The Cowboys 2026 Backup Offensive Line is Scary… In a Bad Way

Dallas’ backup offensive line had issues against Seattle in their first preseason game, especially when the Cowboys tried to run the ball early. The keyword there is “tried.”

Our first real look at the depth behind our starting five on the offensive line gave me more questions than answers.

I don’t think the whole group was bad. Dallas didn’t allow a sack, both quarterbacks moved the offense, and things did improve in the second half, but early on, the run blocking was abysmal.

We watched as Dallas opened the game with this combo of offensive linemen:

LT—Nate Thomas

LG—Trevor Keegan

C—T.J. Bass

RG—Ajani Cornelius

RT—Drew Shelton

T.J. Bass only played seven snaps before Nick Leverett took over, while Nate Thomas finished with 22 snaps before Marcellus Johnson replaced him. Keegan, Cornelius, and Shelton each played 45 snaps.

That combination of linemen didn’t stay together for long. Dallas started moving pieces around pretty early, so I want to be careful about putting the entire night’s failures on those first five.

But they did give us something to talk about.

The Running Game Had Nothing Early

We watched as Jaydon Blue had 19 yards on eight carries in the first half. While Phil Mafah had six yards on three. Just in case you’re adding it up that is 25 yards on 11 carries for a whopping 2.27 yards per carry.

I already touched on this when I talked about the running backs, but watching it again, I don’t know what you wanted Blue and Mafah to do on some of those snaps. There were several plays where Seattle was squeezing the lane before the back had anything to work with.

Brian Schottenheimer saw it too. Here is what he had to say about the line in the first half:

“A lot of moving parts, like I said, they threw a lot of things at us,” Schottenheimer said. “I want to look at the film. Definitely some leaky moments, but early on especially, we struggled to move their guys up front. I think you’ll see that. That’s why the run numbers in the first half weren’t very good.”

We watched the game as the Seahawks defensive front stood our offensive linemen up and moved them into the backfield.

The final rushing numbers on the night look a lot better than the first half felt. Dallas finished with 137 yards on the ground, but it was Malik Davis and Israel Abanikanda who did the heavy lifting in the second half. Davis had 39 yards on seven carries and Abanikanda had 36 on seven.

So to recap, the first half offensive line helped Blue and Mafah get a combined 28 yards and the second half offensive line helped Davis and Abanikanda combine for 75.

I don’t want to use those numbers to tell you Davis and Abanikanda were better. By the time they saw the field, the offensive line had changed, Seattle changed personnel, and Dallas wasn’t attacking the defense the same way.

Schottenheimer even said they came out after halftime looking to attack the perimeter because Seattle was stuffing the middle.

“They were doing a good job plugging up the middle. So we started the second half actually with a perimeter play. We have those, we don’t want to show too many of them, but give them some credit because I thought early on their defensive front was really a handful of force.”

Sometimes the answer is simple. If you’re getting nowhere inside, quit running into it. I was yelling at the screen to run it outside when Blue got stuffed in the middle every run.

The Pass Protection Was Good

It can’t be all doom and gloom. I will say the offensive line deserves some credit.

The pocket wasn’t always pretty. Seattle got some push and there were snaps where Sam Howell and Joe Milton had to use their legs to deal with pressure.

But Dallas didn’t allow a sack.

Howell and Milton combined to go 20-27 for 201 yards and two touchdowns. So, I’m not going to call the pass protection bad because of a few ugly snaps.

Where there some leaks? Sure, but, it never fell apart.

The run blocking was the issue.

Dallas Depth Is Still the Question Mark

We watched the pass protection hold up and in the first half the run blocking fall apart. Dallas eventually figured it out, but I’d like to see this backup group create something without the offense having to work around them.

Nate Thomas’ snaps are probably the first thing I’ll watch next week. Then Ajani Cornelis.

More than anything, I want to see whether this backup offensive line group can actually move somebody when Dallas runs between the tackles.

One preseason game isn’t enough for me to make a final call on any of these players, but Seattle gave me a few things I’m going to watch next week.