Blogging The Boys
“We like our guys.”
That is a sentiment that has been shared with fans over and over as executive vice president, CEO, and director of player personnel, Stephen Jones, explains to everyone why they are not aggressive in acquiring players outside their organization.
Every team likes its guys. That’s why they’re their guys. But the Cowboys take it to a whole other level. For Dallas, “their guys” largely consist of players they have drafted. All the work Will McClay and the scouting department put into the draft process generates a love for certain players that the Cowboys have a difficult time parting ways with. And the data backs this up.
Over the previous five drafts, there have only been two players out of 43 who did not survive roster cutdowns. Those two players were John Ridgeway in 2022 and Justin Rogers last year. Both were defensive tackles. Both also signed with other teams. Ridgeway was a guy fans were upset about being subjected to waivers, as he was quickly scooped up by the Washington Commanders.
Rogers didn’t make the final cuts last year and was signed to the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad, but in December, the Cowboys poached him from Cincy and added him to their active roster. Rogers never played a game for the Cowboys, but even when they supposedly give up on one of their players, they bring him back.
If you go back a full 10 years, there is a total of nine draft picks (89%) who didn’t make the initial 53-man roster. Joining Ridgeway and Rogers are DE Jalen Jelks (2019), RB Mike Weber (2019), RB Bo Scarbrough (2018), DT Joey Ivie (2017), DT Jordan Carrell (2017), TE Rico Gathers (2016), and OL Laurence Gibson (2015).
Playing the law of averages with such a high keep rate would suggest that the Cowboys would only release one of their draft picks. Looking at all the roster battles, that did not seem very likely. All the players from the first five rounds seemed extremely safe, as those players who were able to show them something only solidified the team’s belief in them. However, their four guys taken after the first 200 picks in the draft were all in heated roster battles, and their outlook did not look so promising.
Oregon offensive tackle Ajani Cornelius survived the cuts despite the team being deeper along the offensive line than they’ve been in years. They were so deep that the Cowboys even turned a would-be roster cut into a future sixth-round draft pick by trading Asim Richards to the New Orleans Saints. Cornelius even beat out two veteran free agents who were signed, Hakeen Adeniji and Saahdiq Charles, both of whom were very solid in preseason action. The Cowboys love the upside of Cornelius, who also comes with four years of low-cost team control compared to the one-and-done with the veteran free agents.
UCLA defensive tackle Jay Toia managed to make the team despite them also keeping Perrion Winfrey, forcing them...
