Cowboys Acquire Veteran Help for Def Line
By adding Phillips and Lawson to this group will lift the depth and experience way up.
One thing that was pretty clear when we assembled in Oxnard a few weeks ago was that the Cowboys' defensive line had subtracted an awful lot of depth pieces from 2023 and had apparently planned to plug those holes with unheralded youth and perhaps some hopes and dreams.
It is not uncommon for a franchise to set sail and “see what the kids can do” before jumping on the 8-10 year veterans who aren’t signed and really don’t need six weeks of camp anyway. We divide these depth players into two groups: the unproven and the guys we all know.
Dallas started with the unproven on the D-Line, and now it is pretty clear they are calling to the bullpen to get the guys we all know to take over those now-vacated roles from the veterans of 2023. The anonymous did not impress with their opportunities, it would seem.
Dorance Armstrong (446 snaps), Johnathan Hankins (350), the now-injured Sam Williams (306), Neville Gallimore (288), and Dante Fowler (271) vacated 1,661 snaps from last year’s defensive front. That is an awful lot of work—nearly 100 snaps per game—that Dallas would need to account for, and with only the additions of Marshawn Kneeland and Justin Rogers in the draft, as well as improved sophomore years from Mazi Smith and Junior Fehoko from the 2023 class, it was probably quite optimistic to think that internal solutions would be enough.
Now, in the last 24 hours, the Cowboys have brought in two players who have routinely eaten hundreds of snaps each in their careers and generally done it at reasonably high levels in Jordan Phillips and Carl Lawson. Both have played their best football, and both need to mind their bodies at this point of their careers, but at their best, both represent upgrades at very small investments and should quickly put Dallas in a much better position up front for September and beyond.
Let’s chat about each of them and show you some clips from their latest work below: