With the Dallas Cowboys cutting former first-round pick Takk McKinley, they now have two spots on their 90-man roster that need filled.
The NFL currently allows teams to have 90 players on their active rosters for the start of training camp, but will need to be trimmed to 53 players as they near the start of the regular season.
Roster cutdown dates follow each week of the preseason.
McKinley was signed to the practice squad in November. He and Dan Quinn had a chance to reconnect.
The Cowboys tried to make it work by keeping him with the team on a one-year contract this off-season.
It just didn’t work out.
With that said, the Cowboys don’t need much right now other than depth, but I have a few ideas about who Dallas could sign to fill those last two spots.
KICKER
Yes, the Cowboys still only have one kicker on the roster.
Tristan Vizcaino.
They don’t even have anyone on the roster that can compete for the job with him.
During the mandatory minicamp last week, Vizcaino was 9-for-9 during day one of Mini Camp.
His longest was 55 yards.
On day two, he went 7-for-9, with misses coming from 44 and 52. His long was 54.
In a nutshell, that isn’t bad, but he has no pressure right now kicking in camp.
Nobody to press him, no points going on the board, etc.
Reports have said they will add a veteran or USFL standout before training camp at the end of July.
Robbie Gould, Ryan Succop, and Mason Crosby are still free agents.
Crosby kicked for Mike McCarthy with the Packers and hurt the hearts of Cowboys fans plenty of times.
I would much rather have one of those three lining up in week one against the Giants than Vizcaino.
WIDE OPEN
Yup, I will not even guess who they might use the last spot on.
I think it’s wide open, clearly, by my heading.
The team recently signed former 2nd-round pick Ben Banogu to the roster.
Therefore, I don’t think they will use it on someone who plays the defensive line.
After filling the need at kicker, I have absolutely no idea who the last roster spot for training camp might be filled by.
If I had the ball in my court and had to choose, I would lean toward bringing in a decent blocking running back.
Dalvin Cook or even Ezekiel Elliott to come back?
Melvin Gordon is still a guy that is out there that is also recovering from an injury.
He still posted a decent year in 2021 with the Broncos.
Folks, look, I don’t think they will sign another back, so maybe they use that spot on the secondary.
Maybe they bring in a standout from the USFL, as I noted above.
They signed the MVP of the league last year, KaVontae Turpin. So it’s not like talent isn’t over there.
At the end of the day, whoever it is, unless it’s Cook or someone similar, they probably won’t even make the final 53-man roster when they trim 37 players.
We can only play the guessing game until they make that move.
This off-season has been full of surprises, so don’t be shocked if a signing happens that we didn’t even think about.