Inside The Star
The Dallas Cowboys have started three rookies over the last four straight games, but one rookie who should be starting isn’t.
Honestly, there ‘s no reason why he shouldn’t be. Especially once the 2025 season ended in Saturday’s win by Philadelphia over Washington.
Shemar James was the second rookie the Cowboys selected in the fifth round back in April.
He’s outplaying Kenneth Murray, who has started all but one of the Cowboys’ 15 games this year.
One could even argue that James looks a little better than Logan Wilson as well. In Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, James had the most defensive snaps (50) out of all the linebackers.
He was fifth out of all the defensive players in defensive snaps.
Especially with DeMarvion Overshown likely to sit out with a concussion on a short week, it might be time to let James start and get the lion’s share of snaps at linebacker.
It’s time for the Cowboys to look ahead to 2026 and see who they have that they should keep. And see who needs to be playing somewhere else next September.
Here’s how the rookie class fared on Sunday:
The first round pick, Tyler Booker, survived the offensive line shake-up that moved Tyler Smith to left tackle and T.J. Bass to left guard.
Booker took all 58 offensive snaps at right guard and an additional three (14%) on special teams. He was not called for any penalties.
The second round pick, Donovan Ezeiruaku, also started and finished with two tackles. He did not appear to be much of a factor in the game.
The hope for the third round pick, Shavon Revel Jr., who started and played 55 defensive snaps (86%), is that he’s still not back 100% from his ACL injury.
The Cowboys may be banking on him being much better in 2026.
He recorded nine tackles, eight of them solo, and defended one pass. However, most of those tackles came after getting badly burned by a Chargers receiver.
The Cowboys’ first pick in the fifth round, might as well be a ghost. He’s certainly no Bijan Robinson.
Blue was once again not active in a game for the Cowboys.
James finished with 50 defensive snaps (78%) and another 18 (82%) on special teams. He recorded five tackles, four being solo tackles.
The sixth round pick, Ajani Cornelius, was not active for Sunday’s game.
The first of three Cowboys’ picks in the seventh round, Jay Toia, was not active for the game.
Trikweze Bridges, who was a seventh round pick of the Chargers in April before being traded to Dallas, saw 17 defensive snaps (27%) and another nine (41%) on special teams.
Bridges had two tackles and defended one pass.
The undrafted free agent and special teams’ demon, Alijah Clark,...
