Standing in front of the reporters at the NFL, earlier this off-season, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made a bold promise fans have been waiting to hear. He said the team was ready to “bust the budget.” For a team that has a reputation of being cautious if not stingy, this was huge. And with them pursuing Maxx Crosby, it looked like the promise might come true. But he has landed with the Ravens, and Jones might not be ready to go on a spending spree.

With Crosby gone, the next big obvious name is Trey Hendrickson. The edge rusher led the league with 17.5 sacks in the 2024 season and enters free agency as the most sought-after pass rusher on the market. For a Cowboys defense that ranked 251.5 yards allowed per game, scoring (30.1 points allowed per game), and managed just 31 sacks in 2025, the fit looked automatic. But NFL insider James Palmer quickly complicated that narrative.

“The Cowboys will pivot toward other pass rushers in free agency,” Palmer wrote on X. “There are some I think they like. I’m not entirely sure Trey Hendrickson is one of those. Won’t rule anything out, but I get a sense their eyes are elsewhere.”

Now the urgency in the roster is real. Jadeveon Clowney, their top edge rusher last season, is a free agent with no guarantee of returning. This hesitation isn’t just about Henderickson’s talent. Even though he missed most of last season due to a muscle injury, his resume still carries weight. Before he was injured, he had made four straight Pro Bowls and averaged roughly 14 sacks per season. The real issue is the price.

Right now, market projections place his next contract between $84 million and $99 million over three years. So signing him would instantly make him one of the biggest free-agent commitments the Cowboys have made in decades. If you look at history, this kind of spending is not in their DNA.

In fact, Jason Fitzgerald recently revealed in a study that the Cowboys have spent the least amount of money in the entire NFL on outside free agents over the last five seasons. They invested just 54.75 million during the free agency window. To put that into better perspective, the Panthers spent $297 million during the same time. The Ravens, the second lowest team, spent nearly $20 million more than Dallas.

Plus, Dallas has already committed a large sum of money to places. They signed Dak Prescott for four years and a $240 million contract. Plus, the $27.3 million on George Pickens. Those explain why the budget might be tighter than what Jones would like to suggest. Still, the Cowboys have shown the will to reshape the roster.

In 2025, after they traded Micah Parsons, they acquired defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Moreover, with Matt Parker, their new coordinator, there is a philosophical change on defense, too. They are expected to move towards a 3-4 scheme from their 4–3 approach. So yes, while Trey Hendrickson’s 81 career sacks do sound tempting. But his financial ceiling, real or projected, now pushes Dallas toward a different hunt, built on surgical value over marquee names.

Options on the table beyond Trey Hendrickson

The Dallas Cowboys don’t really lack candidates for their pass rush. Arnold Ebiketie, a 2022 second-round pick out of Penn State who spent four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, posted six sacks in both 2023 and 2024 before losing snaps to Atlanta’s revamped pass rush corps. As a free agent in Dallas, away from that competition, he could reclaim the output that made him a legitimate prospect.

Boye Mafe, meanwhile, brings some serious pass-rush pedigree of his own. The Seattle Seahawks linebacker racked up nine sacks in 2023 and six more in 2024. His production dropped to two sacks in a reserve role last season. On a prove-it deal, the upside from his peak seasons could be worth the risk for a team hungry for edge-rush depth. 

Then there’s also Bradley Chubb, the fifth overall pick in 2018, who bounced back from a missed 2024 season with 8.5 sacks for the Miami Dolphins in 2025 before he got released. A former top-five draft pick available at a discount is exactly the calculated upside Jerry Jones could bet on.

The Cowboys stand at a fork in the road. Maxx Crosby is no longer an option. Trey Hendrickson looks increasingly unlikely. But Jones has promised action and has cleared the books to deliver on it. For now, it’s his moment of truth as the legal tampering window opens Monday, March 9.