The Cowboys are through preseason, the 53-man roster is in place for now, and three names in particular tell you a lot about what Dallas values as the 2026 season gets rolling.
Camden Brown, Jonathan Mingo and Tyrus Wheat all earned their spots for different reasons. Brown was the surprise.
Mingo was the reclamation project. Wheat was the steady hand in a crowded group.
Together, they offer a snapshot of how the Cowboys are sorting out the bottom half of the roster.
Brown might have been the biggest preseason surprise on the team. The undrafted rookie from Georgia Southern arrived in camp fighting for his life in a deep receiver room, with CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Ryan Flournoy and Kavontae Turpin already locked in. That left Brown chasing one of the few remaining jobs, and he forced the issue with production that was hard to ignore: six catches, 166 yards, 27.7 yards per catch and two touchdowns.
At 6-foot-2 and 204 pounds, Brown clearly gave Dallas something worth betting on. Now the challenge shifts from surviving roster cuts to finding a real lane on game days.
With the Cowboys’ receiver depth, that won’t be simple. But he showed enough in camp and preseason to suggest he can take advantage if the door opens.
Special teams may be the most realistic path, as it is for plenty of players trying to stick at the back end of a roster.
Mingo’s situation carried a different kind of weight. He wasn’t an unknown trying to break through; he was a former second-round pick the Cowboys already had skin in the game on after moving him from Carolina. That kind of investment keeps expectations hanging around, and Mingo entered the summer needing to show Dallas something concrete.
He did enough to stay. Mingo finished preseason with four catches for 82 yards and a touchdown, including a 53-yard bomb in Arizona from Joe Milton.
He also kept showing up in practice during training camp. The Cowboys rewarded that work by keeping him on the initial 53-man roster, giving him another chance to find a foothold behind Lamb and Pickens.
If the flashes keep turning into dependable play, Mingo’s spot could look a lot smarter by the end of the year. His NFL experience should at least buy him a small offensive role, with more on his plate if injuries hit.
Wheat’s path to the roster says something different about this team. He wasn’t fighting for the same spotlight as Brown or Mingo.
He was trying to earn a place in a defense that has been reshaped and packed with edge options. He did his part anyway, finishing the preseason with eight tackles, two sacks, seven pressures and five run stops.
That kind of line gets noticed. So does the fact that Wheat brings versatility, experience and a real track record on special teams.
He may not have a big defensive role waiting for him right away, but Dallas knows what it has when it calls his number. For now, his value is probably clearest in the third phase, where the Cowboys can count on him for quality special teams work.
In Other News...
Cowboys Just Raised The Stakes On DaRon Bland And Jake Ferguson
The Cowboys made a notable cap maneuver by restructuring the contracts of Kenny Clark, DaRon Bland and Jake Ferguson, and the ripple effect is bigger than a simple bookkeeping update. The moves cleared $19 million in space and pushed Dallas to $33 million in available cap room, giving the front office much more room to work as it looks ahead to the next phase of roster building.
Bland and Ferguson also now carry larger dead-cap hits, which makes a quick exit far less likely and underscores how seriously Dallas is treating both players in its long-term plans. The bigger question is what the Cowboys do with all that flexibility, because the kind of financial room they just created could put a major defensive swing within reach as they eye the 2026 market. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Just Added A Risky New Twist To Their Tackle Battle
The Cowboys have added another layer to their offensive line picture by trading for Broderick Jones from the Steelers, a move that gives them extra depth and a fresh challenger at right tackle. Dallas sent draft picks to bring in a former first-round talent whose career has already been marked by both promise and turbulence, including a neck injury and stretches of uneven play that have kept the evaluation process going longer than expected.
Jones is still working his way back to full strength after missing time, and the fit is not as simple as plugging him into one spot and moving on. He has looked more comfortable at left tackle at times, but technique and consistency have remained issues, which is what makes this competition so interesting for the Cowboys. It also leaves the front office with a familiar kind of offensive-line question: whether the upside is worth the uncertainty, and how quickly Jones can turn opportunity into trust. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Enter Week 1 With One Big Availability Concern
The Cowboys head into Week 1 in pretty good shape overall, but the injury report still has a few names worth watching as the opener approaches. Defensive lineman Bullard and guard Cornelius are both working their way back from injuries and could still be in the mix for the season opener, which would give Dallas a little more flexibility on both sides of the ball as the roster gets trimmed and roles settle in.
Marist Liufau and Devin Moore are the bigger long-term absences for now, with both already on injured reserve and eligible to return after the required layoff. Liufau is coming back from forearm surgery, while Moore is dealing with a hip injury, and their timelines leave the Cowboys balancing short-term depth against the hope of getting two useful pieces back later in the season. [Read more 🡒]