The rest of the Cowboys secondary is in fairly good order, injuries notwithstanding. Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson offer pedigree and experience to the safety positions. DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs are proven All-Pro CBs while Shevon Revel and Kaiir Elam bring top tier skillsets and aspirations of All-Pro honors themselves. Depth players like Markquese Bell, Juanyeh Thomas, Israel Mukuamu, Josh Butler and Caelen Carson round out the unit, making the Dallas secondary a fairly impressive collection of talent. Yet, there’s no clear answer at nickel CB.
That is, until Zion Childress started to flash. Childress, an undrafted free agent rookie, has been offering quite the spark at nickel CB. The converted safety has a natural instinct for coverage inside, making him a surprise solution in the preseason. He’s strong in run support, shows a nose for the football, holds the innate ability to navigate through heavy traffic, and he’s a former team captain to boot. In no time he went from practice squad hopeful to possible top option at CB3. If he can keep the good times going, he could very well start for the Cowboys in Week 1 and significantly alter the state of the secondary in 2025.
With Revel and Diggs likely to miss games early this season, the Cowboys are searching for band-aids anywhere they can find them. Since being acquired in an offseason trade with Buffalo, Elam has looked excellent as an outside CB. And the Cowboys have made it clear they prefer to keep Bland outside where he earned All-Pro honors in 2023. It leaves most of the potential nickel solutions up to the safety room to address.
If Childress can keep up the strong play and lay claim to a regular role in the nickel spot, he could help the Cowboys save roster spots at CB. Together with Mukuamu, Bell and Thomas, the Cowboys could effectively hold the fort as the injured CBs return to the field. They aren’t ideal solutions at nickel CB but again, there never really was an ideal option in Dallas.