dallas allowed 4,276 yards passing, the worst in the NFL, and 511 points, also the worst in the NFL. Nothing went right for the team’s defensive backfield, it seemed, as an injury slowed star DaRon Bland, another injury knocked out Trevon Diggs, and general disappointment knocked out Kai’ir Elam.
Diggs and Elam struggled so badly that the pair were both cut before the season ended.
Among the players who were left standing down the stretch and into the end of the season was Reddy Steward, an undrafted free agent who signed with the Bears in 2024, bounced to the Vikings in training camp and landed with the Cowboys in late August after he was claimed off waivers.
Steward was, out of necessity, not only forced into action in 17 games last season, but actually started five games. And he is now expected to be back with the Cowboys in 2026, as ESPN insider Adam Schefter reports that Steward has been given a one-year tender as an exclusive rights free agents with the Cowboys for next season.
Cowboys Give Reddy Steward 1-Year Tender
As Schefter wrote on Twitter/X: “Cowboys have tendered cornerback Reddy Steward, per his agents Drew Rosenhaus and Oliver Chell.” As a result, the Cowboys will keep Steward on hand for the coming season, but will do so only at a minimum contract, allowing them to keep a 24-year-old who now has a couple of years experience in place.
Of course, that experience has not been stellar. Steward struggled last season, and rated No. 99 on the Pro Football Focus cornerback grades list, out of just 112 graded players. He allowed a passer rating of 99.3 when he was targeted by opposing quarterbacks, and ranked especially poorly against the run, where he was ranked No. 98 out of 102 cornerbacks by PFF.
Reddy Steward Can Play Slot Corner
Still, Steward is young and cheap, and can be a depth piece at slot corner, a position that the Cowboys struggled with badly last season. Steward was thrown into the fire before he was ready–he had played only 18 snaps in his NFL career before 2025–under former coordinator Matt Eberflus, who defense was generally a mess.
The Cowboys are expected to bulk up at cornerback this offseason, either in the draft, through free agency, or both. They’re likely to carry six corners into the season, with Bland and 2025 third-round pick Shavon Revel really the only definite players projected to be on the roster. Steward has a good chance, too, to be around in 2026.
They could keep some combination of players from the current group (Caelan Carson, Trikweze Bridges) through training camp, and will likely add at least one in free agency and one or two in the draft.
Cowboys Still Need More CB Additions
New defensive coordinator Christian Parker comes carries with him a background as a defensive backs coach, one of the best in the NFL. The hope is that his coaching and teaching ability will bring players like Steward and Revel along and turn them into reliable contributors.
It will take spending on players, too, though.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says he is amenable to that: “I am excited about doing everything we can now to have a better record than we had last year, a better team than we had last year. That’s why we have been doing what we’ve been doing with the coaching staff.”