FRISCO, Texas -- At 83 years old, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones still has dreams.
"My goal in life is to retire as the owner that won the most Super Bowls," Jones said during an end-of-season news conference Wednesday. "That's my goal. To be retired in the NFL as the owner that won the most super bowls. We've got three. How many more do I have to go as a single owner? [New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft] has got how many? Six? So, I got work to do. Got work to do. But at least I'm up to the second rung in the ladder."
The Cowboys just completed their 30th season since winning their last Super Bowl, finishing a disappointing 7-9-1 in Brian Schottenheimer's first year as head coach. The Cowboys are the only team in the NFC not to have made it to a conference title game since 1995, and they have missed the playoffs the past two seasons.
Defensively, the Cowboys just allowed a franchise-record 511 points and are in the early stages of finding a new coordinator after firing Matt Eberflus on Tuesday. There are personnel holes at every level of the defense as well. Offensively, the Cowboys finished seventh in points per game and second in yards with a 4,000-yard quarterback (Dak Prescott), two 1,000-yard receivers (CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens) and a 1,000-yard running back (Javonte Williams).
Pickens and Williams are set to be unrestricted free agents, although the team's priority is to keep both on long-term deals. Without an agreement with Pickens, the Cowboys will likely use the franchise tag to keep him for 2026.
"Every team has holes," Jones said. "You have to. Just the way it works. But I see six teams that weren't in the playoffs last year that are in the playoffs this year. I know it can happen. I know how close it is. And I think we can get in here and get the defense in shape quicker than it might look."
Jones cites defensive tackles Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa as the strength of the unit. Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown is viewed as a building block, but he has missed more games (32) due to injury than he has played (19) in his first three seasons. Cornerback DaRon Bland has a Pro Bowl on his rsum, but he is scheduled to have his second surgery on his left foot in as many seasons next week.
The Cowboys have two first-round picks in the upcoming draft -- the No. 12 selection and another wherever the Green Bay Packers' pick (from the trade of Micah Parsons) ends up. In 2005, the Cowboys had two first-round picks and parlayed that into Hall of Fame pass rusher DeMarcus Ware and Marcus Spears, which began a scheme change from a 4-3 to a 3-4.
The Cowboys are in the process of setting up interviews with potential coordinator candidates, but Schottenheimer said the team is not married to one scheme over another. He said the goal is to find the best teacher and communicator.
Since 2014, the Cowboys have had a former head coach as the defensive coordinator, but Jones said that that is not a requirement and that the team could look at a first-time coordinator as well.
"You're looking for a guy that has the ability to instruct and get guys to believe and get guys to buy in," Schottenheimer said. "We're salesmen. When you're up there in front of the players, you're selling them on what you're doing offensively, defensively, special teams -- why it's going to work."
Belief was lacking in what Eberflus was selling, although his tenure was hurt by the trade of Parsons. The Cowboys were unable to find a sustainable pass rush, which impacted the secondary.
Filling the holes on defense will have to come from more than just the draft. The Cowboys have not spent massively in free agency in years, although Jones hinted that could be possible this year in part because of the flexibility created by trading Parsons. He said had the Cowboys signed Parsons, they would not have been able to afford Pickens.
"Bottom line is this [offseason] is, yes, very important," Jones said. "They're right. We want to, while Dak is playing the game and got it down the way he's got it, we want to get out here and basically do better than what we did this year. So, combination of those things gives us the incentive to, dare I say it, bust the budget to try to get something done now. Yes. Yes. We'll do some dramatic things."
Jones turns 84 in October. Catching Kraft, who has a chance for a seventh Super Bowl with the Patriots back in the postseason, looks daunting.
"I know whether it's his gold jacket, all the things he's accomplished from the value of this franchise, I think he'd give a lot of that up for one more Super Bowl," executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "It's not just me. It's my brother [Jerry Jr.]. It's my sister [Charlotte]. It's Schotty. It's [vice president of player personnel Will McClay]. Everybody in this organization wants to get the job done."
