With all the stuff going on with the Dallas Cowboys, some news you might have missed over the weekend was a player they added who, as a rookie, showed some promise on the defensive line.
The Cowboys signed former Detroit Lion James Houston.
Houston endured some back luck during his tenure in Detroit, suffering a season-ending broken ankle in Week 2 of the 2023 season. He returned to the field in 2024 but recorded just one sack, struggling to stay on the field outside passing downs.
Over The Years
He entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick of the Lions in 2022. He had eight sacks in seven games as a rookie but has had only one sack in 13 games since.
That is the issue, but check out the video below. He had a double-digit pass-rush win rate each season he’s been in the NFL.
Last year, Micah Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa were the only defenders with at least 75 pass-rush snaps and a 10%+ win rate.
Roster longshot but James Houston displayed some ability to still win high side last season.
Double-digit pass-rush win rate each season he's been in the NFL.
Last year, Micah Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa were the only defenders with at least 75 pass-rush snaps and a 10%+ win… https://t.co/aB4MrZd8L5 pic.twitter.com/gGErc4y81V
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) July 22, 2025
As my title says, I think it is a long shot that this guy makes the final roster, but those eight sacks in his rookie year were a promising thing.
Being a healthy scratch in three games last season is a reason to worry.
Still, when you look at the Cowboys defensive line as a unit, we all know it is Micah Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa, followed by Dante Folwer, who will probably be second in sacks behind Parsons.
We just don’t know what we are going to get from rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku and second-year guy Marshawn Kneeland just yet.
Training camp just started this week, so maybe we will see him be a surprise and make the front office think about him being more than just a camp body.
He did have eight sacks in a season. You have to be able to play at least a little bit if you do that, but when you break a bone, that can make things harder to get back to that level.
This is just one of a handful of players I will be keeping an eye on over the next few weeks. I am more concerned about that side of the football than I am about the offensive side, regardless of how bad the running back position is.
If I had to compare him to a player on the roster right now it would be probably Tyrus Wheat, his eight sacks his rookie year make him an interesting player, but he is a long shot to make the final 53-man roster.
I think Houston will overtake the “bust” Kneeland at the end of training camp. Kneeland never impressed me even when he was healthy. Has a problem not shedding his block when he engages.
What have you been watching!? Kneeland is not a bust!! And in case you didn’t know, he is only going into his 2nd year, so you can’t call a player a bust after playing a half a season!! Especially when that player was drafted towards the end of the 2nd round!! And another thing is, Kneeland wasn’t drafted because of his sack potential, he was drafted because he was good at stopping the run!! He was drafted to be the next DeMarcus Lawrence!! And yes, DeMarcus Lawrence was pretty much the same player as Kneeland at this point of his career they both were even injured in their rookie year!! So again, Kneeland is not a bust and it’s not right to label him as such with him only playing about a half a season!!
The RB position is not bad, we have a really good group of RBs on our roster despite of what you think!! And these articles are the only place I ever see anybody write about how bad it is!! I’m confident that our RBs will have a really good year and I even think that at least one of them will get close to the thousand yard mark even after being in a RB by committee group!! And like I said in a comment in another article on this site…. It’s not all about the RBs, the coaches are apart of how good the RBs are too, and our offensive coaching staff are some of the best when it comes to running plays!! So I think you people on these sites are being over dramatic when it comes to our RB group!! And I can’t wait for them to prove all you doubters wrong!!
And as far as the defense goes…. How can you be concerned about the defensive line…. Especially the edge rushers!? We have one of the best groups of edge rushers in the NFL, and it’s better than anything we’ve had in years!! The offense will have to pick their poison with Dante Fowler and Micah Parsons in the field together and Donovan Ezeiruaku is a sack magnet too, that’s why he should’ve been drafted in the 1st round, and Sam Williams hasn’t got to play much, but when he has played, he showed he can be a game wrecker too and Marshawn Kneeland was never known for getting sacks, but he’s really good against the run with the potential to get sacks…. Just like DeMarcus Lawrence was!! And Payton Turner was a first round pick not too long ago for a reason!! And he was stuck on a bad team with bad coaching the whole time he was with the saints, so I think he can be a good player for us too!! And even if he’s not, the other 5 are all good enough to be starters on most other teams, so I’m not sure what the concern is!? That’s probably the most loaded position on the team!!
On another note…. These articles attract some of the dumbest people I’ve ever come across!! Some people write comments thar don’t even make sense, some people call players a bust even though that player only played a half a season in his rookie year and hasn’t had a chance to play since then!! And then there’s people that blame certain players for stuff that those players have nothing to do with!! It’s crazy!! I’m a huge Cowboys fan, so I read every article about them, and watch every YouTube video about them and the only place I see these stupid people are in the comment section of these articles!! And I really hate to talk about people like that, but when it walks like a duck a sounds like a duck, then you have no choice but to call it a duck!! And that’s the way I see it with these people and their ignorant comments!! I really apologize for my comment, and you can take it down if you want, I just had to let my frustrations out after reading so many of them comments!!