3 starters among 9 former Cowboys still available in free agency
The Cowboys still have a handful of former players seeking employment, though their reasons are varied.
Sometimes, there are mitigating circumstances asto why a player isn't signed in the first few waves of free agency. Veterans who have entered mercenary status often like to wait until after the voluntary offseason work is completed before they sign with a team. They know their bodies, they know the ramp-up required to be of service during the regular season, and they'd rather not go through the installs that are often necessary to get younger players up to speed.
In other situations are veterans where the interest they hoped for never materializes. Which category do the nine former Dallas Cowboys who are still on the open market fall under? That's a topic for debate, but with less than three weeks before the 2026 NFL draft, these players are still sitting without an employer .
On defense, the Cowboys have three starters who have yet to sign with new teams. Safety Donovan Wilson and linebacker Kenneth Murray combined for 1,788 snaps across 31 starts in 2025. They are primarily seen as the faces of an inept Matt Eberflus defense that ranked at or near the bottom of the league in almost every important team statistic.
Dallas traded for Murray, a former first-round pick with a medium-level salary commitment on the final year of his deal. His warts of play diagnosis were well known and he proved the concerns valid with his play. It maddened Cowboys fans that he was never replaced, even after trading for Logan Wilson at the deadline.