<\/p>\n
Dallas Cowboys linebacker James Houston (center) walks between drills with linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (left) during a training camp practice on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Oxnard, Calif.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
OXNARD, Calif. \u2014 Jadeveon Clowney led the Cowboys<\/a> in sacks last season with 8 \u00bd. It was a significant number considering who the Cowboys had and didn\u2019t have (Micah Parsons) on the roster.<\/p>\n Clowney wasn\u2019t re-signed in the offseason, and this week he inked a deal with the Houston Texans<\/a>, a team that made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2014.<\/p>\n The player who was second to\u00a0Clowney in sacks in 2025 wasn\u2019t traded or cut in the offseason. He was left on the roster, but most likely won\u2019t start and is part of a rotation of players being asked to rush the passer.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Houston finished with 5 \u00bd sacks last year. He also had a career-high 13 quarterback hits. The sack total is the second-most of his career\u00a0\u2014 he had eight in his rookie season with the Detroit Lions.<\/p>\n While Donovan Ezeiruaku<\/a> and Rashan Gary<\/a> are getting first-team reps at outside linebacker in the new 3-4 scheme, Houston is right behind them making plays.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unofficially, Houston has three sacks in five training camp practices. He continues to use a variety of moves he learned from Clowney and Parsons to help in his game.<\/p>\n Houston isn\u2019t changing his approach going into the 2026 season with new defensive coordinator Christian Parker and defensive line coach Marcus Dixon.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI try not to do things like that just because it\u2019s a process every year,\u201d Houston said. \u201cYou got to put in the same work. You\u2019re always trying to get better, you\u2019re always trying to improve, but the work doesn\u2019t change. So the approach isn\u2019t really too much different. It\u2019s always trying to get better as [much] as I possibly can. My goal has always been a sack a game. That\u2019s going to be it until I\u2019m done playing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to say Houston is a forgotten man around the Cowboys. In the\u00a0offseason, the Cowboys tried to obtain Maxx Crosby in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders. The Cowboys traded a 2027 fourth-round pick for Gary. With the scheme change, moving from a 4-3 to a 3-4 alignment, several pass rushers switched positions.<\/p>\n Sam Williams,\u00a0Marist Liufau, Houston and Ezeiruaku moved from defensive end to outside linebacker.<\/p>\n For Houston, the switch wasn\u2019t a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston has also played in a 3-4 scheme and isn\u2019t afraid to rush on the outside. There was a sequence in training camp practice where he made a spin move past left tackle Tyler\u00a0Guyton to reach the quarterback.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On another play, Houston used his quickness to beat the tackle, which prompted quarterback Sam Howell to throw the ball into the ground, knowing this pass play was dead.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, James has a lot of just natural pass rush ability,\u201d Parker said. \u201cHe\u2019s low cut. He\u2019s not tall, but he has a long torso. He\u2019s low cut, so he can make those moves. He can get his foot in the ground and make counters very quickly. He\u2019s very aggressive to rush. And for his size, he does have a physical capacity to him. So we like his urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s work in training camp is another example of him taking advantage of his opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was just hard work. Finally getting the opportunity to get back on the field,\u201d Houston said. \u201cI think that\u2019s just a combination of things that went on. Micah leaving, just giving me that opportunity. I think just all those combination of things kind of allowed me to just get on the field a little bit more and show what I have.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2025 season was difficult for the Cowboys. They finished with 35 sacks, tied for 26th in the NFL. Houston doesn\u2019t want to live through that nightmare of a season again.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty tough,\u201d he said. \u201cThe defense just wasn\u2019t doing as well as we thought we should have. It was pretty rough.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving forward, as attention on the pass rush goes toward Gary and Ezeiruaku, don\u2019t forget about Houston and what he provides.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s the one thing that we try to emphasize, that get off on the ball, closing that space between you and the tackler,\u201d Parker said. \u201cYou and the guard, whoever\u2019s blocking you on that given [play] and [the] play is critical in terms of making them uncomfortable. And he already has that\u00a0mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys linebacker James Houston (center) walks between drills with linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (left) during a training camp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,93042,124547],"class_list":["post-398767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-tp-dallas-cowboys","tag-tp-training-camp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398767","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=398767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n