Tag: Nahshon Wright

Predicting 7 players Cowboys will make inactive vs Buccaneers

Here’s @KDDrummondNFL taking a look at the Cowboys roster, where they have surplus and what their strategy might be in choosing the group that will be inactive.

The Dallas Cowboys have announced their 55-man talent pool they have to choose from for Sunday night’s season opener against the Pirate Ship Brady. Of course NFL rules don’t allow the club to bring all 55 players into the water, rather they have to leave some of their roster on the sideline, playing dress up, hopefully getting motivated to force their way to the game-day roster.

For now though, the Cowboys coaching staff led by Mike McCarthy has another job to do, after the week worth of swim lessons. He and the coordinators will have a battle over which seven end-of-roster guys will be best served staying on the beach.

Starting in the 2020 season, game-day active rosters, which used to be limited to 46 players per team, can be bumped up to 48, as long as at least eight of those 48 are offensive linemen. The Cowboys have eight lineman on the regular roster, and all three backups are much needed. Here’s our best guess at the seven players, who almost to a man have waited all offseason for their chance to play, just to get it snatched from them in a numbers game.

Secret Superstars for Week 3 of the 2022 NFL preseason: The defense

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar lets you in on the most prominent under-the-radar defensive performances in the final week of the 2022 NFL preseason.

With final cuts just around the corner (all teams must reduce their rosters to 53 by Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. EST), and the 2022 regular season starting Thursday, September 8, anybody who doesn’t have a lock on a starting job tends to see the final week of the preseason as a sort of Hunger Games. At this point, you’re not just trying to impress your coaches and your teammates — you’re just trying to hang onto the roster spot you have, or give enough of an effort to make other teams aware. Perhaps one of those teams will pick you up if you do get cut.

Our Secret Superstars list for that final week of the preseason has a lot of guys who may have either evaded the Turk (the guy who comes to your room, knocks on your door, and quietly asks you to bring your playbook to the head coach’s office to let you know you’re off the team), or have done enough to eliminate any doubt as to their veracity as starters in the league.

The clock is ticking, oxygen is getting thin, and it’s all about to be for real. Here are the under-the-radar players who did the most to advance their cases for themselves in Week 3 of the 2022 preseason. Since there were so many of them this week, we’re splitting the list into two parts. The Secret Superstars All-Offense team is right here.

Secret Superstars for Week 3 of the 2022 NFL preseason: The offense

WATCH: Wright’s timely INT leads to Grier-Fehoko TD strike for Cowboys

The Cowboys 2nd forced turnover led to a late first-half TD that narrowed the gap in the preseason finale. | From @CDBurnett7

This preseason hasn’t been a friendly one to cornerback Nahshon Wright but he finally got some redemption late in the first half against the Seahawks. The Cowboys 2021 third-round pick has been picked on at times in the preseason but found himself on the other end of an errant throw from Seattle’s Drew Lock. The Seahawks were beginning their two-minute drill but Wright stopped the momentum right after a 22-yard gain put them near midfield.

Wright’s interception is the second of the game for the Cowboys, the first being by safety Israel Mukuamu in the first quarter. Wright started the big play on the outside and read Lock’s eyes to slip down to the receiver underneath and the Seattle quarterback never saw him.

The takeaway set up the Dallas offense in strong field position at the Seahawks 31-yard line. With a 13-3 deficit, the Cowboys took the opportunity to close the gap. Quarterback Will Grier got the drive rolling with a 16-yard scramble and finished it with a strike to wide receiver Simi Fehoko, who was wide open in the back of the end zone.

The touchdown is Grier’s first of the preseason and Fehoko’s second.  Heading into halftime, the Cowboys made it a 13-10 game with plenty of time in their final preseason contest.

If Cowboys go BPA, Auburn CB Roger McCreary could be too good to pass up

Tyler Browning ( @DiabeticTyler ) takes a dive into the film of the player who would lock down the opposite side of the field as Trevon Diggs.

The Dallas Cowboys have massively benefitted from a jump in play for second-year corner Trevon Diggs. But what about the rest of the CB position? Jourdan Lewis is locked in until the end of the 2023 season, and Anthony Brown’s deal expires following 2022. The Cowboys recently invested in Nahshon Wright with the 99th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and Kelvin “Bossman Fat” Joseph with the 44th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

What does the long term plan at the position look like for the Dallas Cowboys? Will Brown be re-signed? He will be 30 when he is looking for a new deal and Lewis will be 29. Will Wright and Joseph develop into quality starters? Can the Cowboys wait for those answers before addressing that position again? Many a wise person has said draft for talent as free agency is meant to fill for needs on your roster.

If Auburn cornerback Roger McCreary is available when the Cowboys are on the clock in the 2022 NFL Draft, they may be very tempted to take him. A dive into the tape to figure out why is necessary.

Cowboys’ rookie CB Nahshon Wright added to Reserve/COVID list

Rookie cornerback Nahshon Wright joins left tackle Terence Steele and head coach Mike McCarthy as the latest on the Reserve/COVID list. | From @StarConscience

The hits just keep on coming for the Dallas Cowboys. Rookie cornerback Nahshon Wright, a third-round pick, has been added to the Reserve/COVID list and will miss the Cowboys’ matchup Thursday night with the New Orleans Saints. He joins right tackle Terence Steele and head coach Mike McCarthy as the most recent members of the organization to contract the virus.

Wright has appeared in 10 games this season, logging five defensive snaps as and 208 on special teams. That’s where he had his only impact play of the season against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 10. Wright recovered a punt that was blocked by defensive end Dorance Armstrong for a touchdown in the Cowboys’ 43-3 blowout win.

The former Oregon State Beaver will now enter into a 10-day quarantine and will have to have two negative tests within 24 hours of each other to return to the team.

With the Cowboys looking to get past a recent slump, they certainly hope Wright is the last player to get COVID for the foreseeable future.

[lawrence-newsletter]

Cowboys’ Nahshon Wright on this week’s block recovery, ‘This time, it was behind the line’

Nahshon Wright had his hands on a blocked punt for the second straight week. This time, the ball bounced the rookie’s- and Dallas’s- way. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys’ Week 10 game versus Atlanta was seen as a chance to make up for what went wrong the week before. But one key moment was practically an instant replay for rookie cornerback Nahshon Wright.

Last Sunday, Wright was the victim of a bad bounce and a seldom-seen rule on a blocked punt, inadvertently giving the ball back to Denver with a new set of downs. Seven days later, the Cowboys special teams unit broke through to block another punt, and the aptly-named third-round draft pick once again found himself in just the Wright place at just the Wright moment.

“Great play by D.A. [Dorance Armstrong, who made the block], and again, I was able to see it get blocked. This time, it was behind the line of scrimmage, going towards the end zone,” Wright told reporters after the decisive 43-3 win. “I just jumped on it.”

The 23-year-old out secured the ball in the end zone, giving him his first career fumble recovery and his first career touchdown all in the same moment.

“I made sure I got in the end zone,” Wright told reporters, adding that it was his first time scoring since his freshman year at Laney College, the junior community college he attended before transferring to Oregon State as a sophomore.

It seems like the simplest thing, grabbing a loose football. But funny things can happen when that oblong starts ricocheting off moving bodies and solid turf. Had the ball bounced just a little differently last week, Wright might have scored then, too.

“The ball was coming my way, and I’m at the line of scrimmage,” Wright said last Sunday after being unable to find the handle on a Week 9 punt blocked by Malik Turner. “I know shouldn’t have touched it, but I was trying to scoop and score and make a play.”

The Broncos recovered that ball, and since Wright had touched it beyond the line of scrimmage, Denver was awarded possession along with a new set of downs. And the early-third-quarter moment that might have turned the tide in the rout of Dallas merely prolonged the carnage.

“No fault at all,” Turner said then, after the 30-16 Week 9 loss. “It’s all on us, and we’ll be in that position again, and it will go our way next time.”

He had no idea the “next time” would come almost exactly 168 hours later- and to the same teammate- as the Falcons attempted to stop the bleeding by flipping the field, down 28-3 as the first half was set to expire.

Armstong, in his first start for the injured Randy Gregory, burst through the Atlanta line and got to punter Dustin Colquitt’s foot almost before the football did.

“That was my first one ever,” Armstrong said of the block, “so I was pretty excited, pretty surprised. But it felt good.”

Not as good as it felt for Wright as he saw a chance to atone for his previous muff, simply by doing what he’s been doing in practice.

“Just making sure I know exactly what I need to do,” Wright explained. “Coach Bones [special team coordinator John Fassel], he encouraged me to continue to try to make plays so that way, something like this today, I’m not afraid to go and try to make a play. It was great to be out there and make that play today.”

Wright’s recovery and score capped a huge day for the Cowboys secondary. Three different defensive backs intercepted a throw, and the group logged 10 passes defensed while holding Atlanta to just 131 air yards and keeping them out of the end zone as the Cowboys completed a blowout win of their own.

“We talk about our group; we want to be a special group, on special teams or whenever we’re out there on the field. The DB’s are going to go out and represent what we stand for. I was happy for [Wright],” cornerback Jourdan Lewis said. “He stayed in the moment, he made the play. He wasn’t worried about last week. He was just worried about making the play.”

For Wright, though, that one play wasn’t just another rep.

“That might be up there. It felt good to get in the end zone.”

It had to feel even better since he had to wait a week to get there.

[vertical-gallery id=685732]

[listicle id=685829]

[listicle id=685837]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Lucky 7: CB Trevon Diggs, several other Cowboys get new jersey numbers

Trevon Diggs reverts to his old college number, while ‘Hard Knocks’ favorite Azur Kamara steps into a jersey full of rich Cowboys history. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys fans at home may well need a program come next Thursday night just to tell who’s who when the team takes the field in Tampa to kick off the 2021 season. Several jersey number changes were announced on Thursday.

Second-year cornerback Trevon Diggs will revert back to the No. 7 he wore at Alabama, taking advantage of the league’s new relaxed rule concerning single-digit jersey numbers. The No. 7 has been popular lately in Dallas; Ben DiNucci wore it most recently, kicker Lirim Hajrullahu also wore it for his short stint, and ex-punter Hunter Niswander had it prior.

But Diggs’s old No. 27 isn’t being abandoned. Safety Jayron Kearse will don that number moving forward, ditching No. 32.

Draft picks who survive camp and make it onto the regular roster are often issued new numbers as digit combos open up after cuts. Rookie linebacker Jabril Cox moves from No. 48 to No. 14, the number worn last year by backup quarterback Andy Dalton. First-year cornerback Nahshon Wright goes from No. 40 to No. 25. And defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa swaps his No. 75 for No. 97.

Undrafted linebacker and current Hard Knocks favorite Azur Kamara steps into a number with some historical significance. Having worn No. 43 thus far in his Cowboys football journey, he’ll switch to No. 54. That number, of course, has long been associated with some of the franchise’s biggest defensive names: Chuck Howley, Randy White, and- most recently- Jaylon Smith.

As noted by the team website’s Kyle Youmans, newly-signed quarterback Will Grier will adopt No. 3, while new running back Corey Clement will wear No. 43.

[vertical-gallery id=676907]

[listicle id=676929]

[listicle id=676961]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Nahshon Wright could be key to draft class as Cowboys swung for the fences

The Cowboys double-dipped at the corner store in a draft deep at the position. Did they make the right choice in the third round? That all depends on how quickly the Oregon State product can live up to his surprise draft pedigree. | From @NoHuddle

Draft day surprises are nothing new to seasoned NFL fans and in April’s annual event the expectations were that they would come early and often due to the pandemic wiping out such a large percentage of the data-gathering activities. For the Dallas Cowboys faithful, there was no more surprising selection than that of Oregon State cornerback Nahshon Wright who went pick No. 99 in the third round.

There was hemming and hawing, teeth gnashing and pen throwing as armchair experts decried the pick with their chests puffed out knowing for sure there were better prospects available. But for Dallas, and particularly defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, they coveted a played that fit their specific prototype.

Wright is tall and long. He measures 6-foor-4 and is seen as uniquely suited to the kind of Cover-3 defense the secondary will often find itself in. It was a unit in desperate need of a talent infusion and the rookie from the Pacific Northwest is looking to carve out a role for himself.

Our player profile countdown continues with No. 40, Nahshon Wright.

Kelvin Joseph, Nahshon Wright shine as young CBs stepped up in HOF game

The Cowboys seem to be taking a big risk with a young and inexperienced DB group, but the unit flourished in their first preseason game. Could more be on tap in short order? | From @Zeke_Barrera

The preseason version of a team often bears little resemblance to the one they field during the regular season, but the Dallas Cowboys foreshadowed what their secondary could be during the 2021 Hall of Fame Game. Dallas must replace 900 defensive snaps from last year between the offseason departures of Chidobe Awuzie, Daryl Worley, and Rashard Robinson, and will seemingly attempt to do so with mostly recent draft picks and low-budget veterans. For the first preseason game at least, the strategy looked like it could work.

It obviously wasn’t the sharpest of football being played, but the Cowboys defense still only allowed 18 Pittsburgh completions for 175 passing yards and a single touchdown over the entire game. It was the play of their most recently drafted cornerbacks, Kelvin Joseph and Nahshon Wright, that was most encouraging. The 2021 second and third rounders showed they can hold their own on the outside, spending a good chunk of the game as the Cowboys’ primary corners. There’s still a long way to go between now and the regular season, but the blueprint of what Dallas is attempting to build in their secondary was on full display.

Joseph seemed to have a smooth, quiet game that matched the recent and quick strides he’s made in training camp. There’s a real chance he pairs with Trevon Diggs sooner rather than later atop the team’s CB depth chart. The rookie gave up just two short receptions of seven and six yards, while immediately bringing down the pass catcher on each.

Wright’s night was more eventful, as he was the more frequently targeted corner by the Steelers passing attack. Wright did allow a 45-yard completion to WR Chase Claypool, but ran well with him down the sideline until a late push off created the separation for Claypool to make the catch.

He was again targeted on a deep shot later in the third quarter, but this time Wright forced the incompletion, playing aggressive, sticky coverage. He followed that up with an open-field tackle of WR Ray-Ray McCloud to force Pittsburgh off the field on the next play, capping off an impressive series for the DB in his first professional action.

In fact, Wright had the Cowboys’ defense best tackling grade on the evening for Pro Football Focus, a 79.0.

If Wright can similarly contribute like that at times during the regular season, he’d be a big boost to the Cowboys secondary.

However, Joseph and Wright weren’t the only fresh faces making plays for the new-look Dallas secondary. Also having a solid game was 2020 fourth rounder Reggie Robinson recorded four total tackles and forced a fumble that nearly led to turnover in the third quarter.

These kinds of plays on the ball have been few and far between for the Cowboys in recent years, yet seemed almost routine in their preseason opener. It’s still way too early to draw any meaningful conclusions about how this defense will fare under Dan Quinn, but it’s at least encouraging sign for so many young players immediately step in and make contributions, even if only against preseason competition.

Given the premium placed on defending the pass, and the atypical approach Dallas has taken toward building their secondary, it’s hard to feel very confident about the Cowboys’ DB group, but it at least seemed like pieces to the puzzle were in place against Pittsburgh. The Cowboys have collected a small stable of young and hungry cornerbacks over the past two seasons, spending five draft picks (three in the Top 100) on the position since 2020.

Sprinkling in those players alongside veterans like Jourdan Lewis, Anthony Brown, Damontae Kazee, as well as FS lotto ticket Malik Hooker, might be enough to help keep the defense afloat this year, while also providing the foundation and valuable experience for the Dallas secondary of the future. The development of players like Joseph, Wright and whoever else emerges over the course of the season is crucial for the Cowboys, who must find answers for a secondary full of question marks. For one night at least, it seemed like everything could come together.

[listicle id=675195][vertical-gallery id=675198][lawrence-newsletter]

‘Finally get to make some contact:’ Cowboys players ready for first padded practice

Younger players are especially excited to put on pads in Oxnard, but coach Mike McCarthy wants to ensure that things don’t get too physical.

Let’s get physical.

Wednesday’s practice will have plenty of extra pop for the Cowboys in Oxnard as players will be wearing pads for the first time in 2021. And after Tuesday’s session, the last of four practices in just helmets and shorts, everybody is ready for football to feel more like football.

“The pads are coming,” head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters before Tuesday’s on-the-field session. “We all have time clocks in this training camp environment, and it’s time to get going. We’ve had three install practices where we’ve been able to do a lot of teaching, get a lot of drill work done, really focusing on the football as much as we possibly can. The game management- we’ve done more of that for the first three practices than the norm- but we’re really starting to get into some more football situations. Especially with the pads coming on tomorrow [Wednesday], I think the heightened importance of the O-line and D-line play definitely show up when you do put the pads on.”

For at least one of those linemen, defensive tackle Neville Gallimore, everything leading up to now has been just warm-up. The serious work begins when the pads go on.

“That’s what we’re looking for. That’s when the real training camp starts, for sure, ” the second-year man out of Oklahoma said Tuesday. “Tomorrow we get the pads on, we really get a chance to get that true feel. Obviously up the tempo, up the physicality. Personally, that’s what I’m looking forward to. You guys are going to see the real show tomorrow.”

Right guard Zack Martin, entering his eighth season, knows strapping on the pads is a big step in the yearly ritual of getting ready for opening day. This time it’s perhaps especially important for Martin, who missed a combined six games due to injury in 2020 and was even pressed into making a start at tackle along the way. But the six-time Pro Bowler says he’ll treat Wednesday as just another day at work.

“I think it’ll be good,” Martin said. “I think Coach has obviously done a nice job kind of getting our legs underneath us here with these four days. We’re moving pretty good out there. Obviously, it’ll be a little more physical tomorrow, but practice is pretty much practice.”

For younger players, padded practice is a second chance to make a first impression with the coaching staff. McCarthy admitted that the addition of pads flips a switch in some guys and helps coaches get a truer sense of the player.

“It always has, it always will,” McCarthy commented when asked if pads change the evaluation process. “Certain guys look better in pads than they do without pads. That’s the fact.”

One of those youngsters, though, has already turned heads in camp. Third-round pick Nahshon Wright has shown considerable promise at cornerback thus far. But the Oregon State product expects to still turn things up a notch further when the pads go on.

“I think it’ll get a little more physical,” Wright told 105.3 The Fan on Wednesday morning. “I think this is the reason why we play, because we like the physicality of the game. It’ll be good to be back in pads for the first time in a few months.”

But for all the hype about the Cowboys getting back into full football gear, McCarty and the staff are quick to point out that it’s still just practice. There will be no full-on tackling as the team follows new guidelines that specify a very deliberate ramp-up to tackle football.

“Some of these rules that have been put in place for the CBA, I think, are very healthy,” McCarthy said. “As a coach, there’s some things you’d like to adjust, but they do give you a teaching progression. And I think, like anything that you’re trying to do- whether you’re teaching footwork development or more of a spacing and open-field movement drill- you have to do that in an OTA, and then bring it to a heightened environment that we’re in without pads, and then go into pads. That’s a very good progression.”

McCarthy and the Cowboys were recently fined by the league for “excessive contact” during OTAs back in late May. Training camp thus far has been a largely hands-off affair. The absence of body armor has only helped the two-hand-touch vibe.

“They like to joke around and say ‘The Underwear Olympics,'” third-year safety Donovan Wilson laughed, “but tomorrow, we put the pads on. We’ll get to fly around and finally get to make some contact out there.”

Not too much, though. If the first day of training camp is like the first day of school, the first padded practice often results in a schoolyard brawl as players sometimes have different notions of how much contact is appropriate. Video clips always seem to surface of in-practice fights, but McCarthy hopes to keep what he calls “extracurricular activity” out of Oxnard.

“We’ll definitely talk about our first padded practice,” the coach offered. “I think it’s important to go through practice etiquette and the ethics of what go on in a padded practice. At the end of the day, the extracurricular activity- that was kind of cool in the ’90s, but I’m not cool anymore. It’s a waste of time… We want to get our work done, we want it done the right way. But I think some of those things that went on in the past, I don’t really have much patience for.”

McCarthy expects Cowboys practice to stay business-as-usual… even if the dress code officially changes starting Wednesday.

[listicle id=674366]

[listicle id=673606]

[listicle id=671208]

[lawrence-newsletter]