Cowboys free agency 2022: Dallas is bringing back defensive lineman Carlos Watkins

We are a week into what is official free agency across the National Football League and to date the Dallas Cowboys have been focused on retaining their own players over anything else.

Dallas has brought back 11 players, the latest of which was Pro Bowl punter Bryan Anger, and signed two newbies in James Washington and Dante Fowler. Obviously the intensity of things as far as the open market is concerned is starting to dwindle, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t see a few moves from the team’s brain-trust between now and the draft.

There is still the potential for Dallas to bring in some new faces but also for them to continue to sign some of their own. The latter happened on Wednesday when it was reported by Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson that the Cowboys are bringing back defensive lineman Carlos Watkins. The Dallas Morning News added that it is a one-year deal.

Dallas signed Watkins to a one-year deal in 2021 and he played well, contributing along the interior of a defensive line that had a lot of success together. It certainly makes sense to bring him back at a low cost and we will ultimately see what the final price tag is, but it shouldn’t be too much.

Watkins is the second defensive lineman that Dallas has brought back so far in free agency (not counting DeMarcus Lawrence, although he did sign a ‘new deal’) with the other being Dorance Armstrong. Brent Urban is still waiting in the wind so perhaps Dallas could bring him back as well.