The Dallas Cowboys, like all 32 NFL franchises, have a new roster cutdown date added to their offseason calendar. After the last several seasons have had teams moving from the 90-man offseason roster to the 53-man regular season version following the final preseason game, Covid-19 has changed this as well as many other aspects of the roster composition.
Now, teams will need to be down to 80 players ahead of the start of training camp practices on August 17. The Cowboys have had 89 players on their roster for the last few months, and as discussed in our roster and practice squad projections, will need to release nine men to get down to the limit. On Tuesday they began the trimming by releasing two players who we identified would likely be in the first wave. RB Jordan Chunn and DT Garrett Marino have been let go, per Clarence Hill Jr of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.
The Cowboys are waiving RB Jordan Chunn and DT Garrett Marino as they inch closer to the 80 man roster limit.
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) July 28, 2020
Jordan Chunn
As explained in our projection, Chunn is a end-of-roster holdover from the previous regime. There will likely be several of these types of players who will be let go while Mike McCarthy and his staff bring in players they identify as being good fits for the new systems being implemented.
Chunn appeared in just one game in 2019, playing 16 special team snaps. The club signed two undrafted free agents at the position that will be given a chance to compete for the third RB role, if there is one, behind Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. Our prediction has South Carolina’ Rico Dowdle as a the leading candidate to make the team, and Darius Anderson from TCU is another consideration.
Garrett Marino
As for Marino, when the rookie work was cancelled he lost his shot to impress a coaching staff at a position with a strong veteran presence. Dallas signed Dontari Poe and Gerald McCoy to start, and has Trysten Hill, Antwaun Woods and Tyrone Crawford to rotate in. The club also spent their third-round pick on Oklahoma stud Neville Gallimore. There was little chance Marino was going to make an impression as the coaching staff still has LaDarius Hamilton and Justin Hamilton in the seventh and eighth spots on the depth chart.
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