The Dallas Cowboys' 2025 NFL season has not gone anything remotely according to plan. While Brian Schottenheimer has taken the offense to new heights, Matt Eberflus took a nearly league-worst defense and somehow took a massive step backward.
This was a pivotal year for the Cowboys to have success, as they still had key players like George Pickens, DeMarvion Overshown and Tyler Guyton on rookie deals. This was a year to make a deep playoff push and worry about their daunting 2026 salary cap situation later.
But with Dallas all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, they're now facing a brutal reality that they simply cannot afford to keep everyone.