Surprise Camp Cut: Is Trysten Hill on Cowboys Roster Bubble?

OXNARD, Calif. - Trysten Hill has become the forgotten name on a Dallas Cowboys defense that was one of the league's best last season.

As the 24-year-old defensive tackle enters his fourth year, and with the team reporting to Oxnard on Monday, he has next to nothing to show for the Cowboys taking him with the 58th overall pick out of UCF in 2019. In 18 career games, he has just 27 total tackles, two tackles-for-loss, eight quarterback hits, and just half a sack.

After appearing in seven games his rookie season, Hill tore in ACL against the New York Giants in October 2020, the same game quarterback Dak Prescott suffered his season-ending ankle injury.

Hill recovered well enough to appear in six games last season, but he now faces the possibility of missing out on the final 53-man roster headed into this fall. Other guys on the defensive line like Neville Gallimore, Dorance Armstrong, Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston, and Carlos Watkins are names Hill could compete with for playing time this season, but their collective performance last year leaves his future in Dallas clouded.

ESPN recently released its candidates to land on the roster bubble for all 32 teams. Hill listed as a potential victim of the chopping block later this offseason for the Cowboys. Here's what the list had to say:

Hill, a former second-round draft pick, is entering the final year of his rookie deal and has yet to make much of an impact. Some of that is injury. He missed 22 games over the past two seasons because of a knee injury suffered in 2020. While the Cowboys like to use a rotation along their defensive line, Hill will be fighting it out with Neville Gallimore and Osa Odighizuwa for playing time at the 3-technique, and coordinator Dan Quinn isn't opposed to using defensive ends on the interior. Depending on how he performs in the preseason, Hill could become a trade possibility, but there doesn't appear to be a role for him beyond 2022, which makes him expendable.

At 6-3, 308, Hill fits the mold for Dallas' "big guy" movement, but Jerry and Stephen Jones are already high on potential replacements from this 2022 rookie draft class.

Arkansas defensive tackle John Ridgeway was a fifth-round selection by the Cowboys in April, but he's already showing a ferocious side in training camp that Hill has seemed to lack during his time in Dallas.

I’m going to try,'' the 6-5, 320-pound fifth-round pick Ridgeway told The Draft Show after his selection, "to break someone's neck when I get out there.''

And though he'll be playing on the edge, second-round rookie from Ole Miss, Sam Williams, is another name to add to a crowded defensive front.

Hill has an uphill battle if he wants to make the final roster. And even if he does, there's additional work to be done if he wants to prove that the Cowboys made the right decision by selecting him with their top pick three years ago.

You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7

Follow FishSports on Twitter

Follow Cowboys / Fish on Facebook

Subscribe to the Cowboys Fish Report on YouTube for constant daily Cowboys live-stream podcasts and reports!