![\"Donovan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dallas-cowboys-v-new-england-patriots-foxborough-massachusetts-october-17-donovan-e1785343841664.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Dallas Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson. <\/p>\n
One former high-profile Dallas Cowboys<\/a> starter might be headed for a fresh start with the defending Super Bowl champions.<\/p>\n \u201cFormer Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson<\/a> is working out today for the Seahawks<\/a>,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter wrote<\/a> on his official X account on Wednesday. \u201cSeattle\u2019s defensive coordinator Aden Durde coached Wilson in Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson, 31, was a 6th-round pick (No. 213 overall) by the Cowboys in the 2019 NFL Draft<\/a> who became the starter in his 2nd season and held that role for the next 6 seasons. He just played out the entirety of the 3-year, $21 million contract he signed with the Cowboys before the 2023 season.<\/p>\n Wilson started all 15 regular-season games he played for the Cowboys in 2025 and was 1 of the NFL\u2019s worst safeties. According to Pro Football Focus<\/a>, Wilson\u2019s 50.6 overall grade for the 2025 season placed him 88th out of 98 eligible NFL safeties.<\/p>\n Cowboys Secondary Shredded in 2025<\/p>\n had the worst defense in the NFL in 2025, and much of that struggle fell squarely on the shoulders of the secondary \u2014 most notably cornerback\u00a0Trevon Diggs<\/a> and Wilson.<\/p>\n Watching the 2 get cooked by\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0wide receivers all year was its own special kind of torture. Diggs, when he actually played, was terrible. He was eventually waived on December 30 after refusing to board a team flight home from an away game on the East Coast<\/p>\n Wilson wasn\u2019t much better.<\/p>\n Both players are still looking for new jobs following the start of training camp and were still ranked among ESPN\u2019s \u201cTop Free Agents Available\u201d<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n Diggs, 27, was the youngest player to make the list at No. 13.<\/p>\n \u201cDiggs has played in just 22 games over the past three seasons, and he was released by the Cowboys and\u00a0Packers<\/a>\u00a0this past season,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Matt Bowen wrote. \u201cHowever, teams could see Diggs as a reclamation project with his playmaking eyes in the secondary. He has had 20 career interceptions, including a league high of 11 in 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson came in at No. 17 on ESPN\u2019s list. Unlike Diggs, he has been durable. Wilson played at least 15 games each of the last 4 seasons and played all 17 games twice, in 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cWilson is a box\/split-field safety who plays with a tone-setting mentality,\u201d Bowen wrote. \u201cHe can also mix it up in the run front or match up with tight ends in coverage. Wilson had 71 tackles and two interceptions last season.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the frustration on the part of the Cowboys and their fans was the combined $118 million in contracts the duo signed before the 2023 season \u2014 a 5-year, $97 million contract extension for Diggs and the 3-year, $21 million contract extension for Wilson.<\/p>\n Cowboys Signed $33 Million Free Agent Safety<\/p>\n The Cowboys made 2 huge investments in the secondary this offseason, using the No. 11 overall pick in the 1st round of the 2026\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0draft on Ohio State safety\u00a0Caleb Downs<\/a>\u00a0and dropping a 3-year, $33 million free-agent contract on safety\u00a0Jalen Thompson<\/a> \u2014 Wilson\u2019s replacement for all intents and purposes as Downs will start his career at the slot cornerback position.<\/p>\n Pro Football Focus singled out the deal<\/a>\u00a0for Thompson as 1 of their favorite NFL free-agent signings.<\/p>\n \u201cThompson was among the most consistent and most underrated safeties in the NFL while playing alongside\u00a0Budda Baker<\/a>\u00a0in Arizona,\u201d PFF\u2019s Zolton Buday wrote. \u201cThe Washington State product has earned a PFF overall grade between 68.0 and 72.0 in five of his past six seasons. His 69.2 PFF coverage grade this past season ranked 26th among 93 safeties. Plus, he will be only 28 years old when the 2026 campaign kicks off.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Dallas Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson. One former high-profile Dallas Cowboys starter might be headed for a fresh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-390864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390864","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=390864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}