The thing about double-teams is that they\u2019re unavoidable. Most plays, the numbers are engineered to work in an offense\u2019s favor, so someone has to face it. In 2025 it was a surprising collection of defenders who had the highest double-team rate for the Cowboys and unfortunately two of those players are no longer in Dallas here in 2026.<\/p>\n
As hard as it is to believe, the Cowboy who demanded the highest double-team rate was Solomon Thomas. Based on PFF play tracking,<\/a> Thomas\u2019 67.40 double-team percentage was 12th in the NFL. For a guy that only played 227 pass rush snaps that\u2019s pretty good. Thomas moved on to the Tennessee Titans<\/a> over the offseason and no longer factors into the Cowboys\u2019 equation this year.<\/p>\n The second most double-teamed lineman in Dallas was Kenny Clark. His production might have dipped in 2025 but respect from offenses remain intact. Clark is back in 2026, but his role in Christian Parker\u2019s system is a source of concern.<\/a> Clark may have to man the nose tackle spot in the 3-4 if other options don\u2019t work out. It will guarantee a heavy dose of doubles but will take a chunk out of his pressures in the process. \u00a0<\/p>\n In his time split between the New York Jets and the Cowboys, Quinnen Williams was double-teamed at a rate of 65.6 percent. It\u2019s not far off from the league leaders and he saw a good deal of success through it all. Great things are expected of him in 2026, so he represents the hope for the new season.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n The fourth Cowboy defender on the list is Osa Odighizuwa. Like Thomas, he\u2019s no longer with the team and will need to be replaced internally. It just so happens Odighizuwa was chipped at a higher rate than the previous three, but he typically posted good numbers as an interior pass rusher despite it all.<\/p>\n Interior players dominated the list. It shouldn\u2019t be surprising since the nature of their technique almost guarantees high double-team numbers. Good interior players who demand attention means edge players get to operate in space more often. It seems to be the blueprint of the Cowboys’ roster but requires dominant and feared interior players to make it work.<\/p>\n Players Dallas hopes to replace Thomas and Odighizuwa in this double-team category will be the likes of Jonathan Bullard, Otito Ogbonnia and LT Overton. Bullard only commanded double-teams 49.14 percent of the time last season while Ogbonnia didn\u2019t even register. Between those two and the rookie Overton, someone has to step up and do the dirty work in 2026.<\/p>\n Being an NFL pass rusher ain\u2019t easy. Not only do most have a size disadvantage versus offensive linemen, but they\u2019re asked to execute without knowledge of the play called or the snap count that puts it all in motion. To make matters worse, good pass rushers routinely face low blocks, chips and double-teams. It seems everything is slanted in the offense\u2019s favor, and all a defense can do is learn to roll with the punches.<\/p>\n This all might be much to do about nothing and everything might work out fine, but losing two of the top four double-teamed players from last season seems at least a little noteworthy as we enter the preseason. \u00a0<\/p>\n You can follow Reid on X\u00a0@ReidDHanson<\/a>\u00a0and be sure to follow\u00a0Cowboys Wire on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aug. 1, 2026, 2:00 p.m. CT Despite posting a league-leading 31.2 pressure rate, the Dallas Cowboys only ranked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[33,102,104,103,103483,10132,10133,44,116390,3560,4585,1593,1576,2619,3563,42,22810,46,5008,36],"class_list":["post-394954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-accessfree","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-sourcecowboys-wire","tag-sstssportsnflcowboys","tag-sstsncowboys","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagjonathan-bullard","tag-tagkenny-clark","tag-tagmicah-parsons","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagosa-odighizuwa","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagquinnen-williams","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtennessee-titans","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394954","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=394954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/86373428007-square-1.jpg\")