The Cowboys have to examine their safety situation.
The Dallas Cowboys may not be seeing much change at safety in 2025. They have two inexpensive starters and at least one core depth player who should be easily re-signed. In an offseason with heavy needs across most of the roster, Dallas may welcome the chance to let things breathe at this one position. But even in the absence of critical need, opportunities to upgrade shouldn’t be ignored.
Under Contract
Malik Hooker, Donovan Wilson
Potential Departures
Juanyeh Thomas, Markquese Bell
Israel Mukuamu
While technically not under contract, Juanyeh Thomas is highly unlikely to depart as an exclusive rights free agent. The Cowboys only need to offer him the league minimum to keep his rights for this year, and there’s no reason to think that they won’t. While a relatively minor knee injury ended his season early, Thomas is expected to be all the way back and continue his emergence on defense.
In fact, some have even suggested that Dallas should move Thomas into a starting role over Donovan Wilson. They could get back about $5.9 million in cap space off Wilson’s deal which would be useful at other positions, while arguably suffering little-to-no loss in performance with Thomas’ promotion. With Wilson having just turned 30, there is reasonable concern that a player who relies so much on physicality is going to start seeing a rapid downturn in play.
But there’s a different logic thread to consider here. Wilson’s total cap hit of $8.65 million is only 12th-highest among all safeties. In fact, the combined $16.4 million that he and Malik Hooker are due to count against Dallas’ 2025 cap is less than the NFL’s top safeties count by themselves. So while there are savings to be had, you could argue that the overhead at the position is still fairly low. And if you can keep Thomas for a minimal amount, that gives you a solid trio at a reasonable cost.
Another factor here is Matt Eberflus taking over the defense. If he sticks to his scheme with two-high safeties, Wilson could be in trouble given his underwhelming coverage skills. That shouldn’t affect Hooker, who actually worked with Eberflus from 2018-2020 with the Colts. But between cap savings, age, and a potentially negative effect from scheme changes, Wilson’s future is definitely up in the air.
Whatever happens there, Dallas still has to account for impending free agency for Markquese Bell and Israel Mukuamu. Bell saw a huge drop in his playing time from 2023 when he was filling in at linebacker, going from 649 defensive snaps to just 34 last year. While he is just a restricted free agent, the Cowboys probably won’t offer him even the lowest projected tender of about $3 million. If he’s kept at all, he’ll likely have to agree to a league-minimum deal like Thomas.
Mukuamu never found traction in Dallas for whatever reason. He provided enough depth at both corner and safety, plus played a lot of special teams, to reach the end of his rookie contract. That’s not bad for just a sixth-round pick, but it’s hard to see where things go from here. He hasn’t done enough to have much of a market in free agency, and the regime change on the Cowboys’ defense means he may not have anyone to advocate for him.
While listed at cornerback in our preview series because of where he played last year, Josh Butler is also worth a mention here. Hopefully, he can come back from a pretty gruesome knee injury and help out next season. If so, he’ll be another versatile depth guy for the entire secondary. But with a strong chance that his recovery will extend into the regular season, the Cowboys will need to some other options.
Free Agency
Unless Eberflus really wants to reconnect with a guy he knows, like the Colts’ Julian Blackmon, you probably won’t see much happening here. Dallas has generally not invested heavily in safeties and, if anything, would divest of Donovan Wilson’s contract before signing an even more lucrative deal with someone else. Outside of either re-signing Bell and/or Mukuamu or replacing them with similar down-roster prospects, it should be quiet on the free agency front.
2025 NFL Draft
Things are much more likely to get interesting in the draft. If he isn’t a cap casualty this year, Wilson’s deal is up in 2026 and Hooker’s in 2027. The Cowboys could easily justify getting a young talent in the pipeline to provide immediate depth and eventually replace one of them.
As mentioned before, Dallas’ general undervaluing of safeties means we shouldn’t expect one in the first round. In fact, it’s been over 10 years since they spent anything higher than a sixth-round pick on the position (J.J. Wilcox, third round in 2013). Unless Eberflus wants a more dramatic personnel change at the position and sees someone he really loves, and especially if they are going to cut Wilson, a rookie addition probably won’t come until Day 3.
Final Thoughts
The Cowboys have “gotten what they paid for” at safety for a long time. With minimal draft investment and cheaper contracts over the last several years, Dallas hasn’t really had a star at the position in a long time. While a new defensive coordinator means a different voice in the room, you still have the same front office and an offensive-minded head coach. It’s hard to imagine there will be a philosophical shift.
Given what else is on Dallas’ agenda this offseason, that’s not a bad thing. Whether it’s Donovan Wilson or Juanyeh Thomas starting next to Malik Hooker in 2025, that’s good enough if the rest of the defense gets what it needs. That’s not to say the Cowboys should just pass on a top-flight safety prospect if one’s available when they’re on the clock. But given all their other needs, it’s hard to imagine any safety will be alluring enough to distract Dallas from other positions.
