DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys will be reporting to training camp shortly as they prepare for the upcoming campaign. Unfortunately, not everyone who shows up a member of the team will be leaving camp on the 53-man roster.
When September arrives, some difficult decisions will need to be made and a defensive shakeup could be in order with Mike Zimmer returning to Dallas to take over the defensive coordinator role after a successful tenure from the departing Dan Quinn.
There will be over a month’s worth of practices and games to determine who’ll be on the Cowboys for the 2024 season. Most of the roster spots are already spoken for, but there will be position battles that will captivate the fans, with defense a primary target.
Here are the five position battles to watch for Zimmer’s new defense at training camp:
Carl Davis vs. Justin Rogers vs. Denzel Daxon
The Cowboys don’t have the strongest group on the interior of their defensive line, and the last spot or two at defensive tackle could come down to a veteran and two rookie longshots. Davis was brought in late last season and played sparingly, but the team did re-sign him this offseason and they hope that the former third-round pick can pay off. The Cowboys don’t have much of a veteran presence at defensive tackle, so Davis could fill that void.
However, two young upstarts could earn their way onto the roster and push Davis off. Rogers is a seventh-round selection whose best ability is stuffing the run. The rookie defensive tackle did have four sacks and seven tackles for a loss in college, but his size at over 335 pounds is conducive to clogging the middle.
Fellow rookie Daxon boasts the same traits as well, at almost the same size as Rogers, but he doesn’t offer as much as a pass rusher. Daxon’s still raw and learning, but if he puts it all together, he could make a run at the roster.
With the Cowboys being thin at defensive tackle, it’s one of the main positions that Zimmer will have to figure out this summer.
Marist Liufau vs. DeMarvion Overshown
Another place where the Cowboys entered the offseason short was at linebacker. However, with the signing of veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks and the selection of Marist Liufau in the third round, the middle line of the defense got stronger. Add the return to health from last year’s third-round pick DeMarvion Overshown and Dallas now has some depth and a camp battle at linebacker.
The team felt Liufau was too good to pass up this past April, touting his coverage skills and football IQ as one of the reasons to draft the linebacker out of Notre Dame. Liufau didn’t give up a receiving touchdown in his last two years in college and is just as effective near the line of scrimmage.
The main competition for the rookie might come from Overshown, who had an ACL tear in the preseason and never got a chance to develop. Like Liufau, Overshown is a converted safety who has good coverage skills, but also has a knack for making plays behind the line of scrimmage with 30.5 career tackles for a loss.
Right now, both players could be competing for the SAM linebacker spot in Zimmer’s defense, but that could change depending on how camp pans out. Either way, both Day 2 selections are battling for snaps as a starter on the Dallas defense.
Israel Mukuamu vs. Juanyeh Thomas
The Cowboys used to have problems finding good safety play, now they have one of the deepest groups in the league. Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker are the starters, and Markquese Bell’s return to the position likely means he’s the third man in the rotation, which leaves an intriguing battle between Mukuamu and Thomas for playing time along the backend. Both are young options, who have shown glimpses of playing a bigger role for the defense.
In 2022, Mukuamu worked his way into the mix as a versatile chess piece, playing both cornerback and safety. However, the fourth-year safety never made a push for more snaps last year and now enters training camp in a make-or-break year.
Part of the reason for Mukuamu’s decline in playing time was the rise of Thomas, who performed well in the preseason and then made a bigger impression in the first game of the year when he blocked a field goal attempt that was returned for a score to set the tone against the New York Giants. Thomas also showed that he was capable of snaps at safety, and he looks like he’s ready for a big jump in his third year.
With veteran Jayron Kearse now gone, the Cowboys will need another quality safety in the mix. Both Mukuamu and Thomas can earn playing time and it should be fun to watch this battle play out in training camp.
Nahshon Wright and Eric Scott
Both are cornerbacks who were highly coveted by the Cowboys, and both could be fighting for the last spot at the position. Wright was a surprising third-round pick when many felt that the team over-drafted him in 2021, and the draft experts have proven to be correct thus far.
There hasn’t been much that’s gone Wright’s way through three seasons, and his last chance comes with a new defensive coordinator. Wright’s length was a key factor in his selection, but he hasn’t been able to back up his physical traits with the play on the field, earning just 7% of the defensive snaps last year.
Scott has the advantage of having just one NFL season under his belt, but he didn’t do much with it after the Cowboys traded up to make his selection in the sixth round in 2023, yet he never saw the field as a rookie. Last year Scott had some good moments in camp that led to his inclusion on the 53-man roster.
The training camp success didn’t translate against stronger competition in his first season, but Scott has the length and physicality that could see him make a second-year leap. With the team impressed with this year’s fifth-round pick Caelen Carson, it might come down to Wright or Scott for one of the final spots on the roster.
Marshawn Kneeland vs. Viliami Fehoko
A battle between two defensive ends in college, who might be splitting time on the inside for Dallas, makes for an intriguing decision. Fehoko was drafted in the fourth-round last year after he had 46 tackles for a loss and 23 sacks in his collegiate career. That’s an awful lot of disruption from a player who never played in a game as a rookie.
Kneeland, meanwhile, is a second-round pick from this past April, and he profiles as a more athletic, stronger player off the edge. One trait that usually translates from college to the NFL is power, and Kneeland brings that physicality that could see him lining up both inside and out.
The Cowboys love versatile linemen and both Kneeland and Fehoko might be candidates to play all over the defensive line. The team has a need to find a fourth pass rusher and depth for the defensive line, the battle for that role will be one to watch at camp and in the preseason.
Which player on defense is primed to break out this summer for the Cowboys? Share your thoughts with Ben on X (formerly Twitter) @BenGrimaldi.
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