Cowboys Captains Announcement Includes 2 Players Tied to Micah Parsons Trade

Last year, the Dallas Cowboys made a bold move to trade away one of their biggest stars. They sent Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks.

They used one of those first-round picks as part of a package to bring in defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. The other, they used to trade back, ultimately landing EDGE Malachi Lawrence, cornerback Devin Moore, and defensive end LT Overton.

The overall influx of talent allowed them to rebuild their defense and their latest team captain announcements proves it gave them their new building blocks on defense. According to Patrik Walker, the Cowboys named two defensive captains, which were Williams and Clark. They will be joined by offensive captain Dak Prescott and special teams captain Brandon Aubrey.

🚨 the four #Cowboys captains for the 2026 season:

Quinnen Williams
Kenny Clark

Dak Prescott

Brandon Aubrey pic.twitter.com/tXKHStJ5rW
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) September 3, 2026

For Prescott and Aubrey, this is nothing new. Aubrey was the captain in 2025, making this his second consecutive season in the role. For Prescott, he was a permanent fixture as a captain from 2017 through 2019. He returned to the role in 2025, but it wasn't as if he wasn't voted a captain during those gap years.

While Mike McCarthy was head coach, the Cowboys didn't have permanent season captains. Instead, he rotated the roles on a weekly basis, but Prescott has been a team leader and guiding force for their offense since taking over the starting role as a rookie in 2016.

Cowboys defense will be focused on winning the interior

Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Kenny Clark at training camp at River Ridge Playing Fields. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As for Williams and Clark, they are both still new to the franchise. Clark did play the entire 2025 campaign with the Cowboys, but he wasn't added until the end of the preseason. That meant he was still catching up to speed at this time a year ago.

Williams was added at the trade deadline, meaning this will be his first full campaign with the team. For both players, it's their first offseason in Dallas and they enter Week 1 as the leaders of the defense, not only from a captain standpoint, but from a schematic one as well.

New defensive coordinator Christian Parker comes from the Vic Fangio tree, and their philosophy has always centered around winning at the interior of the line of scrimmage. Clark and Williams are both powerful defensive tackles who can push the pocket and shut down the opposing team's rushing attack.

Their ability to dominate the line of scrimmage will set the tone and allow their playmakers on the edge to gain favorable matchups. In the end, that was the goal when the Cowboys traded Parsons, and it appears as though their vision is coming to fruition.

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