The Cowboys didn’t just handle the Cardinals on Saturday. They used the game to firm up a handful of roster decisions with cutdown day only a week away.
Dallas jumped out to 24 points in the first half and held Arizona to one touchdown on defense, but the score was only part of the story. Several players turned in performances that made their cases hard to ignore, and some may have already done enough to lock in spots on the 53-man roster.
Malik Davis was first among them. The 27-year-old opened the game as the starting running back after a strong Week 1 and kept making the same kind of impression he always seems to make: tough, efficient, and impossible to dismiss.
He ran with conviction and burst, finished with 29 rushing yards, and caught an eight-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-6 after getting open for Joe Milton on a broken play. Davis also handled his pass-protection work cleanly, giving Milton time to work through his reads.
If the roster had to be set tomorrow, Davis would be on it.
Jaydon Blue also helped his case in a big way. His best showing as a Cowboy came with better blocking than he had in Week 1, but the bigger difference was how he ran.
The 22-year-old showed off acceleration, patience, and vision, then added some pop at contact. Blue carried 15 times for 75 yards to lead Dallas in rushing, and 64 of those yards came after contact, per PFF.
He also hurdled multiple defenders. If Dallas had to make the call right now, Blue would be in over Phil Mafah and Israel Abanikanda.
Ajani Cornelius kept building his own argument, too. Though drafted as a tackle, he has spent the summer playing exclusively at guard, and the adjustment hasn’t looked like much of one.
Against Arizona, Cornelius allowed just two pressures on 25 pass-blocking snaps, according to PFF, while posting an 82.8 run-blocking grade. Across two preseason games, he has allowed three pressures, zero sacks, and zero quarterback hits on 50 pass-blocking snaps.
He looks like Dallas’ most trusted backup offensive lineman behind T.J. Bass and should make the 53.
Camden Brown made the loudest single play of the night for either team. The undrafted rookie got loose on an off-script play after Joe Milton broke the pocket, then sprinted 69 yards up the sideline.
He was close to scoring, and the play only added to what he had already done with his two-touchdown debut last week. Dallas would love to sneak him onto the practice squad, but that’s not happening.
He won’t clear waivers, and he has done enough to make himself uncuttable. Brown may not get many rookie snaps, but he has earned a place on the roster.
Markquese Bell may not have played, but that may have said plenty. He was not dressed Saturday and is not dealing with an injury, which makes his roster spot look safe unless a trade is coming.
Bell did not do enough on defense in Week 1 to fully settle things, but his value appears tied to special teams, where he can fill the C.J. Goodwin role after Goodwin’s offseason retirement.
Bell logged 304 special-teams snaps last season and has shown he can handle multiple phases. That should make him a core piece for Nick Sorensen, even if second-year safety Julius Wood continues to push after another strong summer and a good showing before leaving with a concussion.
In Other News...
Eagles Rookie Is Giving Cowboys Fans A Reason To Laugh
Training camp has already given Cowboys fans one small comfort in Philadelphia, and it comes courtesy of a rookie tight end who was supposed to help stabilize the Eagles passing game. Eli Stowers, a second-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, has instead spent much of camp and the preseason fighting to find his footing, with his blocking and receiving both drawing scrutiny as the Eagles try to sort through a depth chart battered by injuries at receiver.
For Dallas, the details are almost beside the point. Any time a division rival invests premium draft capital and then sees the early returns wobble, it invites the kind of unflattering comparisons that stick around, and Stowers has already been mentioned in the same breath as JJ Arcega-Whiteside, another second-round Eagles pick who never lived up to the billing. The bigger issue for Philadelphia is immediate pressure, because the injuries around him leave the rookie with even less margin for error as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Suddenly Have A Real Roster Decision At Two Key Spots
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Snap counts are becoming part of the conversation too, which is usually a sign the decisions are getting real. The Cowboys are sorting through a deeper receiving mix and weighing how much value each player brings beyond one good night in August, and they are also open to exploring trades if that helps shape the 53-man roster. For a team trying to balance upside, depth and certainty, the next few evaluations may matter as much as anything that happened in the preseason opener. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Suddenly Face A Tough QB Roster Decision
Dak Prescott is locked in as the Cowboys starter, but the competition behind him has become one of the more interesting roster questions in camp. Sam Howell and Joe Milton III have both put together strong preseason stretches, enough to make Dallas at least consider carrying all three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster even though teams usually prefer to keep just two.
Todd Archer of ESPN projects that possibility, and it speaks to how much the backup battle has shifted from a routine depth issue to a real decision point. The Cowboys still have not settled the spot behind Prescott, and with the preseason winding down, the outcome is less about naming a favorite and more about deciding whether either Howell or Milton has done enough to force an extra quarterback onto the roster. [Read more 🡒]