Trysten Hill: Top Pick a 'Surprise Cut' From Cowboys Roster?
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys have assembled some compelling names in the defensive line room. Is the assemblage good enough to force them to give up on the team's top NFL Draft pick from 2019?
In working to carve the 90-man roster down to its eventual 53, our buddy John Owning at the DMN digs into the D-line group. Owning's 10-man D-line list:
DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory, Osa Odighizuwa, Neville Gallimore, Brent Urban, Chauncey Golston, Quinton Bohanna, Tarrel Basham, Dorance Armstrong and Bradlee Anae.
Who is missing? Former second-round pick Trysten Hill.
Owning, like the rest of us, is attempting some educated second-guessing here. There is no particular information coming out of The Star in Frisco to specifically suggest this (or to suggest that vet free-agent addition Carlos Watkins, also not making the cut for Owning, is destined to flop).
In the case of the 6-3, 310-pound Hill, the uphill battle is largely about injury issues that have kept him off the field. He played poorly as a rookie, despite being a pet of former defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, as he appeared in just seven games in 2019 and was a healthy scratch for the nine other games.
A lack of maturity was in play in his rookie year, a criticism that followed him from college.
Last season, through the first four weeks of the year, Mike McCarthy and the new coaching staff gave him a shot, and he was a solid rotational contributor before sustaining an ACL tear.
He's rehabbing now. That's one obstacle. He's also got to impress yet another defensive coordinator in Dan Quinn - Hill's third in three seasons - and that's another obstacle.
In Hill's defense: Owning, like the rest of us, leans toward the "fun of the unknown'' in predicting his D-line final group. We know what DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory can do. We only have a bit of an idea what Tarrel Basham, Brent Urban, Dorance Armstrong, Neville Gallimore and Bradlee Anae can do.
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In a very literal sense, as they are rookies, we have absolutely no idea what Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston and Quinton Bohanna can do.
A chance Dallas keeps Hill or Watkins over some of the others? Of course. While we all make our predictions and lists, the "chance'' to win jobs is what training camp in Oxnard is all about.
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