Cowboys 2025 vs. 2026 Spending Proves Jerry Jones Is Busting the Budget

While Jerry Jones hasn’t added many big name free agents, the Dallas Cowboys really are busting the budget.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks before the game against the Arizona Cardinals. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Before the offseason began, Jerry Jones said the Dallas Cowboys were prepared to “bust the budget”.

Jones said his focus would be on fixing the defense and believed the team would spend more in free agency than we’ve typically seen.

“I would bet that we will spend more money in free agency than we have,” Jones said at the NFL Combine. “I want to do everything we possibly can to stop somebody and to basically win some third downs more than we did last year. And so I think that would be the area that you would see me bust the budget.”

Through the first week of free agency, that hasn’t appeared to be the case. While Dallas has made some shrewd moves, they haven’t exactly gone overboard. What’s worse is that when comparing 2025 spending on all free agents (including in-house players), Dallas technically handed out more total contract value.

Jerry Jones is busting the budget in his own way

Jerry Jones on the NFL Honors Red Carpet before Super Bowl LX at Palace of Fine Arts. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

It’s natural to look at the overall contract and say Jones isn’t doing what he promised. But that’s not exactly true since the Cowboys act as a “Cash-to-Cap” team. That means they don’t like to prorate money too often, instead preferring to spend only what fits under the cap. That hasn’t been the case this season.

Blogging the Boys broke down the team’s spending and compared 2025 to what has been spent so far in 2026. As they pointed out, the spending in year one of their deals handed out this season exceeds what they paid in 2025.

”At $91.1 million this year versus $73.9 million, the Cowboys are already spending 23% more than they did last year. And that percentage could climb to ~27-30% once we add the numbers for Howell, Hennessy, and Fant. And they will climb even higher if the Cowboys find a linebacker and perhaps another OLB on the free agency market, or execute another trade or two.”

That being said, Jones and the Dallas front office are finally approaching the cap with the same flexibility as other teams. What’s more important is that their signings have been focused more on proven players, such as safety Jalen Thompson and cornerback Cobie Durant, which is a far better approach than in 2025 when they looked for bargain players at every turn.

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