The Dallas Cowboys lost to the New Orleans Saints in the final preseason game for 2026. They may have also lost a player to injury for a while.
Outside linebacker Marist Liufau had to leave the game early with aninjury to his arm. It turns out that it is a broken forearm.
Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Liufau will miss “weeks,” while owner Jerry Jones said Liufau could be back “quickly,” according to ESPN.
“Losing Marist as a football player is tough,” Schottenheimer said. “Unfortunately,
it’s part of the business. You guys all know him and the way he’ll attack his rehab, and so we’ll get surgery done as soon as we can and next man up. But yeah, he was a critical, critical part of not just two or three special teams, really all four. He’s a ‘four-core’ guy that you just rely on and he plays the game with violence and we have some other guys in that locker room that do that as well.”
As Schottenheimer noted, Liufau had been used extensively on special teams while also trying to make an adjustment to playing outside linebacker in Christian Parker’s new 3-4 defense. The experiment at OLB is still to be determined as he was not the most consistent player there. But that special teams ability was the thing expected to keep him on the roster.
The Cowboys will now have to make a decision about carrying him, cutting him then trying to bring him back, or designating him as one of the two ‘return from IR’ guys when the final 53 is decided.
What do you think the Cowboys will do here?
