Josh Butler

Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott Not Traveling With Team For Disciplinary Reasons

9:47pm: No single incident is believed to be at the heart of today’s move, per Hill, who adds Elliott attended practice today. Rather, tension between team and player has been building over a period of weeks before the decision was reached to keep him absent from the organization for Week 9. It will certainly be interesting to see how this situation develops moving forward.

3:10pm: The Cowboys will be short one of their two main rushers in Atlanta tomorrow as DLLS’ Clarence Hill Jr. reports that veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott will not be traveling with the team for this week’s game. ESPN’s Todd Archer adds that Elliott’s new game status is the result of “disciplinary reasons.”

While the loss may not seem critical, as Elliott has only accumulated 149 rushing yards in seven games this season, Elliott is the only running back on the team to score a rushing touchdown this year. He is responsible for two of the team’s three rushing scores all season. Stats like this underline how the Cowboys have ended up being the league’s 32nd-best running offense through eight weeks of football. With only 519 rushing yards on the season, the Cowboys are 113 yards behind the 31st-place Raiders and 1,081 yards behind the league-leading Ravens.

At 29 years old, Elliott is far-removed from his days of leading the league in rushing back in 2016 and 2018. He hasn’t rushed for 1,000 yards since 2021. Elliott has missed games with injury before and he’s been a healthy scratch in games before, but this is the first time Elliott will miss a game as a healthy scratch in a game that isn’t in the last week of the season.

With Elliott out, the league’s worst rushing offense will depend more heavily on starter Rico Dowdle, who has 246 rushing yards this season but adds an element through the air, as well, with 131 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. The only other active roster running back is the diminutive Deuce Vaughn, though the team has announced that it will elevate veteran rusher Dalvin Cook for the game tomorrow. Cornerback Josh Butler will join Cook for the week off of the practice squad.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC East

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These CommandersCowboysEagles and Giants moves are noted below.

Dallas Cowboys

Signed:

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

New York Giants

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Philadelphia Eagles

Signed:

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

Washington Commanders

Signed:

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

Cowboys Reduce Roster To 53 Players

After some late trades and signings, the Cowboys joined in the NFL’s mass exodus of players to get their roster down to 53 players:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

  • T Nathan Thomas

Placed on IR (designated for return):

A number of veterans who were hoping to make the team in Dallas this year saw that hope come to an end. Freeman couldn’t compete with the young backups behind Ezekiel Elliott. Lawson couldn’t contribute to a depleted defensive line, either.

Rogers, the team’s seventh-round pick out of Auburn, is the only drafted rookie to be waived, though Thomas, the team’s other seventh-round pick out of Louisiana, will miss the entire season on injured reserve.

Brevyn Spann-Ford didn’t end up getting drafted, but the 24-year-old, 6-foot-7 tight end out of Minnesota will be the fourth tight end on the roster to start the year.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/15/24

With a handful of teams getting eliminated from the playoffs this weekend, those front offices are starting to prepare for the offseason. Here are today’s reserve/futures deals, with the majority coming from recently eliminated squads:

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC East

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These CommandersCowboysEagles and Giants moves are noted below.

Dallas Cowboys

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

New York Giants

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Philadelphia Eagles

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Washington Commanders

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Cowboys Set 53-Man Roster

The Cowboys were busy today, with the organization announcing 36 roster moves as they reduced their team to 53 players:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

  • OT Josh Ball
  • WR David Durden
  • LB DeMarvion Overshown
  • TE John Stephens Jr.

According to Nick Harris of the team website, both long snapper Trent Sieg and cornerback C.J. Goodwin are expected to rejoin the active roster once the dust settles from this initial round of cuts.

Quinton Bohanna spent the past two years in Dallas after being selected in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. He got into 27 games (10 starts) over the past two years, collecting 29 tackles while playing both on defense and special teams. The Cowboys added first-round defensive tackle Mazi Smith this offseason, making Bohanna expendable.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/25/23

With a number of teams preparing for the start of training camp, a long list of players were placed on inactive lists today. We’ve compiled all of those and today’s other minor moves below:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Free Agents

Isaiah Wilson hasn’t had an NFL gig since he was released by the Giants in January of 2022. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweets that the free agent lineman was slapped with a three-game suspension, but it’s uncertain what led to the temporary ban. Wilson was a first-round pick by the Titans in 2020 but got into only one game with Tennessee before getting shipped off to Miami. He was waived by Miami after showing up late to his team physical, and his practice squad stint with New York only lasted one season.

Max Garcia is an experienced addition to the Saints OL room, with the veteran having most recently started seven of his 12 appearances with the Cardinals in 2022. The 31-year-old has 59 games of starting experience, although Pro Football Focus was iffy on his production last year (63rd among 77 qualifying offensive guards).

Following a three-year stint in Cleveland, Terrance Mitchell has spent the past two seasons bouncing around the NFL. He got into 14 games (13 starts) for the Texans in 2021, finishing with 60 tackles and 10 passes defended. He spent the 2022 season with the Titans, finishing with 39 tackles in 11 games (five starts). 49ers fifth-round pick Darrell Luter Jr. is set to miss some time with a knee injury, providing Mitchell with an opportunity during training camp.