The preseason is over for the Dallas Cowboys, and one that ended on a high note with a full 60-minute win against the Atlanta Falcons. The win in front of a home crowd at AT&T Stadium has added a lot of intrigue to the looming roster cuts, something that felt a lot more cut and dry through the first two preseason losses. The Cowboys are no stranger to fielding a young roster and letting them develop on the fly, and they have found some new young standouts this preseason. They will also have so many
new faces on the coaching staff making their say in these roster decisions, which must be finalized by Tuesday afternoon.
What were some of the most surprising things we saw from the Cowboys this preseason against the Rams, Ravens, and Falcons that may have us feeling better or worse about different areas of the team going into opening night against the Eagles?
1. Rookie running backs look game ready
There were a lot of questions about the run game for the second year in a row heading into preseason. The Cowboys had a key player they didn’t use this preseason in first-year acquisition Javontae Williams. Williams is slated as the top back and will spend a lot of time in between the tackles. We didn’t see him make those runs in preseason, but we did see Phil Mafah.
Mafah had his longest run of the preseason against the Falcons for 15 yards, and finished off that same drive with a one-yard touchdown. He led the team in carries with ten against the Rams in the preseason opener. The Falcons win was also the team debut for rookie Jaydon Blue, who fell right in line by giving the Cowboys more burst and dynamic ability compared to Mafah.
The play of Mafah and Blue has drawn a clear line in the sand with the depth chart at running back. Not only does their running styles give Brian Schottenheimer some variety, but their rookie contract status is an added bonus too. Both backs are capable of making big plays in limited roles. Unfortunately we won’t see Mafah right away as he will start on IR, but he and Blue both look like capable backs.
2. Houston we have an edge rusher
Another first-year player, one brought in late in the offseason, appears in line to make the roster and see real playing time. Edge rusher James Houston got the Cowboys first edge sack of the preseason, and he was also in on a play where DT Perrion Winfrey recorded a sack.
The Cowboys best chance to regularly win games this season will be a familiar one to teams in recent seasons under Mike McCarthy and Dan Quinn, even though the staff has been almost entirely turned over. Control the tempo of the game with the run game, score points via a Prescott-led pass game, and play from ahead to fully unleash the pass rush. The better the Cowboys are at executing these things, the more opportunities a player like Houston will get, and he proved this preseason it doesn’t take many snaps for him to make an impact.
Houston has a variety of moves off the edge, can win with speed, power, and finesse, and is comfortable in tight spaces around the quarterback to finish plays. Just as the Cowboys offense kept things fairly vanilla with Schotty calling plays this preseason, the Cowboys defense is sure to add more and more looks under Matt Eberflus with new players coming into the lineup for the regular season. Disguising pressures throughout the front seven will be of upmost importance for a team that lacks proven talent and depth in the secondary. Houston is a player that can go a long way here since he is primarily a standup pass rusher, similarly to Dante Fowler, Sam Williams, and — if available — the cream of the crop Micah Parsons.
Having talent and depth spread throughout each and every position group is always an ideal goal to have, but making up for deficiencies at one spot with a surplus of talent in another area is closer to how winning NFL teams are built in today’s game. The Cowboys pass rush at full strength has a chance to do just that, and the best version of their pass rush unit absolutely includes James Houston after his strong preseason.
3. Stock down on Jalen Tolbert?
The Cowboys didn’t just come into this preseason looking to sort out the players that will make the team, they also needed these games as valuable reps for entirely new systems and play-callers on both offense and defense. These looks at the new offensive scheme revealed what types of players will be favored and have the best chance to succeed, sometimes in quite a clear way like we saw at running back. It also applied to wide receiver, where the entire preseason was an audition for depth spots since Lamb and Pickens didn’t play.
Jalen Tolbert came into this offseason as a favorite to be the third receiver behind these undisputed top two. Tolbert did not play at all against the Falcons, perhaps a good sign he’s at least safe to make the roster, but was also worryingly quiet against the Rams and Ravens. Tolbert caught one of two targets against the Rams for a loss of a yard, and one target against the Ravens for two yards.
The same tight formations the Cowboys want to run the ball from with their physical backs like Mafah and Williams are the ones they also want to throw from, and in this mold, bigger-bodied receivers like Jalen Brooks and Ryan Flournoy had more opportunities to thrive this preseason. Possibly the best single example of this concept came on Brooks’ touchdown against the Falcons, which was a deep ball thrown off heavy play-action with a fullback in the game.
Tolbert is more of a player dependent on speed and drawing a defense’s third or fourth best cover player thanks to the talent around him to win, but these reps may be going elsewhere this season. Even Jonathan Mingo, who will go into the season injured, may eventually have the arrow pointing up more than Tolbert given his athletic profile being more similar to a Brooks or Flournoy.
The Cowboys also saw UDFA Traeshon Holden become something of a fan favorite “pet cat” this preseason with some solid performances, and while he may not have done enough to be a 53-man roster lock, he certainly has potential in this scheme. Tolbert appeared to lose ground this offseason.
4. Zion Childress provides unexpected depth at CB
We’ve mentioned time and time again this preseason that the Cowboys rested key starters they expect to play a big role in the regular season. While this is technically also true at cornerback, it isn’t quite like other positions where the Cowboys have their full cast of players ready to suit up against the Eagles and sure up the position group. There is still a lot of uncertainty around a position where you can never have enough depth.
One player that came out of nowhere to be a viable depth option this preseason was Zion Childress. The undrafted free agent out of Kentucky played 58% of the team’s snaps against the Rams, 35% against the Ravens, and 30% on Friday vs. the Falcons. In the last two drafts, a defensive back from Kentucky has gone in the first three rounds, and even though Childress fell through the draft to be a free agent, he fits a similar athletic profile to those draft picks like Andru Phillips or Maxwell Hairston. Childress has done his best work out of the slot, where the Cowboys saw a need open up early this offseason when Jourdan Lewis left in free agency for the Jaguars.
Childress is a Texas native and played two seasons of college ball at Texas State before Kentucky. The Cowboys are known for doing their homework very well on local area prospects, particularly when it comes to getting them in undrafted free agency. Although its still early to say anything definitively for Childress, he’s on the right path to be the latest find by the Cowboys personnel department.
Childress has plus length and mirroring skills out of the slot. Winning individual matchups in man coverage is still crucial, and Childress was a surprise player this preseason that flashed this skill. With reinforcements like Kair Elam and others also in the mix at cornerback, the Cowboys will at least be starting the season with some semblance of depth to work through at the position, where third-round pick Shavon Revel is also working back from injury to get on the field.
