3 gambles the Cowboys are taking with 53-man roster cuts
By Reid Hanson
After being dubbed by Mike McCarthy as the “worst 72 hours of the job,” the Cowboys took on the onerous task of trimming their roster to the required 53 players. The annual exercise is often a balancing act between short-term needs and long-term hopes.
The Cowboys want to keep their most promising prospects on the roster but can’t do so if it’s to the detriment of the team this season. Every year is win-now in the NFL and coming off back-to-back 12-win seasons, it’s especially true for Dallas in 2023.
Constructing a balanced mix of long-term options with short-term solutions can be a risky endeavor. The Cowboys don’t know where they’ll suffer injuries and subsequently, what depth will be tested. Which positions get hit in 2023 is anyone’s guess, but Dallas needs to prepare for any and all scenarios.
Risk is an unavoidable consequence of roster building. Teams can’t be deep in every corner of their roster and calculated gambles are a requirement of the job.
In 2022, the Cowboys ran out of viable CBs and dug deep in the well along their OL. Did that influence their decisions in 2023?
The Cowboys will put CB Jourdan Lewis on the 53-man roster, not on PUP, as the season opens, according to multiple sources. Still needs time to be game ready but this allows him to practice after suffering horrific foot injury last season that had him a cast or boot for 6 months.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) August 29, 2023
The Cowboys have made their cuts and now sit at 53. While things are sure to change as injured players migrate to IR (CB Nahshon Wright and OL Matt Waletzko) and vested veterans get re-signed (LS Trent Sieg and OL Chuma Edoga), everyone has a good idea what the roster will look like when Dallas opens the season in New York.
Looking at the roster decisions and reading between the lines, which moves look like the biggest gambles in 2023?