The Dallas Cowboys have been on a hunt to find a slot cornerback all summer long, and they’ve finally made a decision. After more than a month of practices and three preseason games, the Cowboys have decided to keep Zion Childress on the roster as their top slot cornerback.
Childress has been competing with several other options on the roster, including Kemon Hall and Israel Mukuamu, for that job, but it was the undrafted free agent from Kentucky who ultimately made the roster, while the other two were released. Childress started running with the first-team defense back in August and never looked back. And now, he is the favorite to start in the slot going into Week 1.
Cowboys may actually start Zion Childress in Week 1 vs. the Eagles
The status of Trevon Diggs going into Week 1 remains unknown, but the All-Pro cornerback is trending in the right direction after practicing on Monday. The Cowboys might not want to rush him back on the field with just over a week until the first game of the season, which would be the responsible thing to do. If Diggs is able to play, that means Daron Bland would likely kick into the slot in nickel situations.
But assuming Diggs is not quite ready to take on a full load at cornerback, that means Childress could be the team’s starting slot cornerback in Week 1. Brian Schottenheimer confirmed this during his press conference on Tuesday, stating that they won’t shy away from using the undrafted free agent early and often this season.
Childress is the perfect slot defender for Matt Eberflus, as he has safety size and isn’t afraid to tackle. He can be used as a blitzer and has the physicality to mix it up in the run game. While Childress isn’t the best athlete, the slot position requires defensive backs to be physical and quick. Both of those traits Childress has in abundance.
The Cowboys are known for their ability to find undrafted free agent gems and it appears that they’ve done it again with Childress. He is now the third undrafted free agent in their secondary (Juanyeh Thomas, Markquese Bell) and he should get a lot of work early in the season in subpackages and on special teams.
It’s clear the Cowboys aren’t wasting any time here as they clearly believe he can play and want to get him on the field as soon as possible. And we should fully expect Childress to be one of the top defensive backs when Dallas travels to Philadelphia to take on the Super Bowl champion Eagles in Week 1.