Tag: Juanyeh Thomas

Cowboys UDFA defender seems ready for bigger role thanks to this change

Safety Juanyeh Thomas may get a chance to start for the Cowboys in 2025 thanks to this big change. | From @ReidDHanson

Not all prospective players work out in the NFL. For every success story, there’s roughly a dozen sad endings to offset it. Undrafted free agents (UDFAs) typically fall in that latter, less desirable category. It’s often an uphill battle every step of the way. Players with draft status typically get preference and proven veterans typically act as roadblocks.

As a third-year safety for the Dallas Cowboys, Juanyeh Thomas has faced both obstacles in his quest for playing time. The 24-year-old from Georgia Tech, has been a nice player since joining Dallas. In that time, he’s logged 883 snaps, playing on defense as well as special teams. His versatility to play multiple safety roles has made him one of the top alternates in his position group. Unfortunately, he’s never been able to surpass fellow safeties Donovan Wilson or Malik Hooker on the depth chart, essentially relegating him to a rotational and specialist role on defense.

Playing in both Dan Quinn and Mike Zimmer’s defense in Dallas, Thomas has been required to be versatile. He’s played in the box and back in centerfield over the years but probably fits best in a 2-high role. A 2-high defense is what new Cowboys coordinator Matt Eberflus brings to Dallas in 2025.

Split safety looks are typically less demanding on safeties since the field is divided evenly amongst two safeties. For as good as Thomas has been in spot duty, he’s not blessed with elite range so a transition to a 2-high heavy coverage scheme benefits him considerably.

With Eberflus’ scheme a better fit than Quinn’s, Thomas finds himself in an ideal situation in the upcoming season. As an exclusive rights free agent, his return to the Cowboys is not automatic but generally expected.

2025 figures to be another contract year for Thomas and the Cowboys are big fans of making players play for their supper in contract years. Under the right motivation and in the right scheme, the stage is set for Thomas to have a big season this year. The only problem is the former draft pick and costly veteran in front of him.

Both Wilson and Hooker are signed for the 2025 season. Wilson, a former sixth-round draft pick of the Cowboys, and Hooker, a former first-round pick of the Colts, have the inside track on the two starting positions.

They say money plays in the NFL and that seems especially true on the Cowboys. But this may be a situation where money becomes the poison pill, and the Cowboys could see value in letting one of their costly veterans go this offseason and replacing him with a low cost and eager-to-prove Thomas. Hooker will be 29 when the new season kicks off and Wilson 30. The Cowboys could get younger and cheaper by replacing either one with Thomas.

Whether Thomas is brought back to be a starter or the top alternate, 2025 figures to be a big season for the young safety and there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll rise to the challenge.

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2025 Free Agency: Cowboys have intriguing mix of legends, RFAs, ERFAs, and coaches’ faves

Dallas free agency decision begin with their RFAs, ERFAs, injured Cowboys’ greats, and coaches faves. | From @cdpiglet

There are some huge decisions for the Cowboys to make with their long list of free agents. With the number of holes on Dallas’ roster, it will be difficult for the Cowboys not to bring back every pending free agent on a restricted rights or exclusive rights contract. In addition, they’ll need to decide whether to make an effort to get back long-time contributors who ended the year on IR and a group of players who seem tied to the current coaching staff.

An exclusive rights free agent is a player with an expired contract and less than three accrued seasons in the NFL. A restricted free agent is a player with an expired contract, but only three accrued seasons in the league, keeping them from being unrestricted.

To keep a restricted free agent, Dallas has to offer him a predetermined one-year deal, known as a “tender.” If they do, the Cowboys can match any free agent deal the player signs for another team or receive draft compensation from the new team he signs with. Dallas could offer a first or second-round tender that would earn Dallas a subsequent draft choice from the team the player signed with. An original round tender would give the Cowboys a draft pick from the round he was originally drafted in, or they could offer a right to first refusal to match any offer the player agrees to.

Interior offensive lineman Brock Hoffman, safety Juanyeh Thomas, and defensive end Tyrus Wheat are all on exclusive rights contracts. Dallas only has to send a one-year qualifying offer for the league minimum based on each player’s experience level. This prevents the player from negotiating with other teams, ensuring their return.

Restricted rights free agents include pro bowl kick return specialist KaVontae Turpin, safety Markquese Bell, and much-maligned corner Andrew Booth Jr.  Dallas will need the first two back but could move on from Booth Jr., who hasn’t played well for them. Still, the roster is so thin that he could even return as a special teams player.

Meanwhile, the injured veteran front has two difficult decisions to make.

Demarcus Lawrence was still playing at a high level but is aging and coming off of another injury, but has already confirmed he plans to play next season. The team is already returning edge rushers Micah Parsons, Marshawn Kneeland, and Sam Williams, who will be returning from a serious injury himself.

Dallas will have a dead-money hit of nearly $7.5 million for Lawrence next season, so having him back on the roster would help justify the use of cap space, but he could get a final big payday elsewhere from a contender.

Guard Zack Martin will likely decide his own fate. If he wants to return for another season, the Cowboys are likely to bring him back. He has $27.7 million in dead money cap charges that can land across either one or two years.

Martin and Lawrence joined the franchise together and are now completing their 11th seasons with the club. With the club letting Tyron Smith go last season, it will be interesting to see what happens with the last remnants of the Tony Romo era.

Then there are these free agent signings who are a more simple concept.

Eric Kendricks signed in Dallas because of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. If Zimmer returns, so could Kendricks and Nick Virgil.

The specialists could go elsewhere if John Fassel doesn’t return as the unit coach. Punter Bryan Anger, long-snapper Trent Sieg, and gunner C.J. Goodwin could all need to be replaced this offseason.

Cooper Rush, Trey Lance, or even Will Grier as the backup to Dak Prescott likely depends on if Mike McCarthy returns as the head coach.

Coaching ties matter. When Dan Quinn left to coach the Commanders, he took with him multiple players who played for him in Dallas. The new coaches might have the players they want to bring in to teach their system to the rest of the players.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or Bluesky @mike-crum-cdpiglet.bsky.social

Quick facts from Commanders’ Week 12 loss to Cowboys

Here are several quick facts or stats from the Commanders’ Week 12 loss to Cowboys.

The Commanders produced their worst effort of the season Sunday for the first three and one-half quarters. Their last half of the final quarter was productive, but they came up short, falling to the Cowboys 34-26.

Here are some of the quick facts from the third consecutive loss for the Commanders:

  • The Cowboys had to play on a short week from Monday night, while the Commanders had not played since a Thursday night game ten days ago. Yet, it was the Commanders who looked flat, tired, slow and uninspired for 3.5 quarters.
  • The Washington offense was anemic in the first quarter, as Jayden Daniels completed two of six attempts for a mere three yards. The Commanders permitted 93 first-quarter yards to Dallas while only gaining 56.
  • The Commanders blocked a field goal attempt, blocked a punt, and recovered a fumble in the first half, yet managed to score only three points!
  • In the first half, Dallas outgained Washington 176-113 total yards, including 133-55 passing yards.
  • The Commanders trailed 10-9 after three quarters. Washington was then outscored 24-17 in the final quarter. The Commanders have now been outscored 71-34 in the final quarter of their last five games.
  • Sunday was the first kickoff return touchdown in 50 games for Dallas (vs Raiders in 2021), and today, they returned two for touchdowns. (Kayvontae Turpin 99 yards and Juanyeh Thomas 43 yards).
  • LB Frankie Luvu finished tied for the team-leading eight tackles. He also added one tackle for loss and three passes defensed.
  • The Commanders lost two running backs today (Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler), and this was after Chris Rodriguez was released just yesterday.
  • Dallas had lost their last five consecutive games, as they were a -10 in turnovers those games. Today, they again lost the turnover margin 3-1, yet came away with a win.
  • K Austin Seibert had his first bad day for the Commanders: he entered the game having made 25 of his 27 field goal attempts. Today, he badly missed his 51-yard field goal attempt and pulled two extra-point attempts to the left.
  • Jayden Daniels surpassed 2,500 passing yards and 500 rushing yards today, joining Robert Griffin III and Cam Newton as the fastest players to reach those marks to begin an NFL career. Daniels did so in his 12th career game.
  • WR Terry McLaurin’s  86-yard touchdown reception was the longest of his career. He caught five passes for 102 receiving yards.

Cowboys need to give these 2 backups more snaps or risk peril in secondary

It’s time the Cowboys give Donovan Wilson a rest and Juanyeh Thomas and Markquese Bell a chance. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys have made it four games into their 2024 campaign and it is already clear certain adjustments are in order. The struggles of the defense combined with recent injuries to key personnel necessitate the urgency of change. Covering the injury losses of Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence are not easy changes with simple solutions. Altering roles and workloads in the secondary are a different story.

The Cowboys run defense rightfully garners most of the scrutiny in Dallas this season, but the secondary deserves its fair share of constructive criticism as well. Not only does the secondary play a key role in gap assignments in run support, but it’s also responsible for coverage downfield and open field playmaking. Injuries have spread the cornerback room thin, but the Cowboys safety corps remains intact and as deep as any position on the roster.

When reviewing the Cowboys struggles through the first portion of the season it’s almost impossible not to notice Donovan Wilson. Wilson, Dallas’ primary in-the-box safety has struggled immensely in 2024. His gap discipline has been lacking and instincts haven’t been doing his propensity to freelance any favors.

Wilson has always been a feast or famine player. He’s been known to disappear for extended periods of time only to explode on the scene for a monumental play out of the blue. Unfortunately, in 2024 it’s been mostly famine for Wilson, and at a time when the Dallas defense is struggling in discipline and understanding, it might be time to put the veteran safety on ice for a while.

Reserve safeties Juanyeh Thomas and Markquese Bell are seen by many as starting quality players stuck in backup roles in Dallas. Thomas has flashed the ability to play deep in both 2-deep looks as well as in single high safety schemes. And after a year of filling in at linebacker, Bell is more than capable of playing in the box in a thumper role but also matched up in man coverage against the likes of running backs, tight ends and slot receivers.

Depending on the gameplan, either player looks capable of taking over for Wilson, or even Malik Hooker, for portions of a game. If Mike Zimmer is planning more split safety looks that week, Thomas is the better option. If Zimmer wants an extra defender closer to the line of scrimmage, Bell is a great option. The point is he has options as his disposal.

Such a shakeup could get better production from the position, or it might just serve as a wakeup call for the starters. Either outcome would signal success.

There’s a saying, “money plays in the NFL” and that seems to carry extra weight on the Cowboys. Higher drafted players and/or players making big money typically get the benefit of the doubt in Dallas, even if they’re being outplayed by others. Wilson, playing on a fresh three-year, $21 million contract, has the seventh highest salary cap number on the team this season. It’s a status no one would guess by just watching the film this season and it’s a status that brings with it extra scrutiny when performance drops such as it has.

As things stand Thomas and Bell are chronically underused and, in some ways, misused. Thomas and Bell only have a combined 21 defensive snaps this season. That usage rate would be understandable if both starters were playing at All-Pro levels, but neither are. Of the 76 safeties Pro Football Focus has graded, Wilson ranks 48th and Hooker 64th this season. If Thomas and Bell are truly as good as many seem to think they are, they could certainly stand to steal some of the starter’s snaps on defense in coming weeks.

Such a move wouldn’t have to be absolute or permanent, but it would be tapping a resource and potentially fixing a problem.

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Teams are eliminating this unique Cowboys weapon, so how will Dallas fix it?

Teams are avoiding KaVonate Turpin and it’s time the Cowboys figure out how to stop that. | From @ReidDHanson

Let’s run through a quick strategy session, shall we? Let’s say an opposing team is fielding two kick returners. One of those returners is a reserve safety with average speed and below average return ability. The other returner is an actual kick return specialist with elite speed and Pro Bowl return ability. How would you handle this situation as the kicking team?

If you answered, “kick it to the reserve safety” you’re not alone. Each of the Cowboys opponents this season has opted to target the safety, Juanyeh Thomas, rather than the professional return man, KaVonate Turpin. It’s not hard to see why either. Turpin is one of the most feared return men in the game today. If given the choice between the two, no one in their right mind would target Turpin. It’s why the former TCU star only has two returns on the season while Thomas has six.

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This strategy has rendered Turpin nothing more than a lead blocker on the kick return unit. At 5-foot-9, 153-pounds, he’s not exactly the ideal blocker, but if teams are kicking away from him what else is he supposed to do?

It seems there’s a Turpin avoidance problem at the moment in Dallas and it’s incumbent on the Cowboys to figure out a solution.

One possible solution is upgrading the return spot next to Turpin. Thomas is averaging just 24 yards per return this season, well below league average and significantly below Turpin’s 34.5. Thomas also has the fourth most return attempts in the NFL, indicating it’s not a product of sample size.

It stands to reason a more explosive player could produce better results in the role. Possible solutions are Deuce Vaughn, Rico Dowdle, Jalen Tolbert and Ryan Flournoy. Given Donovan Wilson’s volativity at safety, Thomas could really stand to get more snaps at safety anyway.

Another possible solution is to fight the opponent’s predictability with unpredictability. Opponents are predictably targeting the player opposite Turpin so what if the Cowboys disguise which side of the field Turpin is on?

If both return men begin the process positioned in the middle of the field, making a break to their respective sides only when the kicking motion has begun, they will remove the kicking team’s ability to target specific players. It would give Turpin a 50-50 shot at returning the ball which would be a marked improvement over what he’s getting today.

What the Cowboys can’t do is keep allowing teams to dictate the terms of a return because they’re just going to keep targeting the man not named “Turpin” every time. In that case the Cowboys might as well just take Turpin off the field altogether and replace him with an actual lead blocker since that’s all he’s been doing anyway.

It’s innovation time in Dallas. John Fassel and crew are facing a very predictable situation right now and they need to find ways to work around it.

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This is Juanyeh Thomas’s pathway to bigger role with Cowboys

Juanyeh Thomas has special qualities as a zone defender that could get him a spot in the Cowboys safety rotation in 2024. | From @ReidDHanson

When the Cowboys added Juanyeh Thomas as an undrafted free agent (UDFA) in 2022, it wasn’t met with much fanfare throughout the base. Flashy, new draft picks and more notable UDFA’s, like Markquese Bell, carried most of the media attention. Aiding in Thomas’ invisibility was the logjam at the safety position ahead of him.  In addition to Bell, the Cowboys had Jayron Kearse, Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson all clearly positioned ahead of him on the depth chart. There wasn’t much reason for the general public to know who the former Georgia Tech safety was at that point in time.

In summer of 2023 that all changed. With the logjam at safety still firmly in place, Thomas forced onlookers to acknowledge his presence. A strong training camp coupled with a handful of highlight plays in the preseason ensured Thomas a spot on the final roster and a place in the hearts and minds of Cowboys Nation thereafter.

Now entering his third professional season, Thomas still has a significant hill to climb. Kearse may be gone but Wilson, Hooker and Bell are more entrenched than ever before. Carving out a bigger role on defense isn’t going to be easy. The Cowboys aren’t expected to run as many nickel and dime looks in 2024 so the overall snaps at the safety position are likely to drop. Thomas will need to show special qualities if he hopes to build on his 190 defensive snaps from a season ago.

Thomas, 6-foot-1, 212-pounds, isn’t a physically imposing presence. He’s highly athletic and fluid in his movements but he’s not explosive or burner fast. He’s struggled with man coverage assignments dating back to college and isn’t an optimal fit to cover receivers or tight ends out of the slot as many safeties often do.

But it’s what he does do well that could carve him out a niche on the Dallas defense. And the regime change at defensive coordinator could help make that possible.

Mike Zimmer is the new head honcho on defense in 2024. The former Vikings coach brings with him more split safety looks and greater demand on his secondary.

In Geoff Collins’ scheme at Georgia Tech, Thomas was often asked to play various coverage safety roles. From single high to different split looks, Thomas was well versed in a number of roles. These where roles he executed well, and these are the roles that could see him get more opportunities for the Cowboys.

Taking a quick inventory of Dallas’ safety room, it appears there will be opportunities in the back half for a safety that can play in a 2-high role. Since Wilson and Bell are both at their best closer to the line of scrimmage, Thomas could find himself competing for snaps as 2-high safety alongside Hooker. It’s that role where his intelligence and consistency can win Zimmer over and it’s there where he could carve out a greater role in passing situations.

Thomas is unlikely to leap the other three safeties entirely but his ability to play zone coverage well and his proficiency in open field tackling should get him in a rotation.

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‘It’s going to get pretty dark’: Cowboys safety Juanyeh Thomas has advice for this year’s UDFAs

From @ToddBrock24f7: Thomas struggled on the practice squad for a full year before getting his big moment. He shares his journey and what to expect in 2024.

The NFL journey begins soon for a whole slew of Cowboys rookies, as minicamp will welcome in the eight players drafted by the club. But along with them will be those who didn’t have their name turned in on an index card. This year’s undrafted free agents may not have gotten the draft-day moment, but they’ll have the same opportunity to put a star on their helmet.

Juanyeh Thomas knows that route very well, and he has some words of wisdom for this year’s UDFA class.

“Stay committed to the grind,” Thomas said during an appearance on teammate Brock Hoffman’s The 8th Round podcast, so named because he similarly didn’t get the call during the seven rounds of the 2022 draft.

After going undrafted, Thomas recalled feeling extra pressure during camp. He knows this year’s crop of UDFAs will likely experience it, too.

“It’s going to get pretty dark, and you’re going to think that you aren’t useful to the team, but I’m telling you, a lot of things happen, man, and when your number’s called you’ve got to go take that [expletive], for real,” he offered. “Stay focused and stay locked in the whole time.”

Hoffman agreed. Originally signed by Cleveland, the Virginia Tech offensive lineman likened being an undrafted free agent to being a college walk-on.

“Nothing’s going to be given to you,” Hoffman explained. “You’re not going to have four or five chances to make the same mistake over and over again.”

Hoffman was cut by the Browns midseason in 2022 and joined the practice squad in Dallas. Thomas was already there, much to the safety’s surprise.

“I thought I was doing pretty solid,” the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket said of his rookie preseason. Despite notching an interception during the team’s final preseason contest, he failed to make the Cowboys 53-man roster.

“It was kind of like a punch to the gut,” he remembered. “I feel like that was really humbling. Then throughout the whole year, I was just- I’m not going to lie- I was in a dark place.”

Thomas thought his chance to finally step into the light was coming on Christmas Eve, in a home game versus Philadelphia. He was expecting to be elevated for the first time, but a knee injury suffered in midweek practice canceled those plans.

“They’re fixing to cut me,” he feared. “They’re going to bring in other people. I’ve done nothing to help the team as far as practice.”

Hoffman knows that feeling, too.

“When you’re on practice squad, it’s in the title: you’re there to practice,” he said. “And when you can’t practice, it’s kind of scary. Like, okay, if I get back healthy, are they going to cut me?”

Thomas’s fears, though, proved to be unfounded.

When his coaches told him he’d done “too many good things to be cut,” Thomas used that as motivation to start learning different positions on the defense, all part of an effort to make himself indispensable for 2023.

“No way I’m not making the 53-man roster,” he vowed.

The work paid off. Late last summer, head coach Mike McCarthy singled out Thomas as the player who had made the biggest leap from the previous year.

“That made me feel good but I couldn’t even look at it and relax, because we had a loaded safety room,” Thomas said. “I just had to keep making plays to separate myself.”

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He didn’t have to wait long. A surprise start in the 2023 opener against the Giants, Thomas made his presence felt early when he stuffed New York running back Saquon Barkley for no gain on a 1st-down run during the Giants’ first possession.

Three plays later, he kickstarted the Cowboys’ 40-point avalanche by blocking a field goal that was returned for a touchdown.

“Something- I don’t know if it was an angel that had jumped on my back, but I kid you not- I felt something different,” Thomas said of that play. “I jumped through the line untouched, and I said, ‘Oh, snap, I gotta block this.'”

After he did, everything changed.

“I feel like my whole life slowed down,” he recalled. “Everything was slo-mo.”

Since then, though, things have been a bit of a blur. Thomas went on to appear in all 17 games for the 2023 Cowboys. And though he didn’t log another start and sometimes played on special teams only, he showed more than enough to remain in the gameday lineup.

But now there’s a new defensive coordinator. And it’s time for the 23-year-old to prove himself all over again. Mike Zimmer comes back to Dallas with a long and storied defensive body of work, but he also comes with a reputation.

Thomas has already seen glimpses of it.

“That man likes what he likes and he likes it his way,” he told Hoffman.

But he’s also seen enough of the Cowboys’ new-look defense to make a promise for the coming season.

“If there’s one thing I’m going to tell the fans,” Thomas said with a smile, “it’s that we are going to stop the [expletive-expletive] run. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

For the undrafted free agent who waited a whole year on the practice squad and then used a backfield tackle on one of the league’s premier backs as his 2023 entrance, it’ll be just the next challenge to overcome.

“This season is do-or-die for everybody.”

For the Cowboys. For the coaches. For many of the team’s top players. For the new draft picks. For the undrafted free agents.

Maybe even for Thomas, too.

But it’s far from his first time facing those odds.

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Cowboys’ blocked FG ‘shut the lights out on’ Giants; Juanyeh Thomas knew it was coming

From @ToddBrock24f7: The 2022 UDFA said CJ Goodwin told him he’d have a chance at a block; Thomas was one of several young Cowboys players who stepped up big.

Noah Igbinoghene scored the Cowboys’ first points of the season. Markquese Bell led the team in tackles on opening night in primetime. KaVontae Turpin rolled the scoreboard over to a fortyburger.

Not exactly household names to the casual Sunday Night Football viewer who tuned in hoping to see fantasy-type numbers from the likes of Prescott, Pollard, and Lamb. But the contribution of the team’s lesser-known players may turn out to be the key to getting the whole squad- superstars and all- over the hump in 2023.

They sure were in Week 1.

“We had a number of young guys who played big,” McCarthy told reporters in his postgame press conference. “I’m just really thrilled to see our young guys. They’re ready, and you can see it here, just in our first game. I thought we had a lot of production from our young players.”

None made a bigger splash than safety Juanyeh Thomas, whose blocked field goal not only ended the Giants’ opening possession but put the live ball on the turf, where the aforementioned Igbinoghene scooped it up and raced toward the end zone, 58 yards away.

Thomas also provided a key block on New York kicker Graham Gano, sending him under the wheels of holder Jamie Gillan and ultimately freeing Igbinoghene to score.

Incredibly, the undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech who spent the 2022 season on the Dallas practice squad said he had a feeling he’d have the chance to do something special in front of a nationwide audience.

“[Special teams ace] CJ Goodwin told me before the game that it was going to be open,” Thomas explained to reporters when asked about his first batted kick since high school. “So as soon as I saw it, I jumped right through and just blocked it.”

It was a massive play to start the game, triggering a Dallas avalanche that quickly turned into a blowout and ended with the biggest shutout win in Cowboys franchise history.

“It was definitely huge for us,” DeMarcus Lawrence agreed following the 40-0 victory. “I feel like their offense came out strong, they were driving the ball real well. Once we got that turnover, it feels like we shut the lights out on them.”

The big moment- and a strong performance the rest of the night- may have shined a new light on Thomas, a 23-year-old Florida native who is looking to make an impact among a talented group of Cowboys defensive backs.

“Juanyeh came in this camp, really balled out during camp, all preseason. And now he’s coming in and making big plays for this team,” linebacker Micah Parsons said at his locker. “The more he keeps growing, the more he’s going to keep making a name for himself.”

Thomas got the start Sunday due to the absence of Donovan Wilson, who is nursing a calf injury. But Parsons says Thomas and the rest of the Cowboys’ newer players have readily adopted the next-man-up mentality that they know could put any of them on the field at any moment, where they’ll be expected to show out just like a starter.

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“That’s the standard,” Parsons explained, “I think since I came in, there was no dropoff. We were like, ‘We need guys to come in and compete.’ And we all share our wisdom, push each other to get better. We stay on each other, whether you’re a first-year guy, a 10-year guy, a fifth-year guy; it doesn’t matter. I think everyone has the same standard and the same commitment.”

And the veterans definitely notice when the pups show they have the bite to match their bark.

“That’s a bunch of dogs,” safety Jayron Kearse said. “There’s really not much to say about it. It’s just a bunch of dogs. You see it on film. When you turn the tape on, from the top to the bottom, we’ve got guys that are going to get after it. I’m proud of my young guys.”

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LOOK: Cowboys open season with blocked field goal TD

The Cowboys’ special teams opens up the scoring on the season with a special play in Gotham.

Mike McCarthy made it a point early in the offseason to mention the second-year jump UDFA safety Juanyeh Thomas had made. Therefore it was no surprise for those paying attention when the Georgia Tech product made the 53-man roster.

Active for the first time in his career, it took exactly one drive for Thomas to make an impact. After the Giants drove into the red zone, Thomas came up and stopped Saquon Barkley for a no-gain rush. A few plays later the Giants were kicking a field goal when Thomas came through with the block. Noah Igbinoghene, traded for right before the season began, scooped the ball and raced 58 yards for the season’s opening score.

Dallas missed the extra point when rookie Brandon Aubrey pushed it wide left and Dallas has an early 6-0 lead.

Is there room for Juanyeh Thomas on the Cowboys roster?

Thomas has been one of the Cowboys best performers of the preseason but with a crowded position group, his future isn’t certain, says @ReidDHanson.

On August 29, NFL teams are required to cut their rosters down to 53. Like every other team in the league, the Cowboys have some tough decisions on their hands. Every position they go long requires they go short at another position. Since some positions require more personnel than others, it’s not about getting the best 53 players, but rather the right 53 players.

Special teams and overall versatility always play a role, making predictions a tough task for even the most plugged-in NFL minds. One player who stands firmly on the bubble is former Georgia Tech safety, Juanyeh Thomas.

Thomas was one of the first shinning stars of training camp for the Cowboys. After Donovan Wilson was lost to injury, Thomas stepped up into a more prominent role and quickly turned heads.

At 6-foot-3, 217 pounds, Thomas fits the Cowboys’ prototype. He’s big enough to play the run, fast enough to play the pass, long enough to stay with TEs and limber enough to cover RBs and WRs. He’s exactly what Dan Quinn loves in a safety.

Thomas continued his hot training camp with some standout performances in the preseason. He hasn’t been flawless but he’s made big plays and flashed the same traits he showed throughout training camp, essentially legitimizing his play this summer.

Not only has he been a capable safety option both deep and in the box, but he’s also been a weapon on special teams (a requirement for a down roster DB).

Thomas has been one of the biggest surprises of the summer and is doing everything he can to ensure he gets a roster spot in 2023, but is it enough?

Unfortunately, the numbers at the Cowboys safety position are working against him. Malik Hooker, Donovan Wilson and Jayron Kearse are locks and Markquese Bell is in the mix to replace the injured DaMarvion Overshown in many packages. There’s also Israel Mukuamu who is a versatile player capable of traditional safety roles as well as nickel CB.

With those five players, Thomas must either convince the Cowboys to keep six safeties or he must beat out Bell or Mukuamu (which is no small task because the Cowboys love them).

Six is more than Dallas traditionally keeps, but this is also more talent than they traditionally have.

Given Thomas’ play in the preseason, he’s probably going to be tough to sneak onto the practice squad. Then again, that’s something that’s said every year in Cowboys camp and more often than not, they find a way to get it done.

It’s going to be really tough to leave the 23-year-old Thomas off the Cowboys roster. He’s proven to be a valuable weapon on both defense and special teams and is one of the best success stories of training camp.

A case can be made he’s actually SAF4 and not the one fighting for the sixth spot. Either way, the Cowboys have tough decisions to make in their secondary and a very good player is going to find himself on the wrong side of the bubble as a result.

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