Stephen Jones Dallas Cowboys Maxx Crosby
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Dallas Cowboys' Stephen Jones answered a question on the team's pursuit of Maxx Crosby at the NFL's annual league meeting Monday.
The Dallas Cowboys came pretty close to acquiring All-Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby this offseason. They could still swing a deal for the edge rusher because of Crosby’s cancelled deal with the Baltimore Ravens.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones left open that possibility when asked about Crosby at the NFL’s annual league meetings. But Jones also appeared to drop some other intriguing details.
The Raiders All-Pro edge rusher might not be the only star the Cowboys have pursued in the offseason trade market.
“The make-up of our football team is constantly evolving. We look at a lot of different situations,” Jones said, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “We look at some that never hit the media, if you will. Then some, people get their hands on information, and you are aware of situations that we’ve pursued.
“But we’re always looking to make our football team better. If we can find that situation, then we’ll do it.”
Stephen Jones Implies Cowboys Have Other Big-Targets Besides Maxx Crosby
On one hand, Jones didn’t really say anything ground breaking. Every team is always looking to get better, and no executive is going to say the March roster is the final product.
Maybe the entire answer was all word salad.
But reading between the lines, Jones seems to want fans to know the Cowboys have pursued trade targets that the media hasn’t reported on yet.
That could potentially perk the interest of Cowboys fans. While Dallas has been unable to land Crosby, maybe a different trade for a defensive star is on the table for the Cowboys.
In the first half of March, the Cowboys made three trades involving defensive players. Dallas, though, only landed a defensive player in one of the deals.
That was edge rusher Rashan Gary from the Green Bay Packers. The Cowboys sent a 2027 fourth-round pick to Green Bay for Gary.
In the other trades, the Cowboys shipped defensive lineman Solomon Thomas and defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to the San Francisco 49ers for draft capital.
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Some fans might take delight in the Cowboys pursuing these deals that the media has yet to report. But the fact remains, the Cowboys haven’t landed a true difference maker for their defense, which gave up more points than anyone else in 2025.
And despite that, Jones was pretty complimentary Monday of what the team has done this offseason.
“We really like our football team. We like what we did with our coaching staff in the offseason, starting with Christian Parker and then the staff that he and coach Schottenheimer put together, I think is outstanding,” Jones added. “I think we have really been getting to know Christian and what his philosophy is and what we need, the type of players we need to help him have success on that side of the ball. I think we’ve got a great feel for it.
“This will continue to evolve, and we’re always looking for ways to get better.”
For some Cowboys fans, the latter comments will be more eyebrow raising than the first answer.
While Dallas has landed some nice defensive veterans such as Gary and safety Jalen Thompson, the team likely still has a long way to go to get significantly better on defense.
Jones didn’t say they are staying put. But a real urgency for the team to make a big move might not be there either.