The Cowboys have a decision to make about Damone Clark.
Entering his fourth NFL season and the final year of his rookie contract, Damone Clark has taken a backseat to other more recently added linebackers in Dallas. Could this trend go so far in 2025 as to push him off the Cowboys’ roster completely?
A fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft, Clark felt like one of the bright spots of that class a couple of years ago. After quickly establishing his potential as a rookie, Clark started all 17 games in 2023. But after Dallas signed veteran Eric Kendricks and drafted Marist Liufau last spring, plus got DeMarvion Overshown back from injury, Clark’s involvement plummeted to just 18% of the defensive snaps in 2024.
The fall in playing time, plus a ballooning fourth-year cap hit, prompted Pro Football Network to name Clark as Dallas’ top candidate to be a salary cap casualty this offseason. Largely due to his 2023 playing time, Clark is expected to count roughly $3.4 million against the cap after Proven Performance Escalators. And with less than $100k in dead money left on the contract, Dallas can clear nearly the entire amount off their books if Clark is released.
From a financial standpoint, it sounds highly logical. While it’s not a huge chunk of cap space, $3 million is still worth more in other pursuits than to keep Clark around as a barely-playing backup and special teamer. But that’s where this gets a little sticky as his role in 2025 isn’t so certain.
Kendricks is set to become a free agent again and one of the key things that brought him to Dallas, Mike Zimmer, won’t be back as defensive coordinator. While Kendricks could still work well in Matt Eberflus’s scheme, will he want to come back? He did well enough last year that other teams may want his veteran leadership and create a market.
What’s worse, Overshown’s significant knee injury last year is expected to keep him out for at least a portion of next season. You could see Dallas riding comfortably into 2025 with Overshown and Liufau as their top-two linebackers but they won’t have that luxury. So for a least the first part of the year, Liufau may need a new fellow starter.
Barring some surprising surge from a down-roster prospect like Brock Mogensen, or new options in the next free agent and rookie crops, Clark is the next man up at linebacker. But he has to get to training camp to compete for snaps and that cap hit is obviously going to be tough for Dallas to swallow given how last season went.
Clark’s saving grace may be Eberflus’ arrival. Depending on what the new DC is looking for in his linebackers, perhaps Clark’s value to the team will rise from where Zimmer’s one year took it. But again, Clark’s best opportunity to impress Eberflus wouldn’t be until camp. So it really comes down to whether or not the Cowboys are willing to carry that cap number through the offseason and give him that chance.
While not offering the highest potential cap relief of guys like Terence Steele and Donovan Wilson, Damone Clark’s far lesser role in 2024 would make him an easier cut. But given the Cowboys’ uncertainty at linebacker, will they pull that trigger or at least give Clark a chance to earn his way back onto the roster this year?
