Across the country right now, everyone's being inundated with the question, "How was your summer?" After this Sunday, offensive lineman Nick Leverett may have an awesome answer.
It seems likely that Leverett, a complete afterthought before training camp, has earned a spot on the Dallas Cowboys' 53-man roster.
Why Nick Leverett was overlooked before Cowboys training camp
There are many on-paper reasons that Levrett wasn't taken seriously before now. Undrafted in 2020, he spent four years in Tampa Bay mostly as a practice squadder and backup, but he did get 10 starts in 2022 due to injuries.
After leaving the Bucs, Leverett was with the Patriots and Cardinals for limited backup work. His few months in Arizona, though, did have him working with Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, their offensive line coach at the time.
Whether Adams had anything to do with it or not, Leverett was added to Dallas' practice squad last November after being released by the Cardinals. He never really played, only getting four special teams snaps in the regular-season finale.
Nevertheless, Leverett was in the group of practice squad players and other free agents who received a futures deal to return to the Cowboys in 2026.
Entering training camp with that background, and at 29 years old, Leverett was simply seen as a camp body. Despite losing presumed backup center Matt Hennessy to an injury in June, Dallas still had other candidates like T.J. Bass, Trevor Keegan, and UFL product Chris Glaser as the interior line favorites. Moving second-year prospect Ajani Cornelius from tackle to guard further crowded the group.
Nick Leverett is now a frontrunner among Cowboys' OL backups
That may have been how things started, but Leverett has surged out of obscurity into a likely roster spot. While Bass has been getting the backup center work since Hennessy went down, including during the first preseason game, something shifted over the last two weeks.
Leverett relieved Bass when the third-stringers took over in Seattle, and has since been working as Dallas' primary backup center in practices and in the Arizona game.
Brian Schottenheimer recently said that they were trying out different combinations with the interior linemen, but it's not like Bass has ample experience playing center. If they're truly counting him to be Cooper Beebe's immediate backup in 2026, he needs all the reps he can get.
Leverett hasn't just been getting reps but he's been looking good in them. There's rising momentum from multiple sources. Maybe Leverett doesn't take the primary C2 job from Bass, but it at least feels like he's carving out a spot as another flexible G/C backup.
That's what Dallas enjoyed the last couple of years with Bass and Brock Hoffman, two guys able to play multiple spots along the interior.
We'll see how the snaps get divvied up this week and Friday night against the Saints. There's already a report that Trevor Keegan, another interior prospect, is getting center looks this week.
Nothing is certain until final cuts this Sunday, but as it stands, Nick Leverett feels like one of the safer bets of all the OL backups to be on the 53. And given where he started, it will be one of the bigger surprises of the summer.
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