5 former Cowboys failing miserably with their new teams in 2023

5. Carlos Watkins, defensive lineman (Cardinals)

One of the deepest parts of the Dallas Cowboys' roster is their defensive front. This is a unit that is enviable when you look across the league and how the Cowboys can bring wave after wave of pass rush on any given week.

Against the New York Giants, we saw six different Cowboys players combine for seven QB hits on Giants rookie Tommy Devito, and we saw five different players notch a sack. And none of them were Micah Parsons in this particular game.

The Cowboys have such a deep defensive line, and they obviously made some changes to try and upgrade the run defense in 2023 by drafting Mazi Smith in the first round out of Michigan. But before that selection was made, the Cowboys made the decision to move on from free agent Carlos Watkins, who signed a modest one-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals in free agency.

Watkins was a starter for Dallas in 2021 and a significant rotational player in 2022, racking up 58 total tackles and seven tackles for loss in his two seasons with Dallas.

Unfortunately, his time with the Arizona Cardinals has been stifled by a biceps injury. Watkins landed on IR as of Week 3 after playing just two games for the Cardinals to open this season.