Manning family patriarch wants Arch Manning to play for Cowboys :: SI Link: Former NFL quarterback, and father to both Peyton and Eli Manning, Archie Manning, had a video surface on social media saying that he wants his grandson and current Texas Longhorn QB Arch Manning, to play for the Cowboys after college. Zack Martin can’t be replaced but this UDFA can carve out his own role :: Cowboys Wire Link: Cowboys future Hall of Fame guard Zack Martin is headed to injured reserve yet replacing him has gone well. Surprisingly, an undrafted free-agent lineman has given the team a fiery approach in Martin’s stead. Monday Night Simpsons :: NFL Jake Ferguson clears concussion protocol, expected to play in Cowboys vs. Bengals :: The Mothership Link: Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson suffered a concussion against the Texans and missed the last two contests. Dallas announced the starting TE has cleared protocols and will play against Cincinnati. Patriots legend Bill Belichick linked to Cowboys by insider :: Sporting News Link: Where there is smoke, there is fire and a familiar name continues to lurk. As Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy aims for an extension, behind the scenes, Bill Belichick’s name continues to be mentioned as a replacement for the lame-duck coach. NFC contender signs one former Cowboy to replace another :: The Landry Hat Link: Vikings cornerback Stephon Gilmore left Dallas for Minnesota this past offseason but the banged up corner is prompting his new team to find some help and they did so by signing former Cowboys second-round cornerback Kelvin Joseph. CeeDee Lamb returns to practice Friday with limited participation :: Pro Football Talk Link: Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb did not participate in Thursdays practice because of a nagging shoulder injury but returned Friday in limited fashion buy says he will play Monday night against the Bengals. It may be the end for Zack Martin but not for Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence: My story is not complete :: Alldlls Link: Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence put rumors to bed putting aside talk of retirement as he wants to continue his career. His return tot he field won’t come for at least two weeks as he says he wont play agaisnt the Bengals or Carolina. Stepping up | Amid injuries, the Cowboys are entering a new era of leadership :: WFAA Link: As the turnover continues in Dallas, the team is entering a new wave of leadership as players such as defensive end Micah Parsons and receiver CeeDee Lamb are now the leading voices replacing injured veterans like guard Zack Martin and DE DeMarcus Lawrence. Cowboys Bengals Injury Report :: Todd Archer Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson opens up about scary moments while dealing with concussion symptoms :: CBSSports Link: Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson said crying profusely after not being able to locate his wear bottle was an initial symptom in the days following a concussion he suffered in the teams Monday Night loss to the Texans.

Cowboys stopped gatekeeping this UDFA, now he’s among NFL’s best workhorses reidhanson My how far the pendulum swings. The Cowboys, stuck in a running back co-op seemingly forever this season, have now safely navigated into bell cow territory. Ezekiel Elliott’s struggles combined with Rico Dowdle’s maturation have pushed the latter into a lead role that most recently ranked the 26-year-old No. 6 on the latest bell cow report. Dowdle has long looked like the top dog in Dallas, even before the season started. Those familiar with the South Carolina product knew it was injuries and availability that had been holding him back. What Dowdle lacked in name recognition he made up for in talent and versatility. It’s why local media spent little time discussing the reunion with Elliott while the national media couldn’t get enough of it. Coming off his best yardage total and highest attempt total of the season, things aren’t likely to slow down for Dowdle any time soon. The 6-foot, 220-pound do-it-all back is primed for a run against some of the NFL’s worst defenses. With the exception of Philadelphia in Week 17, Dowdle has a favorable schedule ahead of him. Working further in his favor is the growth of the Cowboys offensive line. Though left tackle remains a mess, Terence Steele at right tackle is back to his dominant self as a run-blocker, reserve guards T.J. Bass and Brock Hoffman are making the case to be 2025 starters, and center Cooper Beebe is even starting to flash. Prior to Week 13 Dowdle was lacking explosive runs from his game. He fixed that against the Giants popping off multiple explosive runs he earned breaking and avoiding tackles at the second level. It moved his explosive run rate up from 6.3 percent to 8.2 percent on the season (per Sumer Sports) and has Dowdle positioned in that category ahead of players like Bijan Robinson and Aaron Jones. For as good as this is for Dowdle, the Cowboys overall running game still leaves something to be desired. Even with Dowdle the clear bell cow over the past three weeks, Dallas ranks 29th in team EPA/rush and 25th in team success rate running the ball in that time span. The film is getting better, the individual runner is getting better, the only thing that’s left is more positive output. Based on trends, that too is likely to be on the way. Related articles [affiliatewidget_smgtolocal] Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.

Zack Martin can’t be replaced but this UDFA can carve out his own role reidhanson When Hillary Swank replaced Ralph Macchio as the Karate Kid in the franchise’s fourth movie, she wasn’t met with open hearts and open minds. For as annoying as the Daniel LaRusso character was at times, Macchio was a legend in his role. Swank never stood a chance in her bid to replace Macchio because legends simply can’t be replaced. Legends aren’t just the standard bearers for which all replacements are measured, they hold a mythical status to fans. Zack Martin holds that mythical status reserved for legends. For years he’s been the Cowboys most dominant player. He’s a generational offensive lineman who is both blue-chip and blue collar. He has been the model of consistency in Dallas and a beloved character in and out of the locker room. So, when Martin announced he’ll be having season-ending surgery this week and will not be returning to the field this year, fans were understandably heartbroken. It’s been long speculated 2024 will be Martin’s last year as a pro and the Cowboys will be turning the last page on this truly awesome offensive line era that once also featured him, Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick. Brock Hoffman, the man who has started in Martin’s place the last two weeks, will presumably replace him down the stretch as well. Fans loved what Hoffman brought to the table in his two starts. He graded out well in both phases of the game and was a frequent thorn in his opponents’ side up to and even after the whistle. Hoffman’s nasty attitude endeared him to fans and inspired teammates along the way. While this could make for a smooth transition to the new era, filling in for injury is one thing but replacing a legend on a more permanent basis is something else entirely. The good news for Hoffman is that he doesn’t need to be Martin. The Cowboys have something like that already in 2023 All-Pro Tyler Smith. What they need from Hoffman is for the 25-year-old to just be his regular, cantankerous self. Instead of trying to fill Martin’s enormous shoes, Hoffman just needs to bring a pair of his own. The value he brings isn’t in dominance at the point of attack it’s in his ability to put opponents on tilt and raise the energy amongst his brethren alongside him. It’s been a while since the Cowboys had a certified jerk on their offensive line and that might have been a problem. It takes all types to round a strong unit, and Hoffman fits his own unique role. Replacing Martin is impossible and if fans are looking for a player even half as dominant as Martin in his prime, they will be disappointed. But Hoffman brings different skills to the table, and who knows, as a developing player he may become a dominant blocker one day, too. The point is what he brings today is enough because it’s a special quality that’s been lacking from the unit. Hoffman isn’t Hillary Swank trying to replace Ralph Macchio, he’s a different karate franchise altogether. Related articles [affiliatewidget_smgtolocal] Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.

Cowboys’ Zack Martin to have season-ending ankle surgery Todd Brock It’s the end of the season for one of the Cowboys’ all-time greats, and maybe even the end of the line. Right guard Zack Martin will require surgery to repair the damage from a right ankle injury he suffered in Week 11, according to head coach Mike McCarthy, who made the announcement in his Thursday press conference. The injury occurred during the fourth quarter of the team’s 34-10 loss to Houston and had kept Martin sidelined the past two games. The team had originally hoped Martin could rehab the ankle with a Week 14 return in mind, but his progress did not go as planned and led to this decision, which Martin and the club reached on Wednesday. Undrafted Brock Hoffman has gotten the start for Martin in both contests of the Cowboys’ current two-game win streak, and he looks to be the primary replacement once again on Monday when Dallas hosts the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. “He’s gonna be missed. We’re not gonna replace Zack Martin, by no means,” McCarthy told reporters of the nine-time Pro Bowler who was just announced earlier in the day as a nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. “He brings so much to the team, to the team culture. We all recognize what a great player he has been here in Dallas for his whole career, but what he gives us as a person- people gravitate to him and he does a really good job of bringing people together. That offensive line room is really an illustration of his leadership, and he’ll definitely be missed in that area.” [affiliatewidget_smgtolocal] Both the Nov. 18 injury and Thursday’s announcement immediately raised questions about the future of the 34-year-old, who was the Cowboys’ first-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2014 and is now on the final year of his contract. After being absent for just two games over his first six pro seasons, Martin will have missed 16 contests over his last five years by the time the 2024 regular campaign ends. Micah Parsons inadvertently sparked some retirement whispers for the eleven-year veteran back in early November. After a loss to the Eagles, the Cowboys linebacker said, “I kind of feel bad for guys like Zack Martin and guys who might be on their last year, on their way out. Because that’s who I wanted to hold the trophy for.” When asked a few days later about playing beyond 2024, Martin himself wasn’t ready to give the topic serious consideration. “I’m just taking it one week at a time, my guy,” he told reporters. But now there are no more weeks for the seven-time first-team All-Pro… at least for this season, and maybe for good. “I think you just have to take a step back and deal with one thing at a time,” McCarthy said Thursday. “That, frankly, was the conversation that Zack and I had. The focus is really about the surgery, what’s next. Those are all questions that will be asked or be thought about.” Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.

Cowboys among NFL’s top teams in this valuable roster-building strategy reidhanson Building an NFL roster isn’t simply about finding and retaining talent. It’s also about knowing when to let go, knowing when to roll the dice and knowing where to find the most affordable labor force. For a team like the Cowboys, managing all three of these areas is critical to the wellbeing of the salary cap. Though the cap is highly malleable, and the Cowboys aren’t remotely close to maximizing their purchasing power under it, it is in fact a real entity that should be responsibly managed. Owners of what will likely be four contracts each averaging $19+ million in 2025, the cost-conscience Cowboys will be interested in cutting costs at all possible corners to keep payroll low and their wallets fat. One area where the Cowboys front office particularly excels in is populating their roster with players on rookie contracts. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), players entering the NFL are capped on what they can receive in compensation from a team. Players often provide services well above their compensation levels, giving teams extraordinary bang for the buck throughout the length of their rookie deals. In 2024 the Cowboys are the No. 3 team in the NFL in snaps by players under rookie deals. In other words, the Cowboys are getting more snaps from players who have been in the NFL less than four complete seasons than 28 other teams. This puts measurements like “snap weighted age” into perspective since it lands Dallas on the other side of the spectrum. The Cowboys are 22nd in the snap weighted age (SWA) this season, meaning they are one of the older teams in the league based on contributions. What having the third most snaps on rookie contracts means is old players are skewing the numbers a bit on SWA and when those outliers fall off (possibly DeMarcus Lawrence, Zack Martin, Eric Kendricks and Brandin Cooks), the Cowboys will swing strongly to other side of the SWA spectrum. What having the third-most snaps from rookie-deal players doesn’t say is how well those players are performing. Being No. 3 doesn’t mean much when the Cowboys are 5-7 and longshots for a postseason berth. It does, however, show Dallas favors their youth and is giving their developing labor force valuable snaps to build on. It also outlines a plan moving forward. The Jonathan Mingo trade notwithstanding, the Cowboys value draft picks more than most other NFL teams. It allows them to afford their expensive superstars and it keeps the fan hope-o-meter pointing up as frequently as possible. It’s made middle class employees scarce in Dallas and requires a ready or not attitude with many offseason promotions, but it fills out a roster in the most affordable way possible. There are many ways for NFL teams to construct winning rosters in the NFL, but options dwindle once superstars start getting paid like superstars. It’s safe to say the strategy of leaning on rookie contracts is here to stay for quite a while in Dallas. Related articles [affiliatewidget_smgtolocal] Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.

Cowboys nominate Zack Martin for 2024 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award Todd Brock As a nine-time Pro Bowler and a seven-time first-All-Pro guard, there aren’t may individual accolades left for Zack Martin to win. But the Cowboys managed to find another line item to add to the 11-year veteran’s résumé, naming him their 2024 nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. The team surprised Martin with the news this week. What started out as a holiday photo shoot with the Martin family sitting around the Christmas tree turned into Zack, wife Morgan, and their three children opening customized jerseys that revealed his nomination for the league’s most prestigious individual honor. Each of the NFL’s 32 teams nominate one player each season for the award that seeks to recognize commitment to philanthropy and community service as well as excellence on gameday. Among the other nominees this year are Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, Lions quarterback Jared Goff, Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner, and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Martin, 34, has long been active with organizations like the Salvation Army, the National Medal of Honor Museum, and various causes benefiting first responders, local families in need, and hospitalized children. A panel of judges that includes Commissioner Roger Goodell, 2023 winner Cameron Heyward, and former NFL players will select this year’s recipient. The announcement will be made at NFL Honors on Feb. 6. [affiliatewidget_smgtolocal] Quarterback Dak Prescott won the award in 2022. He was the fourth Cowboys player to be so honored, joining tight end Jason Witten (2012), quarterback Troy Aikman (1997), and quarterback Roger Staubach (1978). Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was last year’s Cowboys nominee. Martin and the league’s other 31 nominees for this year will wear honorary helmet decals for the remainder of the 2024 season. The winner is traditionally recognized on the field during a pregame ceremony at the Super Bowl; he’ll receive a $250,000 donation in his name to the charity of his choosing and will wear a special uniform patch for the rest of his playing career. Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.

Cowboys work out All-Pro cornerback, former 2nd-round pick, plus make practice squad additions angeltorres Roster churning is a year-round mission, and the Dallas Cowboys are no strangers to the need in 2024. On Wednesday, they opened the door for a possible union with an All-Pro. Cornerback Xavien Howard, formerly of the Miami Dolphins, worked out for the Cowboys at The Star in Frisco. Clearly, Dallas has an interest in the four-time Pro Bowl player who has yet to play in 2024, but the 31-year old veteran left without coming to an agreement. The Cowboys also signed cornerbacks Dee Delaney and Troy Pride, Jr. to fill the vacancies on their practice squad. Pride was a 2020 fourth-round pick with Carolina with eight career starts. Delaney is a five-year veteran appearing in 52 games mainly with in Tampa Bay. Delaney is a 2018 UDFA who has played for Jacksonville, the Jets, the Dolphins, Washington and the Buffalo Bills before this. Miami drafted Howard in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft where he picked off eight passes in his first two seasons. In year three, he recorded 10 interceptions en route to All-Pro honors. That led to the Dolphins signing him to a five-year $75.25 million deal in 2019 with $39 million in total guarantees. Four years later, Miami would double down and give him a five-year $90 million extension after leading the league in interceptions twice. Howard played eight seasons in Miami before being released prior to the start of the new league year as a June 1 cut.  Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.

Cowboys fans may have been too quick to bury this coach in 2024 Mike Crum Mike Zimmer had his work cut out for him in his first season back as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator. He lost Dorance Armstrong, the defensive lineman with the second-most sacks over the last two seasons, to the Washington Commanders, as well as Dante Fowler, Jr., who had 10 sacks across his two years in Dallas. Also gone are starting DT Jonathan Hankins, rotational DT Neville Gallimore and starting middle linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, who sustained a career-ending injury. Implementing a new defensive scheme, the team only added Eric Kendricks in free agency before training camp. He got a few defensive line additions late in camp, but getting his new ideas to his new players would take time. Tom compound things, the injuries hit. He lost edge rusher Sam Williams for the season and All-Pro corner DaRon Bland for 11 games due to injury. Bad defensive performances against the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens were the precursor as in-season injuries began to mount. Both Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence went out against the Ravens, and Marshawn Kneeland went down the following week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That left Zimmer without his top-four edge rushers after just five weeks. The coach is trying to get the team better against the run, which is the biggest issue for the Cowboys in the Dak Prescott era, but he has their pass rush eliminated, his biggest weapon. His defensive back luck wasn’t any better. The team hasn’t had Bland, Trevon Diggs, and Jourdan Lewis together for a single game all season. The second cornerback spot has been a rotating door. They lost rookie Caelen Carson to injury, called up Amani Oruwariye and Josh Butler from the practice squad, but lost both to injury as well. Markquese Bell and Juanyeh Thomas, rotational defensive backs, are the latest to suffer major ailments. With all those disadvantages, the Dallas defense has continued to improve. Starting in Week 8, the defense was good in the first half of nearly every game before wearing down in the second half. The San Francisco 49ers scored six points, and the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles scored 14, but each scored off of Dallas turnovers. So did the Houston Texans, who got to 17 at halftime. The Commanders scored only three points, and the New York Giants got to 10, but DeMarvion Overshown scored a touchdown for the defense against the Giants. Between Week 2 and Week 6, Dallas allowed 19 points on average in the first half, but since it’s down to nine. Zimmer has Parsons and Bland back, and it has helped flip from one of the worst turnover ratios, to having five takeaways to one turnover in the last two games. The defense is getting sacks now, too, from 20 in the first 10 games to 10 in the last two. The Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas’ Week 14 opponent, are averaging 35 points per contest over their last four games. Zimmer is going to get tested by his old team, but if his defense can keep a below-average Cowboys offense in the game, then Zimmer might officially put to rest a lot of sentiments from earlier in the season. You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or YouTube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast. Read all the best Cowboys coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and Cowboys Wire.

Josh Allen’s rare TD trifecta put him in ultra-exclusive club with Cowboys legend Todd Brock When Bills quarterback Josh Allen took the Week 13 lateral from wide receiver Amari Cooper and carried the ball he had originally thrown into the end zone, he completed two-thirds of a rare NFL trifecta. That one play gave him both a passing and receiving touchdown in Sunday night’s game, but Allen wasn’t finished. He followed it up by rushing for another score in the fourth quarter to ice the game for Buffalo. In so doing, Allen became just the 14th player (and the first quarterback) in league history to notch a passing, rushing, and receiving touchdown all in the same game. Christian McCaffrey did it most recently, in 2022. LaDanian Tomlinson did it in 2005. Hall of Famers Walter Payton and Frank Gifford are in the ultra-exclusive club. too. And so is one Cowboy. Dan Reeves was listed as a running back during his eight-year playing career and remains the 17th-leading rusher (in yards) in Cowboys history. But he was also a dangerous pass-catcher; his 1,693 receiving yards are still in the franchise’s all-time top 40. He returned a few punts and kicks in his day, and Reeves even booted an extra point in a game in 1971. But he had also started at quarterback for three collegiate seasons at South Carolina, graduating in 1965 as the school’s leading passer. And that experience made him a unique weapon within the Dallas offense, a weapon that head coach Tom Landry wasn’t afraid to deploy. The halfback option pass was just one of Landry’s favorite creative innovations. But to really pull it off, he needed a legitimate ball carrier who had the smarts to read a defense and a strong throwing arm, too. That exact skill set earned the undrafted Reeves a roster spot in Dallas. Reeves attempted at least two throws in every single NFL season he played. He recorded a career-high seven passes in the 1967 regular season and completed four of them, also a career best. That campaign also saw Reeves log his only touchdown passes, a 74-yarder to Lance Rentzel in a Thanksgiving win over the Cardinals, and a 45-yarder two weeks later, again to Rentzel to put the final dagger in a 38-17 win over the Eagles. But Reeves had also been in the end zone on two previous occasions that Dec. 10 afternoon, first catching a five-yard toss from quarterback Craig Morton in the second quarter, and then adding a one-year touchdown plunge in the third. Reeves’s stat line for the day: 10 rushes for 47 yards and a touchdown, four receptions for 28 yards and a touchdown, 1-for-1 passing for 45 yards and a touchdown. At the time, he was the eighth player in league history to complete the triple-TD feat. [affiliatewidget_smgtolocal] The Georgia native finished the 1967 season as the league’s 15th-ranked rusher and a top-30 receiver, not even leading the Cowboys in either category. But the multi-purpose Reeves was No. 10 leaguewide in scrimmage yards, beating out the likes of Bobby Mitchell, Charley Taylor, Dallas teammates Bob Hayes, Don Perkins, and Rentzel, and even Gale Sayers. He also ended the regular season with the NFL’s highest passer rating (101.8) for all players who had attempted five or more throws. Reeves would go on to heave just one more touchdown pass in his career, and it was his most memorable of all. Three weeks after his trifecta, Landry and the Cowboys ran the halfback option again, this time in the playoffs against the Green Bay Packers, on a frozen Lambeau Field where the temperature that New Year’s Eve afternoon was 13 degrees below zero. Down 14-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter, Reeves took a pitch from Don Meredith near midfield and lumbered to his left on the iced-over grass. But after a half-dozen steps, he stopped and fired the ball, flat-footed, 35 yards to a wide-open Rentzel, who practically walked into the end zone from 20 yards out. The strike was a massive surprise given the arctic conditions and gave Dallas their first lead of the day, a 17-14 edge that lasted all the way until the game’s final, fateful seconds. If not for Bart Starr’s famous goal-line dive to win the now-iconic “Ice Bowl,” that unlikely 50-yard touchdown pass from the team’s RB2 might still stand today as the single most famous moment in Dallas Cowboys history. Reeves would go on to a successful coaching career, on staff in Dallas for a decade and then running the show as head coach of the Broncos, Giants, and Falcons. Reeves passed away in 2022 at the age of 77. Reeves unquestionably enjoyed a long and storied football career, winning Super Bowl VI as a player and Super Bowl XII as an assistant coach. He’s in the Broncos Ring of Honor and was a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame ‘s Class of 2025. But perhaps none of his days on the gridiron ever quite matched when Reeves found the end zone three different times, in three different ways, and cemented his place- alongside Payton, Gifford, Tomlinson, and now Allen- on one of the most exclusive lists in the sport’s history.