Dallas

Cowboys

Muhammad was hit with a PED suspension late last season while on the Colts practice squad. The veteran EDGE has totaled 12 sacks in his six-year career and will likely have a chance to carve out a role on a Cowboys roster that recently lost pass-rusher Sam Williams to a torn ACL. Muhammad recorded six sacks during his 2021 season with the Colts but didn’t play a regular-season snap last season. He’s not a lock to make the 53-man roster.

Jones, Jerry’s son, said Freeman has “really impressed” in offseason practices and during Cowboys training camp. Freeman, Jones said, is “a great 2-3 combination in terms of what he can do as a backup. He’s a big, thick guy. And he’s a hell of a special teams player as well. He’ll be a good addition and great complement to (Elliott). And then we’ll let these young guys between (Rico Dowdle and Malik Davis) and those guys battle it out.” Judging by Jones’ comments, it would seem Elliott is locked into the lead back role and Dowdle is in line for RB3 duties at best.

An MRI confirmed the worst for Williams, who left Sunday’s practice with a knee injury. The Cowboys drafted Williams 56th overall in 2022. Through his first two years in the league, Williams has totaled 8.5 sacks and appeared poised for a breakout season this year. It’s a brutal blow for Williams and the Cowboys, who will likely be looking to add a pass rusher to the roster in the coming days.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport observed the incident, noting Williams “planted his left foot [and] grabbed immediately for the back of his left knee” before going down. The Cowboys’ defensive line lost multiple high-impact contributors from the 2023 unit, including EDGEs Dante Fowler Jr. (18.3 percent) and Dorance Armstrong (12.9 percent) who followed former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to the Washington Commanders this offseason. Both players finished top four on the team in QB pressure rate. The Cowboys starting defensive lineup is chock-full of elite players but the pass-rush depth is evaporating.

The Cowboys have a lot to figure out as far as player contracts are concerned. Prescott is in the final year of a four-year deal he signed in 2021, while CeeDee Lamb is in the midst of a holdout as he awaits a lucrative extension. On top of that, the bills will also soon come due for star pass-rusher Micah Parson, who is under contract through 2025 but will likely be pushing for an extension at the end of this season. The Cowboys could free up ample cap space for this season by signing Prescott, who is set to earn just north of $55 million, to a new contract, but the team has been slow in getting that done. Prescott said earlier this month that “there’s been conversations” about a new deal but didn’t provide much beyond that. It’s hard to imagine the Cowboys moving on from Dak after this season, but retaining all three stars in the coming years could prove difficult.

There was hope that Diggs, who suffered a torn ACL in Week 3 of last season, would be available to open camp. Diggs has been working on rehabbing his injury all offseason and isn’t quite ready for a return to the field. The veteran corner led the league with 11 interceptions in 2021 and had already tallied one interception before going down last season. We don’t have a current timetable for his return, but he’s nearly 10 months removed from his injury, so we’d expect him back before the conclusion of camp.

Lamb skipped voluntary workouts and mandatory minicamp this offseason and is now holding out of training camp while he awaits a contract extension from the Cowboys. Earlier reports from the offseason indicated that Lamb would hold out and now Watkins reports that is indeed the case. The All-Pro wideout is set to earn just under $18 million with his fifth-year option, but is likely expecting to sign a deal close to Justin Jefferson’s four-year, $140 million extension. The Cowboys have to figure out new deals for both Dak Prescott and Lamb as their offensive cornerstones and waiting this long has led to other teams paying top players at those positions high-end money, bumping up the asking price for Prescott and Lamb. Though talks were expected to speed up after Jefferson signed his deal, the Cowboys and Lamb are not yet close to a deal. Now with a holdout, the Cowboys have to deal with an unhappy star receiver who is one of the best at his position and wants to be paid like it.

Gallup’s retirement is somewhat abrupt after he signed a one-year deal with the Raiders in the offseason. The Raiders announced on Tuesday that he was placed on the reserve/retired list. A former third-round pick of the Cowboys, Gallup spent six seasons in Dallas, totaling 266 receptions for 3,744 yards and 21 touchdowns. He surpassed 1,000 yards in his second season, but did not reach those heights again. Gallup suffered a torn ACL in 2021 and did not find a prominent role in the Cowboys offense after that. Catching 34 passes for 418 yards and two touchdowns last season, the Cowboys released him in March, after which he signed with the Raiders. The Colorado State product will be known for his playmaking as one of the Cowboys’ top wideouts from 2019-2020.

Cobb is walking away from the field and entering the broadcasting game as a studio analyst for the SEC Network. The former Kentucky wide receiver was a second-round pick of the Packers in 2011 and established himself as one of the league’s top slot receivers during his second season when he went for 80-954-8 on 104 targets. Cobb’s production topped out at 91-1287-12 in 2014, but the veteran receiver strung together a long, productive career in which he totaled more than 7,600 receiving yards along with 54 receiving touchdowns. His final season, which came last year with the Jets, was an underwhelming one. After being brought in by long-time Packers teammate Aaron Rodgers, Cobb played a minimal role for the team in 2023, catching just five passes over the 11 games he appeared in.

Prescott is entering the last season of a four-year, $160 million contract. The Cowboys have waited to get a deal done with Prescott, who has leverage with Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence signing for over $50 million a year this offseason. Jerry Jones has his hands full with Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb in line for extensions. Prescott seems confident that his deal will get worked out while Lamb said he will not discuss his contract heading into camp.