Another preseason is complete for the Dallas Cowboys and, to say the least, there is still a lot that Jerry Jones and the rest of the front office need to sort out. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb remain without new contracts, DaRon Bland just sustained an injury that could keep him out of action for two months, and Ezekiel Elliott remains a question mark as the team’s best running back.
But before we get into the Cowboys’ most important tasks, the most pressing matter is cut day following Saturday’s loss in the final preseason game to the Chargers. Dallas and the rest of the league must finalize their 53-man rosters by Tuesday, August 27, which means difficult decisions will have to be made.
However, it seems that these four players made some of these decisions a lot easier in the final preseason game with their performance, the situations that arose, or some combination of all of the above. All in all, though, you can count on these four Cowboys players to be cut from the roster in due course.
After earning a pick-six in the second week of the preseason, Kemon Hall, a 2019 UDFA addition from the Chargers who has bounced around the NFL a bit, appeared to be in serious contention for a spot on the 53-man roster. However, he missed Saturday’s final preseason game against Los Angeles because of a shoulder injury.
I don’t want to punish anyone for not playing, but this was the worst possible time for an injury like Hall to happen. Plus, Andrew Booth Jr., who the Cowboys traded for Nahshon Wright earlier in the preseason, had more of an opportunity to prove himself. Booth wasn’t perfect — notably, he allowed a 78-yard touchdown early on — but he rebounded from his mistakes, made some good plays, and proved why Mike Zimmer had rated him so highly up until that point.
Hall is likely to be included in the training squad, especially after opting not to play on Saturday despite his injury. But sitting out the game while Booth continued to show promise will likely put Booth ahead of the pack to get the vacated spot in the squad, with Bland out of contention for the foreseeable future following his injury diagnosis.
We’ve mentioned running back depth as a question for Dallas, even at the top of the order, where a combination of Zeke and Rico Dowdle is. Behind those guys, however, it’s even more interesting. But we may have seen Deuce Vaughn provide some clarity on Saturday with a standout performance from the small 2023 sixth-round pick for the Cowboys. And Royce Freeman will likely be the one feeling the pressure of that.
Vaughn was by far the best running back in rushing against the Chargers, managing nine carries for 53 yards on the day, including an impressive 18-yard run. But perhaps even more impressive is that the Kansas State product showed off his versatility in this game as well, and potential other holes he could fill with a nice 23-yard kickoff return. Special teams value is so often critical to final roster cuts, so it’s crucial that Vaughn offers something Freeman didn’t show (at least in this game).
Freeman was by no means worthless in the final preseason game, rushing for 35 yards on eight carries and catching one pass for seven yards. But Vaughn was drafted by the Cowboys and may get work on special teams while also impressing out of the backfield in this game. That’s probably enough to give the second-year running back the edge in this battle and keep Freeman out of the picture.
It’s been fun to talk about Trey Lance all preseason, including the possibility of the Cowboys trading him to a team interested in the former 49ers third-stringer’s nearly limitless potential. However, any indications that Lance would seriously compete with Cooper Rush for the role of primary backup to Dak this season were always laughable, and Saturday’s action showed exactly why.
Lance had some moments of brilliance in this game, including a stunning 46-yard touchdown run and a touchdown throw of just ten yards to Ryan Flournoy. But the rest of it was just awful, and a clear indication of why Mike McCarthy wanted him to play an entire preseason game and why teams remain hesitant to invest in Lance. He threw five interceptions, including at least three that were truly abysmal, and was a big reason the Cowboys didn’t pull off a meaningless win.
Unless Lance can seriously develop as a passer, he has no business being on any NFL field during the regular season. Jerry Jones has said Lance will get a spot on the 53-man roster, but that really feels like a waste of resources at this point. This performance showed that he really won’t matter this season with Dallas and he should either be traded or placed on the practice squad (if they can manage that).
If you asked someone which wide receiver the Cowboys would keep on the roster if they decided to keep six players at the position after the first week of training camp, Jalen Cropper would have easily edged out sixth-round rookie Ryan Flournoy. He was a star in practice and seemed on track to earn a spot on the roster. But since then, the script has completely flipped.
Flournoy has improved week by week, following up a touchdown catch in Week 2 of the preseason with another impressive catch for a score against the Chargers. He finished the day with three passes caught for 30 yards and that touchdown. Cropper, on the other hand, was largely invisible, catching just one of his three targeted passes for just seven yards on the day.
Given the turn history has taken in this fight, Flournoy’s lasting impression from Saturday – in addition to the Cowboys’ penchant for keeping rookies on the 53-man roster as a priority – could result in Cropper, who was a UDFA addition last offseason, landing on the wrong side of the cut line.
