UDFA flyer could significantly alter state of Cowboys secondary in 2025

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Who will be the Dallas Cowboys' nickel cornerback in 2025? We asked it when the season ended, we asked it during free agency, we asked it in the draft, and we asked it at the start of training camp, and at no point has anyone been able to definitively answer that question. Now, mere weeks away from the regular season opener on September 4, it doesn't appear much has changed.

The rest of the Cowboys secondary is in fairly good order, injuries notwithstanding. Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson offer pedigree and experience to the safety positions. DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs are proven All-Pro CBs while Shevon Revel and Kaiir Elam bring top tier skillsets and aspirations of All-Pro honors themselves. Depth players like Markquese Bell, Juanyeh Thomas, Israel Mukuamu, Josh Butler and Caelen Carson round out the unit, making the Dallas secondary a fairly impressive collection of talent. Yet, there's no clear answer at nickel CB.

That is, until Zion Childress started to flash. Childress, an undrafted free agent rookie, has been offering quite the spark at nickel CB. The converted safety has a natural instinct for coverage inside, making him a surprise solution in the preseason. He's strong in run support, shows a nose for the football, holds the innate ability to navigate through heavy traffic, and he's a former team captain to boot. In no time he went from practice squad hopeful to possible top option at CB3. If he can keep the good times going, he could very well start for the Cowboys in Week 1 and significantly alter the state of the secondary in 2025.

With Revel and Diggs likely to miss games early this season, the Cowboys are searching for band-aids anywhere they can find them. Since being acquired in an offseason trade with Buffalo, Elam has looked excellent as an outside CB. And the Cowboys have made it clear they prefer to keep Bland outside where he earned All-Pro honors in 2023. It leaves most of the potential nickel solutions up to the safety room to address.

If Childress can keep up the strong play and lay claim to a regular role in the nickel spot, he could help the Cowboys save roster spots at CB. Together with Mukuamu, Bell and Thomas, the Cowboys could effectively hold the fort as the injured CBs return to the field. They aren't ideal solutions at nickel CB but again, there never really was an ideal option in Dallas.

If the Cowboys safety room is unable to hold down the nickel, the coaching staff might feel inclined to keep extra CBs on roster, CBs who are otherwise undeserving of a roster spot but kept on out of sheer need. That scenario would also have to involve cutting someone who is more deserving of a roster spot in order to make room. It's a trickledown effect no one wants to see.

Bell and Thomas will play big roles on the secondary regardless of what happens at nickel so much of the burden at nickel falls on Childress and the veteran Mukuamu. How these two players, and particularly Childress, play down the stretch this summer will have major roster implications for the Cowboys in 2025

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