{"id":414729,"date":"2026-08-23T17:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T17:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/414729\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T17:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T17:26:11","slug":"the-dallas-cowboys-made-a-very-telling-yet-confusing-decision-before-their-preseason-game-vs-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/414729\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys made a very telling yet confusing decision before their preseason game vs Cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDallas Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys\u2019 decision to sit this veteran was surprising and raises some questions about the building of the 53-man roster. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Aug
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAug 22, 2026; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer looks on prior to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Kartozian-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys care about preseason football. Just not that much. All in all, the team decided to sit 29 players ahead of their second game of the preseason. Most names on that list aren\u2019t surprising. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys rested surefire starters, which is commonplace around the NFL these days. From stars like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb to first-round rookie safety Caleb Downs. But the list also included backups whose roster spots are \u201csecured.\u201d That includes safety P.J Locke and interior offensive lineman T.J. Bass. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one more name on the list Even those two aren\u2019t exactly a shocker but there\u2019s another one that was: safety Markquese Bell. <\/p>\n

Is Markquese Bell a roster lock? <\/p>\n

Bell went from playing in 59% of the defensive snaps in the preseason opener to not suiting up in Week 2 despite being healthy. Though it\u2019s not uncommon for NFL teams to feel vastly different about a player than fans and media, this is one I don\u2019t understand. <\/p>\n

Has Bell done enough to separate himself from other roster candidates like Julius Wood? It doesn\u2019t feel like it. <\/p>\n

The latter has been a standout throughout training camp and has played well through two preseason games (though he exited Saturday night\u2019s game<\/a> after seemingly entering the concussion protocol). Bell played well in the opener, but enough to win the competition? <\/p>\n

Not only that but that would mean the Cowboys sat Malik Hooker, Jalen Thompson, Caleb Downs, Locke, and Wood. Why sit your fourth and fifth safeties? Bell can\u2019t be that safe, can he? <\/p>\n

Two things working in favor of Bell: He was signed to a three-year deal in 2025 and was a special teams leader in 2025. Even still, that just doesn\u2019t seem like enough to warrant a place in the \u201cball cap club.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some in social media have speculated the Cowboys might be interested in moving Bell as part of a trade. Maybe that\u2019s the case but I quesiton how much value Bell would pull in the market. <\/p>\n

For now, it\u2019s a confusing decision that doesn\u2019t bode well for Wood\u2019s roster chances. We\u2019ll see how this turns out or if more information emerges regarding the decision to sit Bell. <\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Aug\t\t<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t7 Winners and 4 Losers from Cowboys Preseason Week 2: Multiple roster battles are over, biggest steal of the NFL draft?\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys got another preseason win but as usual, we care more about individual performances than the final score. Here are the winners and losers from Week 2 of the preseason. <\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys<\/a> Markquese Bell<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys\u2019 decision to sit this veteran was surprising and raises…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,113,104,103,18084],"class_list":["post-414729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-markquese-bell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414729","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=414729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}