3 Cowboys on the Practice Squad Who Will Get Promoted in 2023
The Dallas Cowboys' 53-man roster is set, and so is the 16-man practice squad for 2023. Both of these lists are completely fluid throughout the season though, and nobody expects either one to stay the exact same for even a month, let alone the entire season.
Some practice squad players are stashed there to develop for future seasons, but some are extra depth pieces that the team expects to call on throughout the course of the 17-game regular season.
With a ton of talent on both units, the Cowboys have plenty of good practice squad options to call upon if the need arises.
These three guys in particular are all but locks to make the active roster at some point in 2023.
3 Cowboys Who Will Be Called Up From Practice Squad in 2023
1. Malik Davis
The Dallas Cowboys have opted to go a little light at running back on the 2023 roster, with Tony Pollard backed up by Rico Dowdle and rookie Deuce Vaughn. Hunter Luepke is there too, of course, but it's not like he's going to start getting tailback duties if one of Pollard, Dowdle or Vaughn get hurt.
And over the course of a 17-game season, it's hard to imagine that trio stays perfectly healthy.
Running backs take one of the biggest beatings of any position, and at this point its a challenge for any lead back to suit up for all 17 games. Among the top eight running backs in rushing yards per game last season, only three played 17 games.
And now looking specifically at the Dallas backfield, this isn't exactly a bruising, durable group. It's a talented group, for sure, but not one with filled with physicality.
Tony Pollard has missed time in three of his four NFL seasons, and that's while never having to shoulder a full year's RB1 workload. Dowdle's entire NFL career has been marked by injuries. And Vaughn’s 5-foot-5, 179-pound frame doesn't exactly inspire confidence in his durability.
Even if nobody suffers any serious injuries, bumps and bruises will add up and you've gotta think the chances of all three suiting up for 17 games is about zero.
Does Ronald Jones throw a bit of a wrench into this? Maybe, but Jones is a low-upside guy who has had one good NFL season and who may not even make the active roster himself.
And all of that reason for Malik Davis to be called up even comes before we look at Davis himself. He was a legit threat to make the active roster to begin with, and he's a lot better than you'd expect an RB4 to be.
Davis played 12 games as a rookie in 2022, and while we didn’t get to see him work much (44 touches) he showed some serious flashes.
Davis is good enough that we don't even necessarily need injuries to justify activating him. If Dowdle or Vaughn make any major mistakes or simply underperform, Davis will be there pushing to take their roster spots from them.