{"id":427953,"date":"2026-09-06T10:06:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/427953\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T10:06:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:06:55","slug":"predicting-the-5-dallas-cowboys-players-that-wont-suit-up-for-gameday-in-week-1-vs-new-york-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/427953\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting the 5 Dallas Cowboys players that won’t suit up for gameday in Week 1 vs. New York Giants"},"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 53-man roster is set. But if you\u2019re a football nerd like me you\u2019re probably wondering about the often-overlooked 48-man roster.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Oct
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOct 26, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Dallas Cowboys safety Alijah Clark (38) and cornerback Trikweze Bridges (25) react in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRon Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

I have a confession to make: I\u2019m a little bit of a roster nerd.<\/p>\n

With the Dallas Cowboys roster pretty much set (I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if some more maneuvering takes place over the next week), 53-man roster projections and the sort are behind us. Heck, the Cowboys even have a full practice squad right now. <\/p>\n

But my roster nerdiness is going down swinging. Now it\u2019s time to predict some inactives! You see, though the Cowboys have 53 players on the roster, only a maximum of 48 can be active on gameday.* In other words, the Cowboys will have a minimum of five inactive players when they take on the New York Giants in Week 1. I\u2019m here to predict who those five players will be. <\/p>\n

*Note: Per NFL rules, it\u2019s 47 players on the active gameday roster or 48 as long as you carry eight offensive linemen as part of those 48. <\/p>\n

All kidding aside, it\u2019s an intriguing excercise early in the year, as inactives aren\u2019t shaped by injuries yet (for the most part). Instead, it\u2019s mostly what we call \u201chealthy scratches.\u201d And looking at who they will be gives you a better idea as to who will take the field in the opener. Let\u2019s dive into the list. <\/p>\n

Cowboys projected inactives<\/p>\n

DT Jonathan Bullard: The Cowboys are betting on Bullard\u2019s experience and versatility. But he hasn\u2019t practiced since Aug. 4 due to injury (groin\/core) and I believe there will be a ramp up period before he plays. With Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark spearheading the group, I think the Cowboys can be patient with him. <\/p>\n

OL Drew Shelton: The fourth-round rookie is not NFL ready. His struggles in the preseason cannot be ignored by the Cowboys and I wouldn\u2019t expect him to play early on. Can he develop into a starting tackle? Maybe. But it will take time. For now, Shelton might be looking at many \u201chealthy scratch\u201d games barring any injuries. <\/p>\n

CB Caelen Carson: I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s room for Carson on the 48-man roster yet. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer has expressed special teams praise for safeties P.J. Locke, Markquese Bell, and Alijah Clark and it seems like Ameer Speed is the top special teams guy at cornerback. <\/p>\n

WR Camden Brown: Listen, I really want to see the undrafted rookie play. And he showed he can play special teams so I could very well be wrong. But with such a top-heavy group of wideouts and KaVontae Turpin and Jonathan Mingo already helping out on special teams, the rookie might have to be patient. <\/p>\n

S Alijah Clark: Special teams made Clark crack the 53-man roster but I\u2019m not sure the Cowboys carry six safeties on gameday. I was between he and OLB Tyrus Wheat, but Schottenheimer explicitly described the latter as a \u201cCore 4\u201d guy (meaning he can play punts and kickoffs both ways) and I\u2019m not sure Clark is that to the Cowboys. <\/p>\n

So there you have it. Hopefully the Cowboys stay as healthy as they are and it\u2019s only a handful of healthy scratches all season long. That\u2019s realistically impossible in the NFL, of course. <\/p>\n

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

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

Dallas Cowboys News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDallas Cowboys cash in on risky Joe Milton gamble as they get the best of both worlds\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys wanted Joe Milton back on the practice squad. And they\u2019re getting away with it after 48 hours of drama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys\u2019 53-man roster is set. But if you\u2019re a football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31093,102,113,104,103,99505],"class_list":["post-427953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-caelen-carson","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-drew-shelton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427953","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=427953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}