Dallas Cowboys 2022 preseason round-up: roster cuts, Dowdle vs Davis, Buccaneers…

Roster cut tracker

By tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET, the NFL teams will have to have made their roster cuts to trim it down to 53 players. So, moves are already being made. On Sunday, the Cowboys cut it down a few when they waived DE Markaviest Bryant, OT Amon Simon, OL James Empey, WR T.J. Vasher, and QB Ben DiNucci.

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Teams have to be a bit sly about how they make these moves. The Cowboys, for example, will need to play their cards right with who they place on Injured Reserve. That means, they will need to keep some players on their “final” 53-man roster before moving them later to IR. So don’t be surprised if by tomorrow at 4, the Cowboys don’t even have a kicker on their roster.

Player cuts to watch for:

QB: It’s always been Cooper Rush backing up Dallas’ no. 1 QB Dak Prescott. But Will Grier made an argument for himself in the preseason. He certainly looks like the better of the two, but will the Cowboys agree and make him the QB2?

RB: Obviously the Cowboys are keeping their two main guys, Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. The question is, do they keep Rico Dowdle or Malik Davis? Or both?

WR: The Cowboys waived Vasher, but still have CeeDee Lamb, injured Michael Gallup and James Washington, Jalen Tolbert, Dennis Houston, Noah Brown, Simi Fehoko, and KaVontae Turpin on their WR depth chart. Since Washington and Gallup were both meant to be starters, but are both injured, this is where Dallas has to be clever. Both will have to be on the final 53-man roster tomorrow. Since Gallup’s return seems like it could be closer, they’ll likely keep him off IR, but put Washington on it. Then they’ll have to cut another receiver (likely Houston, who did a lot at camp and a lot of nothing during preseason games). So perhaps they do that, but try to add him back later, or trade for a veteran (though they insist there’s no need to trade as they trust what they have on their roster already).

TE: The Cowboys will keep Dalton Schultz and Jake Ferguson. Between Sean McKeon and Peyton Hendershot, well, it’s kind of an easy choice now. McKeon injured his knee and Hendershot made the game-winning touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks during the Cowboys’ preseason finale.

OL: One of the more concerning positions, the offensive line took a huge blow with the injury to Tyron Smith last week. That likely puts him at the bottom of the OL depth chart, considering this is one of several injuries in his history. That leaves rookie Tyler Smith, Connor McGovern, Tyler Biadasz, Zack Martin,Terrence Steele, Josh Ball, Matt Farniok, and Matt Waletzko. It’s possible that the Cowboys will put Tyler Smith at left tackle and McGovern at guard, but the rest remains to be seen.

Defense: The Cowboys defense was already the most positive part of the team, but over the preseason, even more players emerged to make a name for themselves. Three defensive backs are dealing with injuries but aren’t players they necessarily want to lose: Kelvin Joseph, Israel Mukuamu, and Jourdan Lewis. The Cowboys will have to make some clever moves there, too. Micah Parsons and Anthony Barr will top the chart at DE, so a cut there could come between Trysten Hill and Carlos Watkins. DaRon Bland has proven he’s a worthy CB to not just keep, but also start alongside Trevon Diggs. With safeties Mukuamu’s and Markquese Bell’s preseason performances, the Cowboys could consider cutting Donovan Wilson, although they rested him all preseason as if he’d be a starter. They weren’t expecting this competition.

Special Teams: Punter Bryan Anger, long-snapper Jake McQuaide, and kicker Brett Maher are who the Cowboys are currently dealing with. One of those players is likely to be cut to allow for the Cowboys to make their IR moves at wide receiver and tackle.

RB2: Rico Dowdle vs Malik Davis

One of the more interesting battles above is the running back battle between Dowdle and Davis. Dowdle was always considered to be the RB3 behind Elliott and Pollard. Davis came along and mucked all that up though. He played well not just in camp, but also in the preseason games, making his argument to be the RB3 ahead of Dowdle.

The competition is close at this point, but the Cowboys have said they only want to keep three running backs on the roster. They may have to make an exception here, not knowing the future of Pollard or Zeke. If either of them leaves, it would be good to have both Dowdle and Davis. If it comes down to it though and they do cut one, I think Dowdle makes it to the final as he has proven himself on gamedays already. Davis moving to the practice squad is risky though, as he has been named as a player teams are looking to pick up if he’s available.

Cowboys vs Buccaneers season opener

On September 11, the Cowboys will open their season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the second year in a row. In a highly-anticipated rematch, both teams (who look quite different from last year) are going in missing some key players on offense.

The Buccaneers, who were already without center Ryan Jensen and left guard Aaron Stinnie, lost the players filling in during the preseason finale: center Robert Hainsey and LG Nick Leverett. Left tackle Tristan Wirfs is still dealing with an injury, but is considered day-to-day right now.

As for the Cowboys, as we know, they just lost their best offensive tackle in Tyron Smith, to really no one’s surprise, but everyone’s disappointment. They are still missing their no. 2 WR as Gallup will not be ready for Week 1 while he recovers from his offseason ACL surgery.

Both teams will have to try to maximize on the others’ missing players. Gameday is just 13 days away now, so they have to figure out a game plan quick.