Projected defensive front runners to make Cowboys final 53

With my final 53 man roster set, the first thing everyone always looks at is who did not make the Dallas Cowboys 53 man roster. Carlos Watkins, C.J. Goodwin, Darian Thompson, Dorance Armstrong, Rashard Robinson, Jeremy Sprinkle, Deante Burton, Malik Turner, and Justin Hamilton are all notable roster cuts.

Players like Ron’Dell Carter, Josh Ball, Francis Bernard, Luke Gifford, and Hunter Niswander are all practice squad guys I would love to keep but the spotlight of Hard Knocks could make them great poach candidates.

There is always a salary cap concern but this roster could be a plus. The Dallas Cowboys, like the rest of the NFL, only need to count the top 51 earning players against the salary cap. The salary of the 52nd and 53rd players do not count toward the equation.

With the Dallas Cowboys only carrying about $5.4 million in cap space entering training camp, any moves the team makes have to be done with some sort of salary cap consciousness.

Those first nine names I listed above would have all counted against the cap as all of those guys had top 51 salaries. The collective dollar amount associated with those names above comes out to roughly $10.6 million.

That amount is substantial but you do have to subtract the monetary compensation due to be earned by their replacements. The good thing with this is most of the replacements are going to carry a rookie salary.

The defensive side of the ball is going to lack experience but I think the front office is tired of rolling out the usual suspects. It appears as if the time has come for the team to actually rotate players on the defensive side of the ball and see what sticks.

The alternative has not been fruitful. I said this before and will continue to say today that injuries will have a major impact on how this defense is constructed. If the Dallas Cowboys stay healthy, I would expect the final roster to look similar to what I have just rolled out.