FRISCO, Texas -- An NFL roster is like an accordion: teams can carry a maximum of 90 players at the start of training camp before whittling their active roster to 53 to kick off the season. That means plenty of players who showed some promise are let go every offseason. In the case of the 2026 Dallas Cowboys, a few notable faces were shown the door on roster cutdown day, including quarterback Joe Milton, running backs Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah, and edge rusher Sam Williams.
"I'm just going to start with this really emotional last 48 hours or so. The human element is real. The conversations are real.
We're trying to build a roster that can handle the strain of 17 regular-season games, the grind of the playoffs into the Super Bowl," head coach Brian Schottenheimer said on Monday. ... "So really do love those guys and tough couple of days." Let's take a look at why Milton, Blue, Mafah and Williams were shown the door in Dallas and whether a return via the practice squad remains in the cards for each. Joe Milton has one of the most high-powered arms Schottenheimer has seen in his 27 seasons in the NFL coaching ranks.
At training camp last year, Dallas' head coach compared Milton's rocket-launcher right arm strength to that of Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre, whom he coached as the New York Jets' offensive coordinator in 2008. However, Schottenheimer also had reservations about Milton's game, particularly his accuracy and touch. This preseason, Milton showed significant strides in both areas when the lights came on in Dallas' three exhibition games: he completed 29 of his 43 passes (67.4%) for 378 yards, 3 passing touchdowns and no interceptions for a 118.2 passer rating.
His ability to process the game was something the Cowboys' head coach indicated is still a work in progress. "I'm going to say that the upside, I'm not going to say you put him into a box of what he could be, but the arm talent's real. I think we've talked a lot in here about the touch and how he's developed the touch," Schottenheimer said on Tuesday.
"I do know that he did a much better job with our system. This is what guys that come from that spread system [in college] have to deal with in terms of the learning curve of coming in and having to learn how to huddle, call a play in the huddle and make different decisions. ... So again, I think Joe's going to be a terrific player in this league.
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