The Cowboys continue to look to the UFL to add possible depth to the defensive side of the ball, with just over a month until training camp commences in Oxnard.
Dallas will host Birmingham Stallions defensive end Jonathan Garvin for a workout this week, according to multiple reports Wednesday. Stallions head coach Skip Holtz made the revelation during an appearance on the YouTube show The Next Round just days after his team won the inaugural UFL championship.
Garvin, 24, was a seventh-round pick of the Packers in 2020 after a college career as a Miami Hurricane. He played 38 games in Green Bay over the next three seasons before being released during training camp last summer. He compiled 32 tackles, 2 defended passes, and 1.5 sacks over his Packers tenure, which included one start.
Per @USFLStallions HC Skip Holtz on @NextRoundLive, DE Jonathan Garvin will be working out with the Dallas Cowboys this week (h/t @USFLExpert). #UFL
— James Larsen (@JamesLarsenPFN) June 19, 2024
The 6-foot-4-inch 257-pounder signed with the Stallions in March. Serving on the same D-line as former Cowboy Taco Charlton, Garvin posted 20 tackles and 3.5 sacks over Birmingham’s 9-1 season. He was the UFL’s No.2-ranked edge rusher with a 33.1% pass rush win rate, according to PFF’s Marcus Mosher.
Now he’ll look to latch on with a group that already includes Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Sam Williams, Chauncey Golston, Tyrus Wheat, Viliami Fehoko, Durrell Johnson, and second-round draft pick Marshawn Kneeland.
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The odds of claiming a roster spot may be long, but Garvin is following in the footsteps of spring-league veterans KaVontae Turpin and Brandon Aubrey, both of whom were signed by the Cowboys in the past two years. Dallas has signed two UFL players already this week- linebacker Willie Harvey Jr. and cornerback Gareon Conley.
So there is a viable pathway for Garvin to the bright lights of the NFL, and the players there know it, according to Holtz.
“Last year, we had 22 players in an NFL camp,” he said Wednesday. “Twenty-two players out of our 50. Now, out of those, like nine made it, but 22 got into a camp. I think that’s what this league is about, giving those guys that second opportunity.”
Jonathan Garvin, your opportunity starts now.
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