DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys will sign tight end Mitch Van Vooren and place defensive tackle Kelvin Gilliam Jr. on injured reserve.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer had addressed the tight end position hours earlier at The Star. The team practices there in front of fans Tuesday and Wednesday after returning from Oxnard. Six days out from the deadline, Schottenheimer said the staff is early in the process of trimming the roster and will move further into it this week.
“We’re looking at that. Talk about Zack Kuntz. He played really well,” Schottenheimer said. “Was a little nervous getting in there at first. Got popped one time, and that kind of helped settle him down a little bit. He had the fourth down drop, but he played really well. I think 40-something plays. So I’m really pleased with him and proud of him. He deserves credit. [He] had a big explosive 25-yard play between him and Sam.”
“Both those other tight ends are working back. Whether they make it back in time for the game, we’ll see,” Schottenheimer continued. “But I would expect us to add a tight end. We had to play a little bit of 11 jumbo, as we call it, and some 10 personnel. It was quick adjustments on the flight to Arizona.”
Dallas dressed two tight ends Saturday night at State Farm Stadium in a 34-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Zack Kuntz and Luke Schoonmaker were the two who played. Jake Ferguson and Brevyn Spann-Ford sat out under the plan Schottenheimer laid out in early August to hold his starters out of the preseason, and rookies Michael Trigg and DJ Rogers were unavailable with injuries. Trigg hurt his toe in the preseason opener at Seattle on Aug. 15, and Rogers was hurt in Thursday’s practice in Oxnard. Watkins wrote Saturday that the two injuries could push the Cowboys to add a tight end once the team returned to Texas.
Mitch Van Vooren’s Path To Dallas
The New England Patriots signed Van Vooren on July 22 following a workout and released him Aug. 18, 27 days later. The Seattle Seahawks signed Van Vooren, 25, as an undrafted free agent in June 2025 and listed him at 6-5 and 242 pounds. He lasted nine days there. The Cleveland Browns signed him on Aug. 4 of that year and waived him on Aug. 24. He spent the rest of the 2025 season out of the league and has never appeared in an NFL regular season game.
Van Vooren ran track at Marquette from 2019 to 2023. He holds the school record in the 400-meter hurdles at 51.38 seconds, set at the 2023 NCAA West Preliminary. He moved to St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, as a graduate student and played two seasons of Division III football.
He caught 65 passes for 1,045 yards and 13 touchdowns in 22 games. In 2024, his last college season, he caught 33 passes for 510 yards and 10 touchdowns in 11 games. That earned him first-team All-Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference honors. He had gone for 32 catches, 535 yards, and 3 touchdowns the year before as an honorable mention pick.
Kelvin Gilliam Jr. And The Cowboys Defensive Tackle Room
An elbow injury kept Gilliam from being cleared for Saturday’s game, according to Watkins. Gilliam signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent after the 2026 draft, one of 11 the Cowboys added that spring.
Gilliam spent three seasons at Oklahoma and made 10 tackles. He transferred to Virginia Tech in 2024. He played all 13 games that fall and made 35 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss. He added 1 sack, 1 quarterback hurry, and 1 forced fumble. He started every game at defensive tackle in 2025, made 34 tackles with 2 sacks and 4 quarterback hurries, and served as a team captain on a team that went 3-9. He measured 6-2 and 296 pounds ahead of the draft. At Virginia Tech’s pro day, he put up 34 repetitions on the bench press, and his 9.90 Relative Athletic Score ranked 24th among defensive tackles since 1987.
With Jonathan Bullard out both preseason games with a groin injury, Gilliam and Jay Toia took the reps. Schottenheimer named Toia among the players who took a step forward against Arizona. In his fourth 53-man roster projection, published Sunday, Watkins wrote that Toia or Gilliam could claim a spot if Bullard opens the season on injured reserve. The same projection kept four running backs and two quarterbacks.
Players placed on injured reserve before a team sets its initial 53-man roster are ineligible to return that season. Dallas has until 5 p.m. CT Sunday, Aug. 30, to get to 53, and waiver claims are due at noon CT Monday, Aug. 31. The preseason finale is Friday against the New Orleans Saints at AT&T Stadium, with kickoff at 7 p.m. CT on CBS. Week 1 is Sept. 13 at MetLife Stadium against the New York Giants, with kickoff at 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
