The Cowboys are digging deep in the secondary, and Alex Austin is the latest name to enter the mix.
Dallas added the veteran cornerback to its practice squad on Tuesday as injuries continue to pile up across the defensive backfield. Cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Shavon Revel are both hurt, and the safety group is also banged up with Malik Hooker, P.J.
Locke and Jalen Thompson all sidelined. The team also reunited with Juanyeh Thomas, according to reports.
Austin, listed at 6-foot-1 and 191 pounds, came into the league as a seventh-round pick of the Buffalo Bills out of Oregon State in 2023. He has played in 29 games with six starts across three seasons.
His NFL path has already taken him through multiple stops. In 2023, he split time with the New England Patriots and Houston Texans before spending the next two years in New England. Last season, Austin started two of the 12 games he appeared in for the Patriots and finished with 13 tackles and one pass defensed.
Most of Austin’s work has come on the boundary, where Pro Football Focus credits him with 504 career snaps. He has also logged 36 snaps in the slot and seen a little time at safety, with 51 snaps at strong safety and two at free safety.
There’s at least some coverage production in the resume, even if the sample sizes are small. In 2023, Austin allowed a 31.3% completion rate and a 35.4 passer rating on 16 targets over five games with the Patriots.
He followed that in 2024 by giving up a 45.5% completion rate and an 87.9 passer rating on 22 targets. This past season, though, the numbers spiked sharply: Austin allowed an 83.3% completion rate and a 143.7 passer rating on 12 targets.
He also brings special teams experience, with 234 snaps there, which gives Dallas another layer of value if it needs him to step in.
Before Austin reached the NFL, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com described him this way:
"Austin’s size, length and football IQ work in his favor, but there is a lack of consistency with his man coverage that could limit the way NFL teams use him," Zierlein said. He’s decent at mirroring the release from press but struggles to stay in-phase with quality route runners."
"He plays with below-average top-end speed and recovery burst in man coverage, but his instincts and awareness take him where he needs to go from off-man and zone coverage," Zierlein added. "Austin can play some press and a variety of zones and offers backup potential as a Day 3 option."
For now, Austin is on the practice squad, which means he may never see the field for Dallas. But with the Cowboys’ secondary still in rough shape, his path to a game day call-up could come quickly if the injury situation doesn’t ease up this week.
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