Cowboys 2025 roster cutdown day takeaways: Dallas content with Joe Milton's preseason, happy with mix of RBs

FRISCO, Texas -- There weren't many surprises about the Dallas Cowboys' 53-man roster following Tuesday afternoon's 4 p.m. ET cutdown deadline.

However, that doesn't mean Dallas is done with their roster construction. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said he, his coaching staff and the personnel department led by vice president of player personnel Will McClay will continue grinding film for the "second draft" aka the waiver wire Wednesday afternoon. 

"Will McClay looks exhausted right now, but I don't feel bad for him at all," Schottenheimer said Tuesday. "I said, 'Hey, I don't want to hear it, get back in there and turn on some more film.'"  

It's worth noting edge rusher Payton Turner (ribs) and wide receiver Jonathan Mingo (knee) were placed on their injured reserve list to begin the season. Third-round rookie cornerback Shavon Revel begins his NFL career on the reserve/non-football injury list because his torn ACL he is recovering from occurred last fall at East Carolina. Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and cornerback Josh Butler begin the 2025 NFL season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list with torn ACL injuries that occurred in Dallas' 2024 season. Overshown said in the spring that he is targeting Thanksgiving in Week 13 as his return date. 

With that in mind, let's take a look at a takeaway for every position group on the Cowboys' initial 53-man roster for the 2025 NFL season, Schottenheimer's first as Dallas' head coach. 

Quarterbacks (2)

QBs: Dak Prescott, Joe Milton

Takeaway: Joe Milton locked up the Cowboys' backup QB job with a steady preseason finale

Milton and journeyman Will Grier were battling to be Dak Prescott's backup all preseason. Really, it was Milton vs. Milton because the Cowboys' coaching staff wanted to see what the 25-year-old had after acquiring him in an offseason trade with the New England Patriots. Once he put together a smooth outing against the Atlanta Falcons in the preseason finale, the Cowboys' backup quarterback job belonged to Milton. 

"In terms of two quarterbacks, we're always looking into situations. Dak is our starter, and Joe is the backup. I thought Joe settled in a little bit, it wasn't perfect, but we feel very good about Joe and his direction and where he can go," Schottenheimer said. "Nothing says we're not done looking around the league at all spots. Not just quarterback. There's going to be a lot of names out there in a lot of different positions and that process is already started for Will [McClay] and his team. It will be a long night tonight and into the morning."

* Includes opening drive safety

Running Backs (5)

RBs: Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, Jaydon Blue, Phil Mafah, Hunter Luepke

Takeaway: The Cowboys love their mix of vets and rookies

Dallas fan favorite Deuce Vaughn was sent packing on Tuesday, but the main takeaway is the Cowboys ended up seeing exactly what they had hoped from their eclectic running back room this preseason. Once again, Javonte Williams was the first running back Schottenheimer named when asked by CBS Sports to evaluate the position group as a whole. He is tracking toward being the Week 1 starter with a rotation of vets (Miles Sanders and Hunter Luepke) and rookies (fifth-round pick Jaydon Blue and seventh-round pick Phil Mafah) battling for the other snaps on a weekly basis.  

"Javonte has been a guy from Day 1 that I've been really impressed with: the professionalism, the run talent jumps out. Miles is a veteran player that we've seen him do it against us at Philly and went to Houston. He battled back from some stuff, but just his ability to stretch the field and the perimeter -- do some things coming out of the back is unique," Schottenheimer said. "Hunter Luepke is Hunter Luepke: baller, leave it at that. Jaydon is the guy that we've seen the twitch, the speed and the acceleration. Phil Mafah is a guy that, again when you look at Phil play, he's just a big powerful man that's hard to bring down. People bounce off of him. I think it's a cool room because you've got the veterans in Miles and Javonte. You got Hunter who is becoming a veteran, and then you got the two rooks that, again, we drafted. I think we've seen the things that we want to see from them."

Wide Receivers (5)

WRs: CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Tolbert, Ryan Flournoy

Takeaway: The top four wide receiver spots were never in doubt

Even though Jalen Tolbert didn't have an eye-popping offseason, him being able to lead Dallas with seven receiving touchdowns last season with Prescott missing half the year was enough to earn a roster spot. The fifth and final spot came down to 2023 seventh-round pick Jalen Brooks and 2024 sixth-round pick Ryan Flournoy. Flournoy won the battle over Brooks because of his strong play on special teams, a differentiator for players down the depth chart, no matter the position. 

"It was a tough one. Tough conversation with Jalen Brooks. It was one of those things where we were going back and forth a lot. Like I've told you guys in the past, we have point of attack tapes, we have target tapes. And literally from the offensive side of it, was literally neck and neck. But over the past two or three weeks, I would say there's been no one that has played special teams more dominant than Ryan Flournoy," Schottenheimer said. "As a gunner, he's been unstoppable, whether they single him up, they vice him, because of his power, stuff like that. He's done a really good job playing receiver with contested catches and press release and things like that. ... "And at the end of the day, when you turned on the special teams film, there was a guy that was doing it at a very dominant level. That's what tipped the scales in his direction."

Tight Ends (3)

TEs: Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Brevyn Spann-Ford

Takeaway: No surprises here 

These were the top three tight ends far and away all offseason long. Schottenheimer teased that there could be roster "surprises" on cutdown day, but there was no shock here. 

Offensive Line (9)

OL: OT Tyler Guyton, G Tyler Smith, C Cooper Beebe, G Tyler Booker, OT Terence Steele, G T.J. Bass, G Brock Hoffman, OT Ajani Cornelius, OT Nate Thomas

Takeaway: Cowboys continue to bank on youth, load up on tackles  

The starting five from left to right of Tyler Guyton (LT), Tyler Smith (LG), Cooper Beebe (C), Tyler Booker (RG) and Terence Steele (RT) was unquestioned all throughout camp. Dallas chose to load up more on tackles at the back end of this room with Guyton working his way back from a knee injury. The 2024 first-round pick's status is still up in the air for Week 1 at the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 4. 

Defensive Line (11)

DL: DE Micah Parsons, DE Dante Fowler, DE Donovan Ezeiruaku, DE James Houston, DE Sam Williams, DT Mazi Smith, DT Solomon Thomas, DT Jay Toia, DE Marshawn Kneeland, DT Osa Odighizuwa, DT Perrion Winfrey

Takeaway: Micah Parsons uncertainty drives defensive line receiving largest roster allocation

Schottenheimer cranked up the pressure for Parsons to end his hold in and return to practice on Tuesday after revealing the 26-year-old's MRI on his back returned clean. However, Dallas remains unsure of when he will return to practice. That's why the defensive line position required a deeper room this season.  

Linebackers (5)

LBs: Kenneth Murray, Jack Sanborn, Marist Liufau, Damone Clark, Shemar James

Takeaway: Damone Clark, fifth-round rookie Shemar James benefit from DeMarvion Overshown's knee injury

If Overshown were healthy, Clark and/or James may have had to sweat out cutdown day. With his defined early-season absence because of a second brutal knee injury in as many years, Dallas needed more depth in their linebacker room. 

Cornerbacks (6)

CBs: Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, Kaiir Elam, Caelen Carson, Andrew Booth, Zion Childress

Takeaway: Youth prevails for the final nickel cornerback spot

Dallas' final cornerback spot on the initial 53-man roster was up for grabs between fourth-year journeyman Kemon Hall and undrafted rookie Zion Childress out of Kentucky. Both received looks with the first-team defense in training camp and the preseason, but Childress's youth (23-years-old) won out over Hall's experience (28-years-old).

"Younger player," Schottenheimer said of Hall. "Kemon is a special young man, good football player. Very physical. Zion instincts from the beginning have jumped off the film at us. His physicality, the way he can play as a blitzer, the way he can fill the B-gap. Tough decision. Usually when you're dealing with two players that are very very close, you tend to go with the younger guy."

Should Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs not be ready to play Week 1 at the Eagles, Childress could start at nickel corner at the defending Super Bowl champions. That's OK if necessary, per Schottenheimer because Childress has earned the team's trust. 

"Obviously the fact that he's on our team, we trust him. I think he's earned that," Schottenheimer said. "I'm not going to give away any secrets of how we're going to play Philadelphia on opening night. But if you made our football team from a very, very competitive roster where we had to trim down from 91 guys, it shows you that we have trust in you."

Safeties (4)

S: Malik Hooker, Donovan Wilson, Juanyeh Thomas, Markquese Bell

Takeaway: No surprises here. 

The Cowboys' 2025 safety room looks just like it did a year ago. Veteran starters Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson both had strong camps under new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus this offseason.

Specialists (3)

ST: K Brandon Aubrey, P Bryan Anger, LS Trent Sieg

Takeaway: Duh. 

All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey is arguably the NFL's best, and Dallas obviously went with continuity and provided him the same holder and snapper he's had his entire career with both Anger and Sieg re-signed this offseason.