Cowboys Quietly Sign 11 Players After Jerry Jones’ Defensive-Minded Draft

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Cowboys Quietly Sign 11 Players After Jerry Jones’ Defensive-Minded Draft

NFL, American Football Herren, USA 2024: Cowboys at Panthers Dec 15 December 15, 2024: Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones before the NFL matchup in Charlotte, NC. Scott Kinser/CSM Credit Image: Â Scott Kinser/Cal Media Charlotte Nc United States EDITORIAL USE ONLY Copyright: xx ZUMA-20241215_zma_c04_111.jpg ScottxKinserx csmphotothree333356 ©IMAGO/Newscom World

Utsav Jain · EssentiallySports

Mon, Apr 27, 2026 ·

6 min read

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The Dallas Cowboys further strengthened their roster by picking undrafted free agents after the 2026 NFL Draft. In what was already shaping up to be a stellar draft haul for them, the Cowboys added 11 players across the offensive and defensive units as UDFA.

The Cowboys came out of Pittsburgh with a stated target of 10 to 12 undrafted additions, per executive vice president Stephen Jones. They hit 11 in under 48 hours.

Out of those 11 new additions, the headliner is Baylor tight end Michael Trigg – 6’4”, 240 pounds, with a wingspan in the 99th percentile among all tight ends since 2011. He caught 50 passes for 694 yards and six touchdowns in 2025, earned Second-Team All-American and First-Team All-Big 12 honors. The biggest reason for Trigg going undrafted was that he dropped seven passes on 85 targets last season. Jerry Jones took the bet anyway.

Trigg now enters a competition with a talented TE room that already features Jake Ferguson , Luke Schoonmaker , Brevyn Spann-Ford , and Princeton Fant . TCU’s DJ Rogers – 6’4”, 250 pounds – adds a second tight end option with both pass-catching and run-blocking ability. That’s two new tight ends with size and production added for no cost.

Tulsa’s running back Dominic Richardson ran for 1,065 yards on 212 carries in 2025 and has played 57 career college games. Football Guys analyst Dave Kluge stated that Richardson was a player who “uses [his frame] to violently finish runs.” He drew a comparison to former New England Patriots running back Damien Harris . The franchise didn’t draft a running back, so Richardson will be competing for a short-yardage role that is genuinely open.

SMU’s Jordan Hudson (61 catches, 766 yards, six touchdowns in 2025) and Georgia Southern’s Camden Brown (1,079 yards, 14 touchdowns) arrived as receiver depth after Dallas used its final draft pick on East Carolina’s WR Anthony Smith. All of them now compete for a role behind CeeDee Lamb , George Pickens , Ryan Flournoy , and KaVontae Turpin .

The rest of the class includes Kentucky OT Shiyazh Pete (6’8”, 322 pounds) and Baylor’s OT Sidney Fugar (6’5”, 343 pounds). Dallas also added three defensive tackles: Kansas’ DJ Withers and Tommy Dunn Jr., and Virginia Tech’s Kelvin Gilliam. Vanderbilt’s linebacker Langston Patterson, who logged 69 tackles last season, along with 1.5 tackles for loss, and one forced fumble, also joined the Cowboys to add some much-needed depth.

As Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes, last season, 24 players who started their Cowboys careers as UDFAs appeared in games. That’s a mark of the consistent organizational process that Jerry Jones has shown over the years.

This was not the first time the franchise has looked at undrafted free agents as a target. When Tony Romo went undrafted out of Eastern Illinois in 2003, it was the Dallas Cowboyswho took a shot on him, and he ended up being an all-time passing leader. Terence Steele went undrafted in 2020 and became a full-time starter on the Cowboys’ O-line by 2023.

This certainly adds to the competition for the roster spot, especially after their selections in the NFL draft, which were mainly on the defensive end.

Jerry Jones managed to overhaul the Cowboys’ defense during the draft

Five of the seven draft picks Dallas held went to the defense, and Jerry Jones was clear about the reason behind it.

“We’ve changed this defense,” Jerry said after Day 2 of the draft was in the books. “This is a product of 3, 4, or 5 years of us not being able to go where we want to ultimately go.”

To get the player they wanted at the top, Dallas traded the No. 12 pick plus two fifth-rounders to move up to No. 11 and take Ohio State safety Caleb Downs – the 2025 Jim Thorpe Award winner. Jerry’s has massive expectations from Downs as he believes the rookie could be a quarterback for the defense. He is also highly versatile and is capable of lining up at safety, nickel, and corner.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – FEBRUARY 26: Ohio State defensive back Caleb Downs answers questions from the media during the NFL, American Football Herren, USA Scouting Combine on February 26, 2026 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN. Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire NFL: FEB 26 Scouting Combine EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon2602262583

The franchise went with UCF edge rusher Malachi Lawrence as their 23rd pick. He posted seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss in 2025 and earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors. Interestingly, the New York Giants had two shots at drafting Downs and passed both times. They used the 5th overall pick on Arvell Reese and the 10th overall pick on Francis Mauigoa. Even the Washington Commanders took his Ohio State teammate Sonny Styles 7th overall. Both teams are Dallas’ divisional rivals, and Downs is ready to take his revenge on them.

“Caleb actually mentioned that yesterday on the visit,” head coach Brian Schottenheimer said in a recent interview. “He was like, ‘I’m making mental notes,’ so we’re looking forward to those matchups against them.”

In Round 3 – with a pick from the San Francisco 49ers – Dallas took Michigan linebacker Jaishawn Barham , who logged four sacks and 10 TFLs in 2025. Schottenheimer said Barham would begin as an inside linebacker. He could also play outside if the scheme demands it.

Three fourth-round picks followed Barham: Penn State tackle Drew Shelton at 112, Florida cornerback Devin Moore at 114, and Alabama defensive lineman LT Overton at 137. Dallas closed the draft with Anthony Smith at 218, who logged a career-best 1,053 yards and seven touchdowns in 2025, and also logged a 4.4-second 40-yard dash.

Jerry Jones’ defensive focus was absolutely needed. But the question now is whether the distribution was narrow enough to matter. Five of the six defensive picks went to edge, linebacker, and interior line. Corner only got one pick in Round 4. The secondary was being carved up every week last season, and one fourth-round corner might be a thin answer for a unit that broke down at every level. But Jerry Jones believes they’ve done enough.

“We have changed the concept of what we’re doing defensively,” Jerry said about his draft additions. “The facts are that we have executed on, we’ve got to see exactly how it’s going to be, but we’ve executed a dramatic change.”

The Cowboys also brought in linebacker Dee Winters via a trade with the 49ers to help the linebacker room. The draft additions already speak for themselves, and now 11 UDFAs shore up whatever gaps Dallas had left open. The same organizational process that turned an undrafted Eastern Illinois quarterback into the franchise’s all-time passing leader quietly went back to work the moment the Draft was over. And Jerry Jones’ defense just got a whole lot more dangerous because of it.

The post Cowboys Quietly Sign 11 Players After Jerry Jones’ Defensive-Minded Draft appeared first on EssentiallySports . Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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