Dallas Cowboys’ Toughest 53-Man Roster Decisions With Cutdown Day Looming – Mike Moraitis, SI.com
The Cowboys final preseason game is tonight. There are still multiple big decisions to be made for the final 53-man roster. What will the toughest decisions be?
Jonathan Mingo vs. Camden Brown
As disappointing as he has been during his career, Mingo has more experience than Brown, but the rookie has had a fantastic camp and preseason and looks the part of an NFL-caliber wide receiver.
With what the Cowboys have invested in Mingo following their head-scratching trade with the Carolina Panthers in 2024,
and with Mingo managing to have a solid offseason, we think Dallas keeps him for another year.
That leaves the Cowboys with a tough decision because they do not need six wide receivers thanks to a loaded group that includes CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens and Ryan Flournoy, and KaVontae Turpin is locked in, also.
Why Cowboys fans shouldn’t fret if Dallas waives their favorite WR on the roster bubble – Joseph Hoyt, The Dallas Morning News
One of the Cowboys best training camp battles showcased Johnathan Mingo vs Camden Brown. Will Brown earn his way onto the roster or will the Cowboys bite their nails while waiting to see if he clears waivers?
With expectations on the rise, it’s easy to forget the Cowboys nearly lost Flournoy a year ago. Dallas waived Flournoy during the roster shuffle after the cutdown deadline. Any team could’ve claimed a receiver who eventually grew into the team’s unquestioned third option behind CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, but they didn’t. Flournoy cleared waivers and returned to the team’s practice squad.
Game analysis, roster moves and key developments on the Cowboys, from AT&T Stadium to The Star.Email
“There was a lot of anxiety,” Schottenheimer said about potentially losing Flournoy on waivers.
The Cowboys remain Jerry’s world, but Stephen Jones will engineer ‘a different path’ – Zack Keefer, The Athletic
How will the Cowboys operate post Jerry Jones? Even though we know who will be taking over, here’s an in-depth look at what might look different.
Stephen ditched the oil business, moved to Dallas and heeded his father’s advice. He started from the bottom. He was a gofer, a sales rep, an understudy. He learned how to brand the Cowboys and how to sell the Cowboys. He learned to negotiate. “No one’s gonna care about our money like we will,” Jerry used to tell him. He’d fume when his father was criticized in the newspapers, which, back then, was all the time.
He became a buffer, smoothing over some of the tensions between Jerry and the first coach he brought to town. “I could work with Stephen Jones anytime,” Jimmy Johnson has said over the years. A decade later, Jerry brags, Bill Parcells would echo the sentiment.
3 position battles to watch in the Cowboys preseason finale – LP Cruz, Blogging the Boys
It’s unlikely we will see any regular season starters in the final preseason game, but there are still roster battles to keep our eyes on. Which one will you have your focus on?
The Cowboys have a good mix of veteran and young talent to lead their pass rush group. Adding Rashan Gary and Von Miller, who has plenty left in the tank, provides the team with excellent experience. Along with them are Malachi Lawrence and Donovan Ezeiruaku, who have the talent to explode for double-digit sacks.
The bottom of the pecking order is left to fight for a roster spot and reps, and that has created a heated battle with Marist Liufau and Sam Williams, who are clinging to a possible spot on the team. Sam Williams has put together a nice camp for himself and has shown up in the first two games. Williams recorded a sack against the Arizona Cardinals last week.
Cowboys’ leadership council is taking pressure off Prescott
The Cowboys have lacked true leadership in the locker room for quite some time. But like many other aspects of the 2026 Cowboys, it sounds like that is changing.
In his second year, Schottenheimer, with the recommendations of his coordinators, put together an 11-player leadership council. In his first season, Schottenheimer wanted a “one voice” approach — his — although he would often meet with players to get the pulse of what the locker room was feeling.
The 11 players on the 2026 leadership council are Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Tyler Smith, Tyler Booker, Jake Ferguson, Javonte Williams, Bryan Anger, Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, and Jalen Thompson.
The council meets about every two weeks to discuss things that have happened and what might happen down the road.
Could Cowboys Cut a Rookie Picked in the Top 120? Why Dallas might be facing a tough decision ahead of roster cutdown day – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports
The Cowboys have multiple 2026 draft picks fighting for roster spots heading into the preseason finale.
The Cowboys picked Drew Shelton with pick No. 112 in the fourth round. The expectation set on him right away was for him to be depth early on in his career and maybe even compete for a swing tackle role.
But so far, he’s looked struggled much more than expected. At this point, he simply doesn’t look like a viable NFL tackle. I don’t mean to pile on the player, as he could still develop into a solid lineman with time. But Shelton’s struggles have been very apparent in the preseason, to the point of landing a 3.0 pass-blocking grade from PFF in Week 2 of the preseason.
Daily discussion question: What do you most want to see tonight?
