3 Dallas Cowboys veterans who should be cut today

Dallas Cowboys Player to Cut No. 1

Dontari Poe DT

Age: 30

Contract: 2 years/$8.5M

PFF Rank: 80th of 118

The first player to discuss is Dontari Poe. Poe, a free agent signing this past offseason, was supposed to be a frontline 1-technique defensive tackle. He was supposed to be the run-stopper of the team. He was supposed to finally address an area the Dallas Cowboys have neglected for years.

“Supposed to” is the operative phrase here.

Dontari Poe hasn’t just fallen short of expectations this season, but he’s been a severe liability across the board. If the Cowboys weren’t so catastrophically desperate at DT, Poe would have been cut weeks ago.

In 233 snaps this season, Poe has zero sacks, zero tackles for loss, zero QB hits, and three solo tackles. Despite playing a combined 57 snaps the last two weeks, Poe has failed to log a single statistic. He’s been washed out of just about every play he’s been in and has offered little to no resistance along the way.

As if the production isn’t bad enough, the effort seems to be missing as well. The unforgivable sin of laziness is what makes Dontari Poe so cuttable today. It sets a bad example to the youth on the team, and can spread like cancer if allowed to continue course.

Sadly there are no respectable options behind Poe. Antwaun Woods has been just as ineffective. As has Neville Gallimore. But the former is a rotational guy and the latter is a rookie with a decent future. A case can certainly be made that Tyrone Crawford should be cut, but his effort is still commendable and he’s been a positive influence in the locker room throughout his career.

No matter what, the Dallas Cowboys are going to be terrible at DT this season. They might as well cut their most ineffective piece who doesn’t factor into the team’s future.