Cowboys news: Dallas finds veteran help at WR after the draft

He split time between Buffalo and then New Orleans in 2024, then went from San Francisco to Pittsburgh during the 2025 season as he looked to regain his previous form but never quite caught on with any of those squads (despite a reunion with Aaron Rodgers as a Steeler).

Valdes-Scantling has started 69 regular-season games in his career, notching 219 receptions for 3,686 yards and 21 touchdowns.

In Dallas, he’ll join a WR room led by CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Ryan Flournoy showed incredible development last year, with KaVontae Turpin, Jonathan Mingo, Parris Campbell, and Traeshon Holden also the mix.

Grading the signing: Dallas Cowboys get a well-known wide receiver, but he comes with warning signs everywhere – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports

Veteran help at receiver is always a good thing, but this is absolutely a depth signing for the Cowboys.

The truth is his Valdes-Scantling’s best football is well behind him. His best season came in 2020 when he led the NFL in yards per reception at 20.9 playing for Patrick Mahomes. He set a career high at 690 receiving yards and six touchdowns then.

**What are realistic expectations for Valdes-Scantling?**

For more insight on Valdes-Scantling’s play before signing with the Cowboys, I reached out to our own Rob Gregson from *A to Z Sports Pittsburgh*, who covered his stop with the Steelers.

“Marquez Valdes-Scantling joined the Steelers in 2025 after weeks of rumors surrounding a potential reunion between him and Rodgers, but there wasn’t a ton to write home about. After spending time on the practice squad, MVS played in five games, starting one in Week 17 against the Cleveland Browns while DK Metcalf served a two-game suspension.

“In that game, the Steelers’ wide receivers combined for less than 60 receiving yards, showing little ability to separate at a marginal level. There were times when you could see MVS’s explosion on film, and he can still get vertical, but the deep threat that defenses have to worry about is no longer there.

“Sure, he can lift the top off of coverage, but between his inconsistent hands and shallow route tree, he’s best utilized on specific concepts and on weighty downs. He will provide a veteran presence if he makes the team, and there is a track record of quarterbacks having a lot of success when MVS is in their WR corps.”

**Grading the signing**

If Valdes-Scantling’s calling card is his speed, it’s tough to bank on him seeing a lot of playing time in Dallas considering KaVontae Turpin’s high-end speed. If the Cowboys wanted veteran depth at the position, I believe there were better options in the free agency market.

Cowboys sign WR Tyler Johnson, LB Curtis Robinson – Charean Williams, Pro Football Talk

The Cowboys made two other under-the-radar moves on Monday, for another wide receiver and linebacker.

Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was previously reported, but the Cowboys also signed wide receiver Tyler Johnson and linebacker Curtis Robinson.

Johnson, 27, spent last season with the Jets. He played 12 games with five starts, seeing action on 292 offensive snaps.

Johnson made 12 catches for 197 yards and a touchdown in 2025.

He entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2020, and he spent two seasons with them, one with the Texans, two with the Rams and last season with the Jets.

Johnson, who won a Super Bowl ring in Tampa, has 88 receptions for 1,025 yards and five touchdowns in his career.

Robinson, 27, has played 29 games with three starts in five seasons. He has seen time with the Broncos and 49ers, and Robinson started for the first time in his career with San Francisco last season when he played a career-high 248 snaps.

Robinson has played 335 defensive snaps and 432 on special teams and has 52 tackles and a pass defensed.

Cowboys 2026 Undrafted Free Agent Signings: Who Can Make the Team? – Cody Warren, Inside The Star

There is a lot of interest in the two local tight end prospects the Cowboys have brought in as UDFAs.

Here is who I think has a real shot, who feels like a practice squad guy, and who probably needs a monster camp to stay in the building.

**DJ Rogers, TE, TCU**

6’4”, 258 | 34 catches, 319 yards, 2 TD

DJ Rogers feels like a grind-it-out kind of tight end and nothing about the numbers scream future star, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hang around.

For him to stick around, he simply has to block, play special teams, and don’t mess up to much. That is how a player like him sticks around.

He will have a leg up on the undrafted free agent competition after signing with the Cowboys for $200,000, but I don’t see him stealing a roster spot unless he really pops in camp, but the practice squad is definitely in play.

**Michael Trigg, TE, Baylor**

6’4”, 240 | 4.70 | 694 yards, 6 TD

Now this is an undrafted free agent who caught my attention.

Michael Trigg is the fun prospect because he is basically a supersized wide receiver with go-go gadget arms. He can move, win over the middle, and he gives you that mismatch type of player every offense is looking for.

The problem is he can’t block. If he can get at least decent in this area, he has a great shot to be something special.

I’m not calling him a lock, but he might be my favorite undrafted free agent in the group.

The changing perception of the Micah Parsons trade – Dan Rogers, Blogging The Boys

We learned in this draft that the Micah Parsons trade became the fuel to rebuild the entire defensive line.

**Selecting Malachi Lawrence**

**When:** April 23, 2026

**AI Fan Approval Estimate:** 62.5%

**The Vibe:** Enthusiastic acceptance

Fans were still euphoric from the Caleb Downs selection, but things got even better when they landed the explosive pass rusher from Central Florida. Malachi Lawrence had been picking up steam in draft circles, so securing his services was fantastic, but what made things even better was that the Cowboys were also able to snag two extra fourth-round picks from the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys moved back a few spots, still got their pass rusher, and took home some Day 3 dancing chips as a bonus. While Lawrence is not Parsons, adding him to the already-strong interior, things are looking a lot better in the trenches.

**Adding more defenders**

**When:** April 25, 2026

**AI Fan Approval Estimate::** 77.5%

**The Vibe:** Complete vindication

On Day 3 of the draft, those two extra fourth-round picks from trading back for Lawrence turned into two more defensive depth pieces. The Cowboys finally addressed the cornerback position by adding a solid boundary corner in Florida’s Devin Moore. And then later in the round, they added a violent, alignment-versatile edge setter in LT Overton. Seeing the direct line from losing Parsons to landing a dominant interior, a first-round pass rusher, and two high-upside defensive depth pieces has converted the vast majority of skeptics.

When you look at the Parsons trade, all of the pieces are finally showing themselves. One player has turned into five for the Cowboys, just as Jerry said when the trade first happened. Financially, the cost of Parsons ($45 million) is essentially the same as the combined cost of both of the defensive tackles, Williams ($24 million) and Clark ($21 million). The team will take on an additional cost for extra rookies, but that will only amount to roughly $7.5 million annually for all three of them combined.

‘What They’re Saying’ about all 7 Cowboys picks – Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com

Some intel from the Cowboys war room about all three of the defensive players they took in the top-100.

**Caleb Downs**

**Jerry Jones:** He’s a fabulous football player, but when you think about one of the most glaring things in our minds that we didn’t do on defense was communicate, was communicate right when it’s time to get people set up to be in their best position to make a play. That’s what this guy was built to do and coached and grown up to do. He’d heard his background yesterday, coaching everywhere in it, generations of it, and then he’s put it out there. So, you need you a cerebral guy and we got him. I don’t know that I could have really said and planned and said we got to get that done right there. If I’d had that kind of attitude about getting it done, we’d have probably given away the draft to try to get there. So, we had to have it come to us in some degree.”

**Malachi Lawrence**

**Brian Schottenheimer:** “We love the ability to rush the passer. We feel great about what we have with RG (Rashan Gary), Ezeiruaku, James Houston, but this guy’s got tremendous upside. His first step quickness, Todd, is elite. The ability to turn his toe and run the edge, as we like to call it, is we think elite. And then, of course, the one thing I love about the guy is he has an innate ability to attack the football while he’s attacking the quarterback. And then we feel like you need athletic edge pieces in this defense, in this division, because of the quarterbacks you’re going to see. Jaxson Dart, Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts. And it’s nice to have a guy in house like Coach Brim that’s been around him. But this is a guy we’ve been talking about a lot over the last, I’d say, week to 10 days and had him in for a top 30 and really, really excited about getting the chance to get him.”

**Jaishawn Barham**

**Will McClay:** “I think he’s been on our radar all season, especially when we started talking about what we were trying to do defensively when at the Combine. Christian [Parker] came in and talked about the linebackers and the outside and the inside linebackers and potentially doing some different things. And then you start looking at Arvell Reese. There’s a lot of similarities in what they do and how they did it. And just excited to get him on the roster because of; number one, he’s extremely physical., and you want to increase the speed of your defense and the toughness. I think he does that.” ***Daily Discussion Question:* Are you at all worried that George Pickens hasn’t signed the franchise tag yet?**