Blogging The Boys
James Houston isn’t a household name, but he is someone you should probably start paying little more attention to because he’s currently making a case to make the Dallas Cowboys final 53-man roster. A late free agent addition, Houston has spent about four weeks with the Cowboys and is starting to turn some heads due to his play over the last two preseason games.
The 6’1″, 241-pound pass rusher is proving he can get after the QB on a continuous basis, finishing with two tackles and two QB hits this past Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens after playing 43 defensive snaps.
A former sixth-round draft pick by the Detroit Lions back in 2022, he recorded eight quarterback sacks in his rookie season. He hasn’t had much success in the league the last couple of seasons, but is certainly starting to stand out with the Cowboys, who are already seem to have a logjam at the defensive end position.
According to the Cowboys most updated depth chart, Houston is currently listed as a fourth team DE behind Marshawn Kneeland, Tyrus Wheat, and Payton Turner. An argument could be made the he has been outperforming all of his counterparts currently sitting ahead of him on the depth chart.
Through two preseason games, Houston leads the Cowboys with eight QB pressures, closely followed by Donovan Ezeiruaku with seven. Despite that, he still has a steep hill to climb in order to make the Cowboys final 53-man roster.
The Cowboys currently have a logjam at DE, even with the ongoing contract negotiation saga with Micah Parsons. That’s both good news for the Cowboys and bad. The logjam is definitely good news for depth purposes right now, but bad when it comes down to making the final decision as to who stays and who goes for roster cuts.
As a right now, there’s no way of knowing exactly where the Cowboys brass has Houston in their overall plans for the quickly approaching 2025 NFL season. They themselves might not even know yet. That’s what these preseason games are for. They are more tools than anything, a guide to help determine who makes the final 53-man roster.
However things turn out, Houston is definitely making his case he’s in contention for one of those few coveted spots on the Cowboys 53-roster this year. The only question is, will he make it through cuts or could he potentially be used as trade bait to hopefully help upgrade the roster elsewhere?
