Shiyazh Pete's historic run with the Dallas Cowboys has paused, as the Cowboys made him a final cut when all NFL teams got down to the 53-man roster limit.
He is now a free agent and can sign with any team in the league. Teams can begin adding players to their practice squads starting on Monday, Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. MT/noon CT and Pete, who was listed as a third-team guard on the Dallas Cowboys' official depth chart, could be a candidate.
Pete, who began his career as a walk-on at New Mexico State and played there for four years before finishing at Kentucky last year, would certainly be a sentimental choice. When he signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent he became the first
Navajo to sign with an NFL team.
When Dallas played at Arizona in the second preseason game, a large contingent of Navajos gave Pete a standing ovation when he entered the game for the final six Cowboys offensive snaps. That inspired coach Brian Schottenheimer to let Pete break the team down in the locker room, and his speech became a viral sensation.
He concluded: "I am very fortunate to be amongst you and to play on the same field, the same star on our chest. I’m proud of us, proud of how far we’ve come. This game, fate, brought us here as strangers, but this game, this star, this team, will make us brothers."
Pete attended high school at New Mexico's Shiprock High but couldn't play his senior year in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Shiyazh Pete's inspiring story on hold after cut by Dallas Cowboys
