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Rene Konga #90 is scheduled to visit the Dallas Cowboys.
Assuming the Dallas Cowboys stick with their current unwillingness to spend much real money in free agency–and considering the fact that all top options are off the board anyway that will be the case–the team will enter the NFL draft with a number of needs that must be filled. They’ll have two first-round picks to help address those needs, but won’t have another pick until the third round.
As things stand, Dallas will be putting too much pressure on the draft to fill roster holes, which won’t allow the Cowboys to adjust their strategy to the way the draft flows. It’s not a situation any team likes to be in, but with gaping holes at linebacker, edge rusher and cornerback, the Cowboys won’t have much choice.
Still, the Cowboys front office does pride itself on finding diamonds in the rough, and they have had some successes in unearthing those kinds of players, either in later rounds or as undrafted free agents. And we may have gotten a hint that they’re looking at a sleeper pick: Louisville defensive lineman Rene Konga, who is slated to have a Top 30 visit with Dallas.
Rene Konga Will Visit With the Cowboys
As sleepers go, Konga is a bit of a Rumpelstiltskin. Don’t bother looking up his NFL combine measurements and testing results–he was not invited to the combine. He is not among the NFL.com Top 100 players list. He is not even on Pro Football Focus’s Top 450 list, which puts beyond the realm of a fringe player to even be drafted. The Cowboys appear to be using a Top 30 visit on a guy who almost certainly destined to go undrafted.
But Sports Illustrated’s Justin Melo reported on Monday: “Sources: The Dallas Cowboys will be hosting Louisville DL Rene Konga on a pre-draft 30 visit. Konga played in the @TheAmericanBowl and was later called up to the @SeniorBowl.”
Konga is a 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive lineman who played 21 games in three seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Louisville, where he played 23 games over the last two seasons. He was second-team All-ACC in 2025.
No Budget-Busting Here
While there have been high hopes for the improvement of the Cowboys’ defense, there has more recently been disappointment as the team failed to add the big-time contributors many fans were expecting when owner Jerry Jones said the team would “bust the budget” to add defensive help.
The budget has not been busted, and the Cowboys will hope that the new defensive system drawn up by defensive coordinator Christian Parker will be enough to improve a league-worst defense. Maybe shrewd additions, like the potential addition of Konga, could get the Cowboys there.
Here’s the view on Konga from SI.com: “A midseason injury slowed down Konga a little bit, but there’s no denying that he made a huge difference for Louisville last season. While he only logged only 20 tackles, three for loss and 2.5 sacks, he still made an impact when it came to disrupting opposing offenses. His PFF grade of 76.0 was sixth-highest on the defense (min. 100 snaps).”
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Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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