FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Ajani Cornelius practiced on a limited basis Wednesday with a knee injury. Defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard was a full participant with a groin injury. The two are the only Dallas players on the NFL practice report for Sunday night’s season opener against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
New York listed five players, all of them full participants: defensive lineman Shelby Harris (Achilles), offensive lineman Bryan Hudson (knee), tight end Theo Johnson (shoulder), wide receiver Malik Nabers (knee), and tackle Andrew Thomas (knee).
Bullard’s full participation is his first of the regular season. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer listed him with a hamstring injury on Aug. 17 and again on Aug. 20, the last practice of training camp in Oxnard, California. Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News listed the injury as groin and abdominal on Aug. 25. Bullard was still working with the rehabilitation group on Sept. 1. He returned to the practice field Monday, and Schottenheimer said he “did good” in the session and has been “kicking ass in rehab.”
“I think so, based on today,” Schottenheimer said of Bullard’s chances of playing Sunday. “We’ll see if he has any pain or anything tomorrow, but when I talked to him at the end of practice, he felt really, really good.”
Dallas signed Bullard in free agency this offseason. He spent 2025 with the New Orleans Saints and recorded 26 total tackles. Chicago drafted him in the third round, 72nd overall, in 2016.
Cornelius has been on and off the Cowboys’ injury list since late July. The Cowboys drafted him out of Oregon in the sixth round, 204th overall, in 2025 and signed him to a four-year contract worth $4.41 million that May. He appeared in one game as a rookie, played 7 special teams snaps, and went on injured reserve Nov. 17, 2025, with a knee injury. He took 68% of the offensive snaps in this year’s preseason opener at Seattle on Aug. 15.
Tyler Smith Placed On Injured Reserve After Thumb Surgery
Tyler Smith does not appear on the report because Dallas moved him to reserve/injured-designated for return on Wednesday. Smith had surgery Tuesday morning to repair a ligament in his left thumb. Schottenheimer put the absence at four to six weeks when he announced the procedure Monday, and the staff could not identify when the injury happened.
“We can’t pinpoint when it happened,” Schottenheimer explained. “We made the decision that the best thing is to get in front of this.”
“Unfortunately, when you’re an offensive lineman, grip strength and things like that are really important,” Schottenheimer continued. “We know he’s a quick healer, and we want to get it fixed and he’ll be back [before] too long.”
Smith practiced through last week and was off the field to start this one. The surgery went the way the team wanted, Schottenheimer said Wednesday, according to Jon Machota of The Athletic.
“It went great,” Schottenheimer said. “He’ll be back sooner than later.”
The designation requires Smith to miss at least four games. The earliest he can play is Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Smith is the third Cowboys player moved to that list this season, which leaves Dallas five designations for the rest of 2026.
T.J. Bass starts at left guard Sunday. Bass has played 48 games with 10 starts across three seasons in Dallas, five of those starts last year. The Cowboys placed a second-round restricted free agent tender on him in the offseason, and Schottenheimer traced that decision to how the staff rates him against the players ahead of him.
“Tyler Smith’s a great player, but we feel really confident in T.J., and he’s put great film on here,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s played next to Cooper Beebe, he’s played next to [Tyler] Guyton, so that’s nothing new, the communication and all that stuff.”
“We tendered him the way we tendered him because we trust this guy as a football player,” Schottenheimer continued. “He’s a damn good football player that unfortunately is just playing behind a lot of really, really good players. So we have great confidence in T.J.”
To fill Smith’s roster spot, Dallas signed guard Nick Leverett off the practice squad. Leverett played guard and center for the Cowboys during the preseason and was the only interior offensive lineman on the practice squad. The Cowboys then signed Laken Tomlinson to the practice squad. Tomlinson is entering his 12th NFL season and has started 162 career games at left guard, including seven last season for the Houston Texans.
Smith was the 24th overall pick in the 2022 draft out of Tulsa. He has started all 63 games he has played and has made the Pro Bowl in each of the last three seasons. He signed a four-year, $96 million extension last September with $81.2 million guaranteed, which made him the highest-paid guard in the league at the time.
Linebacker Marist Liufau and cornerback Devin Moore also open the season on injured reserve. Liufau fractured his forearm in the preseason finale and had surgery. Moore is dealing with a hip injury after missing camp time with a groin issue.
Malik Nabers Among Five New York Giants Listed On The Report
Nabers tore his ACL in New York’s Week 4 win over the Los Angeles Chargers last season. He played 4 games in 2025 and finished with 18 receptions for 271 yards and no touchdowns. Over two seasons he has 127 receptions for 1,475 yards and 9 touchdowns. The Giants took him sixth overall in the 2024 draft, and he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie.
Thomas went on injured reserve Dec. 27, 2025, with a hamstring injury and was activated Feb. 15. He has played 74 games with 73 starts since New York selected him fourth overall in 2020.
Johnson hurt his shoulder at training camp in late August and wore a non-contact jersey at practice Aug. 31. He caught 45 passes for 528 yards and 5 touchdowns in 15 games last season, his second in the league.
Harris signed with the Giants on April 29 and turned 35 in August. He has played 146 regular-season games with 89 starts for the Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, and Cleveland Browns. Hudson has appeared in 2 NFL games. New York signed him to its active roster on Dec. 27, 2025.
Kickoff at MetLife Stadium is set for 7:20 p.m. CT Sunday, and the game airs on NBC. It is the first “Sunday Night Football” game of the 2026 season. Sunday marks the 13th time the Cowboys have opened a season against the Giants. Dallas leads the all-time series 78-48-2. The teams last met Jan. 4, when New York won the regular season finale 34-17 at MetLife Stadium.
John Harbaugh takes over as Giants coach after 18 seasons in Baltimore. Schottenheimer went 7-9-1 in his first season in Dallas and split two games with New York.
The Cowboys practice again Thursday and Friday. The final injury report with game designations is due Friday.
