Should the Cowboys decide to switch things up schematically under new DC Christian Parker, Thomas could be a great fit in an odd front. And the wider he plays off the line, the better chance he has to get those game-changing rushes that Dallas\u2019 defense is searching for.<\/p>\n
LB: Jake Golday, Cincinnati<\/p>\n
Golday is a massive, athletic defender at 6\u20194, 240 pounds and still has lots of room for growth. He flies to the football, and while diagnosing plays is something he\u2019ll need the reps to improve at, has all the tools necessary to continue putting up big tackle numbers.<\/p>\n
With 104 total tackles in 2025, Golday led the Bearcats\u2019 defense in tackles by a margin of 31. He was also tied for the team lead in sacks with 3.5 and is aggressive to work off blocks both at the second level and when chasing the quarterback in the backfield.<\/p>\n
While Golday may not be a first-round option, should the Cowboys acquire a Day 2 pick in some form or fashion and still have a need at linebacker, Golday could be a player that makes sense with good testing numbers at the combine.<\/p>\n
DB: Keith Abney, Arizona State<\/p>\n
A versatile corner who can play in the slot on the inside or on the boundary, Abney is an aggressive, relentless defender against the run and the pass and is always looking for a way to make a play on the football.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, that can look like being a bit handsy in coverage or biting on double moves, which Abney will need to work on. There\u2019ll be questions about his frame, but a good week of athletic testing has the ability to nullify some concerns there.<\/p>\n
At the end of season press conference, Jerry Jones said he underestimated how much of an impact Jourdan Lewis made in the slot for Dallas. If they find a way to select Abney, he could be a similar kind of player in terms of competitiveness and physicality that he plays with in the slot, but also is flexible enough to move outside if the Cowboys feel there\u2019s a better option for the slot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Should the Cowboys decide to switch things up schematically under new DC Christian Parker, Thomas could be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,932,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-161598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-cowboys-news","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}