Jerry Jones said he was willing to “bust the budget” to fix a defense that cratered last season, and his Dallas Cowboys leaned into that idea with a busy offseason. They added veteran help on all three levels and overhauled their defense through the draft and free agency. But ESPN’s Seth Walder feels Jerry may not have done enough and may even have made a big mistake along the way. Walder graded all the NFL franchises based on their offseason moves and gave Dallas just a C+. He explained why in his article.

“The Cowboys had used some of their extra draft capital from the [Micah Parsons] deal to trade for Quinnen Williams in midseason, creating a bit of a surplus at interior lineman with Kenny Clark and Odighizuwa. Dallas’ solution was to trade Odighizuwa to San Francisco for a third-round pick. The Cowboys chose the wrong D-tackle to deal, as Odighizuwa is younger and makes less than Clark, plus is arguably better than the veteran at this stage of their respective careers.

“The Cowboys would have gotten less draft capital for Clark, but I don’t think they fared particularly well with the Odighizuwa deal and wonder if they didn’t trade Clark, who was part of the Parsons deal, due to the optics.”

Last September, when Kenny Clark came to Dallas from the Green Bay Packers as part of the Micah Parsons trade, the 30-year-old DT said he could be “great in this system.” He followed that up with 19 stops, 4 sacks, 34 hurries, 6 QB hits, and 44 pressures across 746 snaps. He earned a 67.6 overall PFF grade, with a pass-rush grade of 72.4 and a run-defense grade of 53.7. But Odighizuwa’s numbers don’t make this argument easier.

The 27-year-old, in his fifth season with Dallas, made 17 stops, 3 sacks, 29 hurries, 20 QB hits, and 52 pressures. His 65.9 overall PFF grade and 71.5 pass-rush grade were lower than Clark’s, but he earned a 58.9 run-defense grade. With numbers nearly identical, Odighizuwa was younger and cheaper and felt like the better asset to keep.

But Jones had his reasons for parting with his homegrown veteran, and he laid them out quite clearly back in March. He cited the need to spread their cap space around and thought the trade return gave the team flexibility to help other sore spots. He also praised Odighizuwa and spoke against his critics.

“[Odighizuwa] has such high character. He’s done such an amazing job in his career. You could say, ‘Well, aren’t you going the wrong way when people of his quality, his caliber, aren’t on the team?’ But that’s the reason we were able to get what we thought was a really beneficial result for the team. We got the [3rd-round draft pick]. [That pick] will be very useful to us. And also lets us put those resources that we’re going to spend there in some other spots we need help.”

Beyond this trade, Dallas changed defensive coordinators after allowing the most points per game last season (30.1), replacing Matt Eberflus with Christian Parker. The Cowboys also added safety Jalen Thompson in free agency and traded for DE Rashan Gray to add depth and options. What’s more, 5 of Dallas’ 7 draft picks went to defense, with safety Caleb Downs and edge rusher Malachi Lawrence as first-round additions.

Dallas then used the third-rounder it received from the Odighizuwa trade to draft another edge rusher–Jaishawn Barham. Cornerback Devin Moore and another edge rusher, LT Overton, rounded out the defensive boosts. And after everything, even with the C+ designation, Seth Walder’s final verdict on the Cowboys is actually positive.

“If the coordinator change and personnel reinforcements can make Dallas’ defense roughly average while the offense maintains its torrid 2025 production, the Cowboys can quickly become a contender.”

Jones spent the offseason trying to fix his defense with money, movement, and a new voice on the headset who’s already bringing out the competitive fire in everyone. That might just be enough to make the unit respectable. But Walder’s C+ says the Cowboys are still asking for belief before they’ve earned it, and in Dallas, that’s always the harder sell.