FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys have added nearly 30 new players to the roster over the last two months, from a collection of free-agent signings, draft picks, undrafted free agents and even a few trades.
All in all, a third of the 90-man roster has been overhauled since mid-March, creating quite a few changes to each position.
Over the next few weeks, we'll take a closer look at where things stand at each position. The Cowboys won't release a depth chart until the first preseason game in August, so the following order of players is simply a projection, which of course, is always subject to change. Let's continue the series with the cornerback position:
- Trevon Diggs
- DaRon Bland
- Israel Mukuamu
- Caelen Carson
- Josh Butler
- Andrew Booth
- Kaiir Elam
- Shavon Revel
- C.J. Goodwin (special teams)
- Luq Barcoo
- Kemon Hall
- Troy Pride, Jr.
- Bruce Harmon
Battle to Watch: That's a list of 13 (!!) players and only two are guaranteed to be starters and/or receive impact snaps, namely Diggs and Bland, but the former could miss games to begin the season and that means not only are the remainder fighting for the right to be CB4, but probably CB2 for Week 1. And, not to mention, someone has to become the definitive successor to Jourdan Lewis in the slot — arguably the best in the league in that role — so the battle to watch is … everywhere.
Time is Now: I'm going with Mukuamu on this one. It's a player who was an impact player in college at South Carolina only to have his NFL growth stunted at safety before being sporadically used at corner, and showing signs there, before being tossed back to the safety bucket where the Cowboys are already mostly set. Mukuamu re-signed on a one-year deal after the loss of Lewis and this will be his first real and genuine shot at showing what he can do as a full-time professional cornerback.
Key In On: Physicality and the ability to hawk the ball will be what makes anyone stand out most readily to Matt Eberflus, in an attack-first defense that should have more than its fair share of opportunities to take the ball away in the air. Bland and Diggs have shown they can set records doing it, but everyone else is to-be-determined in that regard and, with Diggs still recovering, someone else has to step up in that category, pronto.
Don't Forget About … wingspan and arm length, seeing as these are attributes that can help disrupt passes in instances when an interception is simply not possible, and can be used to frustrate receivers on a regular basis. This is something players like Mukuamu and rookie third-round pick Shavon Revel (who should be ready for Week 1) have in spades, as does Elam, so forth and so on. Ball hawks and disruptors are what the Cowboys need at cornerback going forward.
