DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys have four edge rushers locked into their 53-man roster and three competing for what may be one spot. Mike Moraitis of Dallas Cowboys On SI wrote Friday that the Minnesota Vikings are a match for the surplus.
Every NFL team must cut to 53 players by 5 p.m. CT Sunday. The league moved the deadline up this year from the Tuesday that followed the final preseason weekend. Waiver claims are due at noon CT Monday.
Why The Minnesota Vikings Need Edge Help
Minnesota traded Jonathan Greenard to the Philadelphia Eagles on the second day of the 2026 NFL Draft, sending Greenard and the 244th overall pick for a third-round pick in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2027. Greenard then signed a four-year extension with Philadelphia worth $100 million. The trade cleared more than $34 million off Minnesota’s salary cap. He had 38 sacks in six seasons, including 12 in 2024, when he made the Pro Bowl.
Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel hold the top two spots in the Vikings’ edge rotation. Turner, the 17th overall pick in 2024, had 8 sacks last season and has 11 for his career. Van Ginkel has 35.5 career sacks and was a second-team All-Pro in 2024.
The Athletic’s Alec Lewis projected Minnesota to keep undrafted linebackers Tyler Batty, Chaz Chambliss, and Bo Richter behind them. They have 1 career sack between them, and it belongs to Chambliss. Richter led the Vikings with 372 special teams snaps last season and re-signed in March.
Who The Dallas Cowboys Could Move
Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Von Miller, and Malachi Lawrence are the four Moraitis has locked in. Gary arrived from the Green Bay Packers in March for a 2027 fourth-round pick. Ezeiruaku, the Cowboys’ second-round pick in 2025, finished second on the team with 26 pressures in 17 games last season and led Dallas with 14 hurries. Lawrence went 23rd overall in April out of UCF, where he had 7 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in 2025. Miller signed a one-year contract worth $5.5 million, with a maximum value of $7.5 million, and is entering his 15th season. His 138.5 career sacks lead all active players.
That leaves Sam Williams, James Houston, and Marist Liufau for what could be one or two spots.
Williams had 4 sacks in 2022 and 4.5 in 2023 before a torn ACL cost him the 2024 season. He played all 17 games last season and finished with 1 sack on a career-high 474 snaps. Dallas re-signed the Ole Miss product in March on a one-year deal that guarantees him $1.4 million for 2026.
Houston had 8 sacks as a rookie with the Detroit Lions in 2022 and 5.5 last season, second on the Cowboys. He has 14.5 for his career. Detroit drafted him 217th overall in 2022 out of Jackson State, and Dallas signed him in July 2025 after a stop with the Cleveland Browns.
A Vikings call would be about Williams or Houston, Moraitis wrote, and a Day 3 pick, probably a fifth-rounder at most, would cover it. He put Minnesota’s remaining Day 3 inventory at three fifth-round picks across the next two drafts, plus one sixth-rounder and one seventh-rounder apiece in 2027 and 2028.
Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News kept six edge rushers on his fourth 53-man roster projection of the summer, including both Williams and Houston, and left Liufau off.
Liufau broke his left forearm in the first quarter Friday while making a tackle in Dallas’ 27-24 preseason loss to the New Orleans Saints. Brian Schottenheimer said Liufau will have surgery as early as Monday and will miss weeks.
“What a great competitor,” Schottenheimer said. “He’ll be back.”
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones spoke with doctors after the injury and said the fracture is “in the right spot.”
Dallas opens the regular season at the New York Giants on Sept. 13.
