Dallas City News

The Cowboys are now through two preseason games, and the common theme in both has been an impressive showing from new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s unit. More noteworthy is the fact that Zimmer is doing this without hardly any starters, especially in the secondary.

The Cowboys know exactly who will be starting for them at cornerback – Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland on the outside and Jourdan Lewis in the slot – but figuring out the depth chart behind them has been an important task this preseason. And on Saturday in Sin City against the Raiders (who played most their starters for nearly half of the game) the competition at cornerback heated up in a big way.

It all began with news that the corner who’s turned the most heads in training camp, rookie Caelen Carson, would not be suiting up for the game. Carson recently had his wisdom teeth removed and was held out as a result.

This wasn’t a big deal anyway, as Carson was close to a roster lock even when camp first started and especially after the way he’s performed thus far. The Cowboys know Carson is part of their plans moving forward, so it was a blessing in disguise to get more reps for guys like Andrew Booth Jr., Kemon Hall, Josh Butler, and Eric Scott Jr.

The biggest name there is Booth, whom the Cowboys traded for just prior to their first preseason game. Booth, the 42nd overall pick in 2022, played a few snaps against the Rams but not nearly enough to gauge his performance or fit with his new team. Against the Raiders, however, Booth had plenty of play time, seeing 59% of the team’s defensive snaps on the night.

Booth’s game started off rough, getting burned for a big 48-yard shot downfield. Booth simply got beat by Tre Tucker’s speed, but he was still able to close the gap and tackle Tucker as he made the catch. Still, it was an inauspicious start for the cornerback.

Booth didn’t hang his head, though. He ended up seeing a ton of targets throughout the night, forcing a couple of incompletions and also showing off his physicality and fundamentally sound tackling. Booth led the team in tackles with eight, which is as many as he recorded during the entire 2023 season with the Vikings. His ability to deliver a strong game even after the tough beginning was noted by several.

The only other Cowboys defender who played more snaps in this one was Kemon Hall, who flashed on a few plays last week but took center stage in this one. Hall entered the NFL in 2019, undrafted out of North Texas, and has bounced around the league since then. He spent two seasons on the Vikings practice squad under Zimmer, as well as a small portion of the 2020 season in Dallas.

After Saturday, though, Hall is in very serious contention for a roster spot. He had several big plays, including three tackles that mirrored Booth’s reliability and two pass breakups. Most notably, though, Hall added to the Cowboys’ string of interceptions this preseason, easily making his the most memorable one yet.

Josh Butler and Eric Scott Jr. have also been firmly in the mix for a roster spot and, while neither of them shined quite as bright as Booth or Hall on Saturday, they made their fair share of good plays too. Butler has been quietly consistent all throughout camp, building on the strong preseason he had last year before spending the regular season on the practice squad.

Scott, on the other hand, rebounded nicely from a very rough first preseason game performance. Scott didn’t record an interception or pass breakup, and in fact played the fewest snaps of these four cornerbacks, but he also put up a much more consistent performance in coverage. It may have been a small step, but any positive is a good thing for Scott after last week.

All in all, the competition for the two or three cornerback spots behind the Cowboys’ starting trio just ratcheted up in a big way. The top names in contention put their best foot forward in this one, and the final roster spot at cornerback may be coming down to the wire now.