Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster predictions: Training camp rolling

Safeties (4)

Damontae Kazee, Malik Hooker, Donovan Wilson, Jayron Kearse

As previously mentioned, the team will carry ten defensive backs, so if there are only five cornerbacks, then that would mean there are five safeties that make the team.

The team signed Damontae Kazee and Jayron Kearse this offseason. Both players have garnered first-team reps for the defense with Kazee putting his ball-hawking ability on display several times deflecting passes and returning interceptions for touchdowns. The Cowboys might finally have their starting free safety that fans have been crying about for years.

This all came with Donovan Wilson already on the team and Malik Hooker joining the team this past week. It’s unclear how the team will deploy Hooker (single-high or split-safety) but it is clear that they expect him to be on the roster ready for week one of the regular season.

Keeping four safeties feels incredibly thin for a secondary that is fairly weak all things considered, but there is one major loophole in the system the Cowboys have at their advantage.

That advantage would be Israel Mukuamu, the Cowboys’ sixth-round pick from South Carolina. The selection was a steal given Mukuamu should’ve been drafted much higher for his range and ball skills, but the Cowboys pretty immediately decided to turn him into a safety. They tried to do this with Reggie Robinson the year before and are back doing it again with Mukuamu.

Mukuamu was only going to fit very few teams’ schemes, evident by how late he was selected in the 2021 NFL draft. If he doesn’t do enough in the next month to make a move into the roster, he likely clears waivers and joins the practice squad giving him ample time to develop into something the Cowboys think he can be.

If he does end up making the team, players like Reggie Robinson and Maurice Canady are now at risk of being left out.