Dallas Cowboys cut down day leaves many in wonder

With some expected names missing out on a chance to be Dallas Cowboys, there were many left wondering why other players did not make the cut.

The only thing we knew going into Saturday was that the Dallas Cowboys were going to get down to 53 players. Some players, namely Chaz Green, were obvious cuts. Those types we are going to talk less about. Others though had all of scratching our heads in awe and wonder as to why they no longer wear the Star.

Before we dive into that, let’s take a quick cruise through the roster as the Dallas Cowboys (for now) have their 53-man roster official.

The offense

The Dallas Cowboys chose to keep three quarterbacks. Dak Prescott obviously makes sense. Cooper Rush and Mike White? Not so much. With not a lot of big names getting cut at this position, it will be interesting to see if a Landry Jones or a Connor Cook gets a call from the 214. Both are major upgrades. Both will likely have more than one call coming their way.

Dallas also is rolling the dice with their running back depth. The Cowboys cut Bo Scarbrough, a seventh-round choice as well as Darius Jackson. That means Dallas will have just three running backs (again, for now) on the roster next Sunday.

Both Deonte Thompson and Lance Lenoir did not make the team Saturday. Both are mildly shocking cuts because…

A. Lenoir had a fantastic camp, minus one bad game fielding punts against Arizona and

B. Thompson was given $1 million guaranteed to sign here in the offseason.

Remember, Noah Brown missed nearly all of training camp. So, you could call these moves interesting, to say the least.

At tight end, everyone’s favorite conundrum, Rico Gathers is in… until maybe he isn’t. Just when you thought the Cowboys did the right thing by putting him on the 53, Gathers did something worthy of being cut.

Reports are that late Friday night, Gathers was arrested for possession of marijuana. If you think the league isn’t going to hammer him for that move, you must be forgetting Roger Goodell’s m.o.

Dalton Schultz, Geoff Swaim, and Blake Jarwin are also in. Since Dallas went with four tight ends, it’s possible Gathers will be replaced by a free agent before Tuesday.

As for the offensive line, no real shocks came here. Dallas has finally (mercifully) cut the Chaz Green experience short. Could Jonathan Cooper, cut by the 49ers, make his way back to slightly improve this unit? Time will tell.

The defense

It was dog eat dog along the defensive line this training camp. The unit with clearly the most depth saw fit to release Kony Ealy, Charles Tapper, and Jihad Ward. If you would have predicted all three would be off this team way back in June, you’d be a prophet. Life comes at you fast.

The linebacker corps produced no shocks as far as to who is in and who is out. It could be somewhat of a surprise that Dallas chose to keep seven linebackers but it also makes sense, mostly because of the new rules regarding kickoffs.

At defensive back, the biggest shock is that Dallas only has four safeties and four cornerbacks. There is no way those numbers remain the same over the next couple of days. With Xavier Woods unlikely to play Sunday, you can double down on that bet. Could a trade for Seattle safety Earl Thomas be in the works? Regardless, expect a cornerback to be signed soon.

Special teams

Here was the big boom no one saw coming. Dallas chose to part ways with the second most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL. Dan Bailey, a fan favorite and, to some, one of the few reliable players on this team, was given a pink slip. In his place, Dallas went with a rookie.

The only sense this makes is two-fold.

One, this move saves some big time money. The Dallas Cowboys no longer have over $10M on the books for the next three years at the kicker spot.

Two, someone on this team with a big voice must think last year’s hiccups were going to continue into 2018.

Other than that, this makes no sense at all. A guy who has made 88% of his field goals and all but two of his 278 career extra points should not be cut. That’s especially true when a rookie with no experience is the replacement. Stay tuned over the next few days as this 53-man roster Dallas has built is far from final.