Cowboys 53-man roster watch: Kelvin Joseph and Jabril Cox may reportedly be left out after final cuts

The Dallas Cowboys are officially through to the other side of the preseason which means that all eyes and ears are focused on the assembly of the 53-man roster. Who winds up making it is going to dominate the news cycle until Tuesday’s 4pm ET deadline and in the meantime we will have all sorts of projections here on the blog. This is our latest.

But obviously there will be reports and rumors swirling around and Saturday’s preseason finale was followed up by the latest.

It appears the Cowboys may be saying goodbye to a few members of the 2021 draft class.

Kelvin Joseph and Jabril Cox may not make the final 53-man roster

While there are definite wins, we all know that the Dallas Cowboys have a not-so-great history in the second round of the NFL Draft. It seems likely that this continues to be true in a few days time.

Dallas took Kelvin Joseph in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft and basically ever since then it has been a bit of a rough go for him with the team. This offseason saw Dallas give him work at nickel and while he has succeeded a bit there as well as on special teams it appears that it may not have been enough. In his write-up following Saturday night’s game Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News noted that Joseph may have indeed played his last game for the team.

All 11 players whom the Cowboys drafted in 2021 are still with the franchise.

That is about to change.

Cornerback Kelvin Joseph and linebacker Jabril Cox were second- and fourth-round picks that year, respectively. Neither seemed to do enough Saturday to make himself feel comfortable as Tuesday’s roster cutdown approaches. There is a high likelihood that both players, if not traded by then, will be waived.

They wouldn’t be alone.

Guard/tackle Josh Ball, wide receiver Simi Fehoko, nose tackle Quinton Bohanna, safety Israel Mukuamu and center/guard Matt Farniok were drafted between the fourth and seventh rounds. Only Mukuamu appears safe for the roster.

Obviously this report includes information on more than Kelvin Joseph as it appears that Jabril Cox is also out and that neither Josh Ball, Quinton Bohanna or Simi Fehoko are safe either.

Life can move quickly in the NFL and even a draft cycle two years ago has players who it makes logical sense for the team to move on from. Acknowledging the truth of that, it is still a bit strange to see Joseph and Cox appear here.

As noted Joseph handled his new responsibilities well and while the Cowboys have a lot of names to carry at cornerback (Trevon Diggs, Stephon Gilmore, DaRon Bland, Eric Scott Jr., potentially Nahshon Wright as well) keeping Joseph around would definitely have merit.

Perhaps Dallas feels that Jourdan Lewis is ready to be reactivated from the PUP list and does not want to leave him there to start the regular season, a move that would require Lewis to miss the first four games. Also it is possible that C.J. Goodwin will continue in his specialized role on special teams, fighting off Joseph for any opportunities there.

It is also a bit surprising to see Jabril Cox so (apparently) obviously out as mentioned. DeMarvion Overshown tore his ACL last week which called the team’s linebacker depth into question. Cox has been mostly disappointing even as a fourth-round pick, hey not everyone can be Dak Prescott or Trey Lance, but depth is depth.

Time will tell who is officially left out of the 53-man roster in a couple of days, but it looks like you can bank on Kelvin Joseph and Jabril Cox not being a part of it.