How Hopeful Should Cowboys Fans Be about Dallas’ 2026 Season Outlook?

Kellen from Austin called in with a problem most fan bases would envy and one Cowboys fans recognize immediately. He is being told his team is good, he is starting to believe it, and he does not want to be hurt again.

"I'm a devoted Cowboys fan, but that doesn't mean I'm not realistic," Kellen said. He has seen the joint practice footage against the Rams. He watched Rashan Gary on the show and came away thinking the culture in that building is finally right. "What a leader. What a great guy." Then he saw Dallas sitting fourth in Rich's power rankings and needed confirmation it was not a typo.

It was not.

Rich walked him through the checklist that produced the ranking. You need an elite quarterback, and Kellen believes Dak Prescott qualifies, numbers and leadership both, with the honest caveat that win-or-go-home has not gone his way. You need elite receivers. You need a run game. You need to be able to sack the quarterback and take the top off a defense. You need to defend on the back end, and you need young talent and a head coach emotionally intelligent enough to sell what everyone else is buying.

"I just described the Cowboys going into the 2026 season," Rich said. "That's just the honest truth."

None of which erases the arithmetic. Dallas went 7-9-1 a year ago. No team has ever given up the most points in the league one season and won the Super Bowl the next. Rich acknowledged all of it and kept them in his top five anyway, because the roster around the problem changed. Kenny Clark next to Gary, Quinnen Williams inside, DaRon Bland on the back end, and Caleb Downs added to the mix.

Kellen's scar tissue is real and specific. When Micah Parsons was traded last year, his wife came home from work and found him curled up in bed holding his Parsons jersey.

Asked to say something hopeful out loud on the air, TJ went as far as a Cowboys fan can safely go. "We always have to temper our expectations. As Cowboys fans, they're going to hate us no matter what we do. But you know what? I feel good, brother. I feel good. I'm not saying we're going to win the Super Bowl." Kellen still could not get the words out. He got a hug instead.

The segment drifted into a Michael Irvin story that earned its detour. Irvin came to Rich and Susie's wedding because Susie ran into him on the street in New York and asked if he was in town and if he had a tuxedo. Both answers were yes. He pushed back a flight, showed up in what he called a cobalt blue suit, and sat on her side of the aisle.

Susie nearly pulled off the double, too. She ran into Kobe Bryant on Central Park South and invited him as well, but Bryant was traveling and could not move his schedule.

Irvin later spoke at Taylor's baby naming, opened by noting that people assume he is Jewish because the old Cowboys stadium crowd used to call him Michael Irving, and told the room that you guys really do it right. Rich, naturally, made him clarify who exactly "you guys" meant.