Through two preseason games, there is not much to write home about for the Dallas Cowboys.
They have been bad in nearly everything, but one guy is making a huge impression on me and, hopefully, the coaching staff and the front office.
Depth is a concern in a few areas for the team. However, the Cowboys may have landed a diamond in the rough with the free agency addition of linebacker James Houston.
He has looked awesome through the first two weeks of preseason and is going to make it hard to overlook him for a roster spot.
Houston finished the second preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens two tackles, but did more than what the stat sheet will show.
Will Be Needed
This is a guy that, when he signed nearly a month ago, I thought would be a cut after they started trimming the roster down, but now? Heck, he may have a chance to start!
The former sixth-round pick of the Detroit Lions has been attempting to get back to his rookie self. In his rookie season back in 2022, Houston had 8 sacks for the Lions in just seven games.
James Houston finished with two tackles, two QB hits in 43 snaps. He's flashed this summer. He might make this team.
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) August 17, 2025
Injuries put what could have been a potential Pro Bowl talent on the sidelines for the majority of his time in Detroit. With how weak the pass rush will likely be for Dallas, Houston could play a big role.
Micah Parsons is still not signed, and who knows if he is going to play the first week against the Eagles? That pretty much leaves Dante Fowler and Marshawn Kneeland to take care of sacking the quarterback.
With the way Houston has been playing, I think a guy like Peyton Turner will be the player who gets cut.
Everyone thought just because he was a former first round pick, he was going to be a lock to make the team, but now, Houston has earned himself a roster spot.
We will see if he plays next week, but I don’t see why he won’t. In terms of the rest of the Cowboys defense, the run defense is still really bad and the offense with Joe Milton has not been able to even pick up a first down.
I am not trying to overreact to preseason football, but other teams backups at least look above average. The Cowboys just need to figure some things out and that is why I would like to see the starters play at least a drive or two in the last preseason game.
If not, week one against the Eagles might be ugly.
Just because Houston has looked decent in the preseason, it doesn’t mean he’s earned a roster spot!! And he has more than just Payton Turner to beat out to get a roster spot!! And even if Parsons isn’t ready to play in week 1, it don’t mean we’ll only have Dante Fowler and Marshawn Kneeland to rush the passer!! We’ll also have Sam Williams and Donovan Ezeiruaku and maybe even Payton Turner!! So we are loaded at DE, and it’s gonna be a lot harder for Houston to make the roster after playing decently in the preseason, especially with that much talent ahead of him on the depth chart!!
And another thing is, our run defense isn’t that bad!! It’s actually pretty good, and we haven’t even played all of the starters in the preseason!! Plus Eberflus hasn’t been calling his good plays either!! If you look at the actual stats from our run defense, you’ll see that compared to the league average last year, we are actually in the top 10 right now, and again, that’s without all of our starters and with Eberflus calling some easy, basic plays!! That’s with backups and 3rd string players fighting for a roster spot!! So When the season starts and we have all of the starters in the game and Eberflus calling better plays, our run defense is gonna be a lot better!! And if it’s around top 10 right now, with the backups and 3rd string players, then it should be close to top 5 with our starters and better plays being called!! What I just said about our run defense are facts, it’s not hard to find online!! Just look it up and you’ll see!! The average run defense gave up around 4.4 yards a carry last year, and our run defense in the preseason is giving up 4.2 yards a carry, which is better than the league average last year!! And our 4.2 yards a carry in the preseason this year would’ve ranked 8th in the league last year if I remember right…. It could’ve been a little lower, but with everything I read on it, I know we wouldn’t have been ranked any lower than 12th, but either way, we are better than the league average right now with just our backups and 3rd string players, so our run defense isn’t bad at all and definitely not as bad as you think!!
Our run defense is horrible dude, stop trying to defend it. Last year, the Dallas Cowboys defense gave up an average of 355.2 yards per game. 28th in the league in terms of total defense, 137 of that was ON THE GROUND, the 4th worst in football! They got worse on defense, they have ZERO chance to be top ten. We will see what the excuse is when Barkley runs for over 150 yards on the ground week one.
It is OKAY to not be bias, every comment you make you think the Cowboys have zero flaws, and that is so far from the truth.