3 surprise Cowboys 2026 preseason roster cuts to watch out for before Week 1

While the Dallas Cowboys deal with players’ temperaments, a certain coach has been losing sleep preparing for the season. And with tough roster decisions coming, here are three surprise preseason roster cuts to watch before Week 1 of the 2026 season.

Like many NFL teams, the Cowboys have a solid roster. That makes the trim-down pretty difficult. Will they make all of the right calls?

Edge rusher Sam Williams

This would definitely be a surprise. Williams has shown some juice in previous seasons. And it won’t be an easy call.

Williams said he’s ready to rock under first-year defensive coordinator Christian Parker, according to kltv.com.

“I like this game,” Williams said. “Like I said, this is where I started in this kind of scheme at Ole Miss. I was very successful at that. And I feel like I’m gonna be very successful at this scheme.”

He said he’s going to be dragged down by people saying he might not make the 53-man roster.

“I took all the reports, all the negative comments, everything,” Williams said. “And I took it in, and I looked at myself in the mirror. Because you can’t get better unless you know what you’re doing wrong. So everything that I’ve seen, I try to fix. Like even in my room, it’s written on the mirror.

“At the end of the day, I just took all the negatives and, you know, look myself in the mirror. Not blaming no one else and just work. Just work, work, work. Put my head down and let my work speak for itself.”

But the cold, hard truth is the edge rusher room. Adding Von Miller to the mix pushed Williams down a notch. The Cowboys have Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Von Miller, Malachi Lawrence, and James Houston. A case can be made that all of them are ahead of Williams.

So Williams needs to have the Cowboys keep six at the position. But it may not happen. And that leaves Williams potentially headed for surprise-cut land.

Safety Markquese Bell

It didn’t help his cause when the Cowboys drafted Caleb Downs. And it wasn’t just because Downs would move into the starting lineup. Downs will eat up a huge share of snaps. And that means less reason for the Cowboys to keep more than five players at the position.

Jalen Thompson, Malik Hooker, P.J. Locke, and Julius Wood are ahead of Bell. However, Bell’s versatility gives him a shot. Also, though, Bell’s arrest earlier this year doesn’t help his cause if he’s right on the roster bubble. And it appears he is.

Bell said he’s working hard and trying, according to dallascowboys.com.

“Always room to improve,” Bell said. “Always room to get better. I wouldn’t say I’ve peaked yet. So I want to keep going.”

Bell said he’s using all of the advantages available to him, including the coaching staff.

“They’re great coaches,” Bell said. “Especially on the back end. They got great schemes. And they know the game. It’s great to learn from them.”

QB Joe Milton III

There’s still plenty of fight left in Milton. He’s battling hard with Sam Howell for the backup spot to Dak Prescott. And at the end of the month, he might stick. But the Cowboys seem to prefer the potential steadiness of Howell as opposed to the high ceiling of Milton.

Milton may get his chance against the Cardinals in Saturday’s preseason game, but offensive coordinator Klayton Adams is keeping his cards close to the vest in terms of who will start, according to RoundtableSports via Yahoo.

“We’ve had discussions about it, we haven’t made any definite decision about this weekend,” Adams said.

Adams said Milton has been doing the right things.

“I’d say just based on the way that he played, he definitely responded the right way,” Adams added. “I think Schotty said it after the game, but he looked under control, and to be honest with you, that’s what we’ve seen most of camp.

“Just like any player, there’s going to be a couple of up moments and down moments. What we’ve seen mostly from Joe has been growth and consistency.”

Whoever gets the nod, they will be one play away from taking over one of the top offenses in the NFL. It could be a career-changing experience for Howell or Milton if Prescott went down with an injury.

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