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Cowboys Lineman Fires Shots At Team's 'Trust' After Offseason Cut

· Yahoo Sports

Last year we spoke at length about the benefits of having a guy like Brock Hoffman in the offensive line room. In the locker room, he's a fiery spirit who, despite not being a Week 1 starter, can rally the troops and always be dependable when he's called upon to uphold a culture of toughness inside.

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Head coach Brian Schottenheimer raved about those intangibles, saying he'd always want "Bar Room Brock" on his side if things went south.

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And on the field, he carries his weight just as well. He filled in admirably at center for much of the 2025 season when Cooper Beebe had a bum ankle. Other times Hoffman would rotate to either guard position and plug holes when starters were down with injuries.

Well, the Dallas Cowboys have other plans for their depth chart. According to their two tender moves this week, the Cowboys deciding to not retain the reserve interior lineman, instead signing tender contracts to lineman T.J. Bass and All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey before the deadline.

News quickly spread that Hoffman, a former undrafted free agent in 2022, would be entering unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career. He seemed to have a pointed reaction on social media, posting a Bible verse that conveys subliminal messaging in the direction of the Cowboys and owner/general manager Jerry Jones.

"Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me," Hoffman wrote, quoting Psalm 41:9.

Hoffman now hits the market where he could be compete to be a starter on a team needing interior offensive line depth. He likely wouldn't have found that starting role in Dallas with All-Pro guard Tyler Smith, emerging rookie Tyler Booker and Beebe ahead of him.

Perhaps the signing of Bass instead of Hoffman was what ruffled the lineman's feathers, and in terms of on-field production their similarities may have forced the Cowboys front office into a choice of one or the other.

Hoffman could still reach an agreement with Dallas, but in light of these comments, it could be more likely that he finds a new home for 2026.

So often is it this time of year when stories like this come up. Dallas is not unfamiliar with them, either, given what transpired last offseason in the loyalty between Jones and star pass rusher Micah Parsons crumbling into a trade in August.

People in the industry - coaches, executives and sometimes other players - will chalk it up to the "business" of sports. Those bonding emotions can be hard to suppress when we remember the reality of how these teams are constructed.

Even the "placeholder" tender contracts for Aubrey and Bass (both worth $5.8 million) can be considered unsatisfactory to the "trust" and loyalty Hoffman references.

READ MORE:Cowboys Officially Move on Brandon Aubrey and T.J. Bass with Tender Contracts

These are just one-year deals that offer little structure beyond this season. Those contracts are put in place to stall while a longer-term deal is worked out, but in the meantime, teams can offer contracts to the player. If those offers agreed upon, the Cowboys would have to match the figure in order to keep the player.

It's practically letting the market dictate Dallas' own players' worth instead of the team itself, and we gather Hoffman wouldn't see much "trust" in those decisions, either.

As for the new free agent Hoffman, he should receive a good amount of attention from across the NFL.

And he's not the first to fire shots at Jerry Jones' Cowboys on the way out the door in the process.

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