Cowboys 2025 rookie report: Rookie class give a thankful performance

On a high-pressure, high-attendance, Thanksgiving afternoon the Dallas Cowboys somehow found a way to get another win, this time against the Kansas City Chiefs. The game remained close which meant every player needed to hold their nerve, including the rookie class. So how did the Cowboys rookie class fair in this game? Let’s jump in […]

OG Tyler Booker

(Game stats- Snaps: 72, Pass Blocks: 46, Pressures: 1, Sacks: 0, Penalties: 0)

Against Kansas City, Booker’s night was all about dealing with interior movement. He kept the sack column empty, with only a single pressure being allowed all game. Booker had a big ask this week since he had to deal with long-developing downs against Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme that created free runners or forced the protection to slide late. Booker stayed square on the Chiefs’ interior and passed off stunts cleanly, helping Dak work the middle of the field.

In the run game, Booker was very solid. Booker used his strength to generate displacement on doubles with good efficiency to create clean lanes. The key things for Booker is he didn’t rack up drive-killing penalties, he wasn’t the guy responsible for any obvious free rushers, and he did enough in the run game to keep Dallas on schedule.

DE Donovan Ezeiruaku

(Game stats- Snaps: 40, Total Tackles: 2, Pressures: 5, Sacks: 0, TFL: 0)

Ezeiruaku’s day against the Chiefs was as a solid role player. He finished with two tackles and five pressures with no penalties, playing a normal rotational workload on the edge. His pressures in the backfield helped contribute to Dallas’ 28 total pressures on Patrick Mahomes, even if the splash numbers didn’t pop.

In terms of key moments, he showed up a few times on tape without necessarily ending the play himself. There’s a second-quarter sequence where he and Jadeveon Clowney collapse the right side and celebrate after forcing the Chiefs into a tougher down-and-distance, a good example of him compressing the pocket and setting the edge properly. He did his job on Thanksgiving, held up on the edge, avoided any penalties or obvious busts, and contributed with pressure to a pass rush that still found ways to bother Mahomes. For a rookie in a high-leverage Thanksgiving game that Dallas won, that’s perfectly acceptable, even PFF rank him as the second-highest graded player on the Dallas defense against Kansas City.

CB Shavon Revel Jr.

(Game stats- Snaps: 63, Total Tackles: 6, PBU: 0, INT: 0, RTG Allowed: 75.8)

Revel’s day against the Chiefs was a big workload, with some solid coverage numbers, but real issues in run support and discipline. He was forced into a starting role with Caelen Carson out and ended up playing 63 of 69 defensive snaps, so basically a full game on the outside for a guy barely a year removed from ACL surgery.

On the stat sheet, Revel finished with six total tackles and no pass breakups, but he didn’t allow any touchdowns and only 15 receiving yards. That’s exactly what you’d expect from a boundary corner on this defense needing to keep things close. On the Chiefs’ first touchdown drive, he helped force Marquise “Hollywood” Brown out of bounds on a short gain to the left, then later in the first half, Revel was involved in multiple stops on Kareem Hunt as Kansas City leaned on the run. He also drew an illegal contact flag late in the second quarter on 2nd-and-20, it ended up being offset by an illegal formation call on the Chiefs, so it didn’t cost yards but still goes down as a mental and technique mistake.

Putting it all together, his general performance was mixed. His coverage numbers suggest he did a respectable job staying on top of routes and not giving up big plays, which is impressive for a rookie corner playing 60-plus snaps against Mahomes. But the missed tackle, the poor run-defense grade and the illegal contact penalty are points to note going into the Detroit game.

LB Shemar James

(Game stats- Snaps: 12, Total Tackles: 3, Pressures: 0, Sacks: 0, TFL: 0)

There’s nothing major to really note on James against the Chiefs last week other than the fact his low snap count of just 12 defensive plays matches his exact total from the week before. Most of his impact came in space and on special teams. He combined with Malik Davis to stop Tyquan Thornton at the Kansas City 32 on a second-quarter kickoff, preventing a longer return right after Dallas had grabbed a 17–14 lead. Across the full play-by-play and penalty log, he’s never listed as being flagged, which is exactly what coaches want from a young linebacker whose job is to be sound, not spectacular.

DB Alijah Clark

(Game stats- Snaps: 19, Total Tackles: 1)

*Snap count are all special team snaps*

Clark’s day against the Chiefs was really quiet and entirely on special teams. He didn’t play any role on defense and helped make one tackle on one return. Other than that there’s not much more to add here.

CB Trikweze Bridges

(Game stats- Snaps: 27, Total Tackles: 3, RTG Aloowed: 120.8)

On the stat sheet things don’t look all bad for Bridges. He made three tackles, allowed only two receptions for seven yards, but he didn’t allow a touchdown.

Basically, in coverage Bridges was picked on in the underneath game. He made a tackle on a 10-yard completion to Rashee Rice in the second quarter and a 4-yard catch by Xavier Worthy late in the half, but the big negative is one of Rashee Rice’s two touchdowns in the fourth quarter came against Bridges. The flip side is that he didn’t give up any long bombs himself and for a rookie pressed into a semi-meaningful role on Thanksgiving, he held his nerve reasonably well.