The Cowboys' outside linebackers certainly got more notoriety with the signing of future Hall of Famer Von Miller, but did the group get appreciably better?
Where do they stack up compared to the rest of Dallas' roster in terms of overall strengths and weaknesses? With this news, and at the halfway point of training camp and preseason activities, it seemed a good time to give this roster an overview.
Power ranking the positions is a subjective task based on the priorities and preferences of the author. In this case, I tend to think of it as a 50/50 measure between the projected starters and the depth behind them. Obviously, the guys who will play the most have the biggest impact on the position's overall performance. But the backups, especially if there's a heavy rotation, can be significant as well.
Let's start at the top with the strongest positions and work our way down to the Cowboys' biggest liabilities.
Power rankig the Dallas Cowboys' position groups after Von Miller signing
1. Interior Offensive Line
You'd expect nothing less with two first-round picks and a third invested in the starters. Tyler Smith may be the best player on the entire offense, and Tyler Booker is an ascending stud. Cooper Beebe's reportedly had a very strong camp as well, which is great news entering his third season. Throw in T.J. Bass as a premium backup, and there isn't much to cry about here.
Some believe the IOL depth got weaker with the loss of Brock Hoffman in free agency. While Hoffman was a solid backup, it's not like anyone signed him to an immediate starting job. It's isn't a reach to think that Trevor Keegan or Nick Leverett could cover most of that ground, especially if Bass is handling backup center duties.
2. Wide Receivers
CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens are arguably the best WR duo in the league, and Ryan Flournoy has rounded out the top three nicely. In the modern game, WR3 may get limited starts but generally gets more playing time than your FB, TE2, or any other 11th man on offense. I don't think of Flournoy as a depth guy, but more like a starter.
That distinction is important because of the next statement: the depth at WR is somewhat lacking. Because efforts like using a third-round pick on Jalen Tolbert or trading for Jonathan Mingo haven't produced results, Dallas doesn't have a fourth WR they can feel great about.
KaVontae Turpin should make the team, but his offensive use is limited. Hopefully, the Summer of Camden Brown continues into the fall.
3. Specialists
One of the NFL's best kickers, a reliable veteran punter, and a long snapper who never seems to falter: there's little more you could ask for here. Bryan Anger does turn 38 this October, so there's valid concern about when the wheels may finally fall off. But until that happens, this is a strong group that rarely disappoints.
We can only hope that the rest of Nick Sorensen's special teams units start playing up to the same standard.
4. Defensive Tackles
Quinnen Williams is not only the best defensive player on the roster, but he may be the team's best player overall. At the very least, he and Tyler Smith each serve as cornerstones for their sides of the ball.
In the nickel formation that the Cowboys should play more than any other, veteran Kenny Clark is a quality partner for Williams in the interior, thought not what he used to be in Green Bay.
With free agent pickup Otito Ogbonnia having a strong camp, the initial DT depth isn't completely scary. But it's dicey beyond him: veteran Jonathan Bullard has missed most of camp injured and L.T. Overton is still a raw rookie making a big position change.
Other prospects like Jay Toia, Kelvin Gilliam, Tommy Dunn, and DJ Withers are all hoping Dallas keeps a sixth guy, but none of them are going to inspire confidence at this point.
5. Quarterback
Even if you're out on Dak Prescott as a guy who can win a Super Bowl, there's no denying his success in the regular season. When healthy and with enough talent around him, he's one of the NFL's safest bets for passing production and a borderline MVP candidate.
The biggest fear around Prescott this season is that health factor: he just turned 33 and has had injuries every other season since 2020. If that pattern holds, he's due to miss time in 2026.
It's hard to say what the Cowboys have behind him in Sam Howell and Joe Milton. Their first preseason game was pretty even, thankfully with both performing well. But even if one of them was absolutely lighting up the field in August, that's no guarantee come September and beyond.
At the very least, continued solid preseasons from both will makes us feel a lot better than when it was just Milton last year.
6. Safeties
You already felt better about this group when Dallas signed Jalen Thompson and P.J. Locke as new key members. But once they landed Caleb Downs in the draft, it went from solid to strong. There's still a little TBD at this position: Thompson and Locke are both new to Christian Parker's defense, and Downs is still a rookie.
But there's great potential for this to be one of the Cowboys' top units by the end of the year, especially if Downs excels early.
The depth isn't too shabby, either. Malik Hooker had a rough 2025, but so did everyone else in Matt Eberflus' defense. He should be a good fit for the two-high looks that Christian Parker is expected to lean on. If they keep anyone else, there are several solid candidates in Markquese Bell, Alijah Clark, Zion Childress, and Julius Wood.
7. Tight Ends
It's been a couple of years since we saw a fully healthy Jake Ferguson, but that didn't stop him from posting career highs in catches and touchdowns and going to a second Pro Bowl in 2025.
There's real potential for him to explode this season with the Lamb-Pickens duo causing terror in front of him, plus his great connection with Dak Prescott. Even if some of the volume numbers don't change much, higher efficiency with his RAC would be great to see.
Brevyn Spann-Ford is one of the hot names among all of Dallas' backup players, having now officially surpassed Luke Schoonmaker and looking poised for his own career year. Schoonmaker in the third spot is still very adequate depth, but he may be fighting off Michael Trigg for it over the rest of August. Whether the Cowboys keep all four or end up making a tough choice, it's a quality group overall.
8. Outside Linebackers
So no, adding Von Miller didn't catapult OLB up the list. At worst, I probably would've had it 10th behind RB and CB without him. So it moved the needle, but only so much given Miller's age and projected niche role as a pure pass-rushing specialist.
This position is still primarily driven by Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, and Malachi Lawrence. While they should make for a solid rotation, now deeper with Miller joining James Houston, the lack of a lead rusher is concerning. Miller and Gary will certainly bring great veteran leadership and are awesome mentors for Ezeiruaku and Lawrence, but 2026 may be too to see the benefits of that.
9. Running Backs
As far as just starters go, Javonte Williams is better than anyone at OLB. and maybe TE and S as well. But it's the depth that really holds the position back.
Jaydon Blue isn't running away with the job as we'd hoped, and nobody else is clearly taking advantage. Malik Davis is always hanging around as a serviceable option, but the Cowboys would be really hurting if Williams misses time. Hopefully, the next two preseason games give us more reason to feel good about the rest of the RBs.
10. Cornerbacks
If DaRon Bland finally stays healthy and the training camp hype for Shavon Revel and Cobie Durant carries into the regular season, this trip has tons of potential. But those are all big "ifs," and the options behind them aren't great.
Caelen Carson remains a key backup almost by default, showing little growth since his rookie year. Devin Moore probably won't be a big contributor early, and the rest of the position is mostly JAGs.
11. Inside Linebackers
This is an even shakier version of what we see at CB. DeMarvion Overshown is like Bland, needing to stay on the field to capitalize on his talent. Dee Winters is your Durant, a veteran free agent who should be solid in specific roles. Jaishawn Barham is the exciting young talent like Revel, but still a rookie and perhaps needing a year to really be a force.
Behind them, YIKES!
Justin Barron's had a nice camp, particularly with those three INTs in the joint practice with the Rams, but that's hardly enough to trust him as a key backup. Shemar James got a lot of playing time last year, but most of it wasn't very good. And veteran Curtis Robinson doesn't give you much to get excited about. If any of these guys has to play much, it could be trouble.
12. Offensive Tackles
DOUBLE YIKES! This is easily Dallas' weakest position, and that goes from the starters on down.
Tyler Guyton at least appears to be improving from year to year, but there are still a lot of warts for a third-year, former first-round prospect. And while Terence Steele has more than outperformed his UDFA beginnings, he's still a weak pass protector and has reportedly had an unusually bad summer.
Making matters worse is the lack of depth. Nate Thomas has been bad enough that Brian Schottenhimer publicly announced his dismissal from the starting LT competition, and we saw signs of why last Saturday in Seattle. Drew Shelton can't help much as a developmental rookie, and Ajani Cornelius has been moved to guard.
While the Von Miller signing was nice and all, Dallas arguably needed a veteran swing tackle far more.
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