ARLINGTON, Texas — Jonathan Mingo did not play in the Dallas Cowboys‘ preseason finale Friday night. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer explained why afterward.
“I think Mingo’s played really, really well, not just in the preseason games, but throughout the course of training camp,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s played really well on offense, played really well on special teams, and he deserved to not play tonight.”
Dallas dressed 7 receivers against the New Orleans Saints and held out 5. Mingo sat alongside CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, KaVontae Turpin, and Ryan Flournoy. Rosters cut to 53 players at 5 p.m. CT Sunday.
Jonathan Mingo Sat a Year After Landing on Injured Reserve
Mingo spent last cutdown weekend going the other direction. Dallas placed him on injured reserve with a designation to return on Aug. 26, 2025, and did not activate him until Oct. 21. He played 6 games and finished the season with 25 receiving yards.
Dallas acquired him at the trade deadline on Nov. 5, 2024. The Cowboys sent Carolina a 2025 fourth-round pick and got back Mingo and a 2025 seventh. Carolina had taken him 39th overall in 2023 out of Ole Miss, where he was a second-team All-SEC pick as a senior. Mingo had 12 receptions for 121 yards in Carolina that season. He had not scored in 24 career games.
Through 38 career games he has 61 receptions for 610 yards.
The Receivers Who Did Play
Camden Brown started, an undrafted rookie out of Georgia Southern who caught both Dallas touchdowns in the preseason opener at Seattle. He caught 1 pass for 27 yards Friday. Joe Milton III threw it on third-and-10.
Jordan Hudson led the team with 4 catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, and he made a tackle on the kickoff that followed his own score. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, signed in April, caught 2 passes for 31 yards. Four other receivers were targeted.
Waiver claims on players other teams release are processed by noon CT Monday.
“As a coaching staff, these next 24 hours plus, we do focus on our own roster,” Schottenheimer explained. “And our guys, the guys that we know, the guys that we love, the guys that we care about, the guys that I’ve gotten to know, their families, that I’ve gotten to know what motivates them, why they play this game.
“And the personnel guys and the scouts, they’re diving into potential other roster moves, and that’s part of the business. We’ve got some time, but we have to make sure we get the decisions right, which we will, about our roster first.”
Dallas opens at the New York Giants on Sept. 13. Kickoff is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
