Dallas City News

The Dallas Cowboys have seen a lot of changes on the football side of things specifically through the Mike McCarthy era, and going through roster cuts with a new defensive coordinator in Mike Zimmer brought another surprising one. Seventh-round pick DT Justin Rogers was waived, despite having a very strong training camp and preseason at a position that wasn’t seen as a strength for most of the offseason in Dallas.

Mazi Smith had all of the attention put on him at the DT position, specifically the one-tech/ nose tackle spot that Rogers also played, as the Cowboys still want to give last year’s first-round pick opportunity to develop in a new scheme. This is nothing new or shocking as the Cowboys tend to favor their own draft picks and prioritize building the majority of the roster this way over free agency or trades, yet they used both this preseason to continue adding to the defensive tackle group.

Clichés like “player acquisition is 365 days a year” and the more recent “all in” comment from Jerry Jones are easy to look past as Cowboys fans are desperate for any postseason success that backs up this team’s process, but they applied both to upgrade a position of major weakness over a long period of time going into this make-or-break season. Doing so to the point where a promising draft pick at a previously devalued position was deemed expendable is noteworthy.

Jordan Phillips is the Cowboys’ trade acquisition at defensive tackle, coming over from the Giants as a veteran with pass rush upside and more than enough size to play the run. Phillips is reportedly going to be seeing time as the three tech, where Osa Odighizuwa is also ready to make his season debut in week one after sitting out the whole preseason. Phillips is joined by an even newer addition to the defensive line in Linval Joseph, another addition with ties to Zimmer that remained on the free agent market just weeks before the start of the season.

Joseph will turn 36 in October, and is now on his fifth team since being drafted by the Giants in 2010. Joseph was a Pro Bowl defender in 2016 and 2017 with the Vikings when Zimmer was the head coach. This is a player well-known and respected around the league for being a force on the interior against the run, a tackle very much in the spirit of Johnathan Hankins.

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With linebacker blitzes through the middle being one of the most noticeable things from the Cowboys defense in the preseason, an addition like Joseph to help these second level players get to the quarterback will be a welcome sight for the entire front seven.

Smith, Phillips, Odighizuwa, and Joseph are now the primary DTs on the active roster, and with them the Cowboys feel like they are set for game day here. Their depth options inside include DE/DT crossovers Chauncey Golston and rookie Marshawn Kneeland, though the latter is expected to be needed more on the edge as the Cowboys look to replace Sam Williams following an ACL tear early in training camp.

It took until nearly Labor Day weekend, not often a time where we’re talking about many notable players changing teams, for the Cowboys to continue working their weak spot and ultimately decide to go with much more experience and proven success at DT.

The Cowboys still have plenty of young talent all around the roster they’ll need to step up to repeat as NFC East champions this season, but the depth now is such that a day three draft pick like Rogers wasn’t able to crack the roster. Rogers’ NFL career will now continue in Cincinnati as he was claimed and placed on the practice squad by the Bengals.

The prospect out of Auburn held up very well at the point of attack as a heads up nose tackle this preseason, but his ability to shed blocks and actually finish plays was always going to be a work in progress. The Cowboys are going with more experienced players like Phillips and Joseph that know all the tricks of flowing down the line, winning hand fights to shed blocks, and making plays over trying to get these developmental reps in the heat of a season for Rogers.

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The Cowboys 2024 draft class is now Tyler Guyton, Marshawn Kneeland, Cooper Beebe, Marist Liufau, Caelen Carson, Ryan Flournoy, and Nathan Thomas. With the exception of another seventh-round pick in Thomas being moved to injured reserve during roster cuts, every other rookie listed here is either a projected starter (Guyton, Beebe), rotational player with plenty of opportunity for playing time (Liufau, Flournoy), or potential next man up following an injury to starters like Williams and CB DaRon Bland (Kneeland, Carson).

Dallas is certainly not giving up on the importance of the draft anytime soon, but in this area of the roster, they went for experience over youth in finding players that can win games this year, and doing so required some tough roster decisions like waiving Rogers.