Cowboys cutdown projections - Offense: Zeke and O-line health are key to the 53

Cowboys cutdown projections - Offense: Zeke and O-line health are key to the 53

FRISCO - One preseason game left. And then to the business of which 53 men get to be Dallas Cowboys. Our 53-man projection going into Thursday's preseason finale against the visiting Bucs, offense first ...

Cowboys offense to 53: There will be cuts and recalls, and practice-squad shuffling, and maybe even a trade. but position-by-position, as of now:

Quarterback 2 Dak Prescott, Cooper Rush - Dak says he's never felt better. And ousted third-string kid Mike White? He's never felt worse.

Running Back 4 Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard, Jordan Chunn, Jamize Olawale - This assumes Elliott is back and it assumes that Chunn might be a helper on special teams. But does Chunn really suit up on the 46 on gamedays? How fast can Mike Weber, Jr. (who we'll stick on the P-squad for now) learn to be a big-leaguer? A position room in flux here, especially as it relates to Alfred Morris. As a vested vet, he can be cut by Dallas and not exposed to waivers, meaning he can boomerang back to the Cowboys' roster should both parties desire that.

Wide Receiver 6 Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, Randall Cobb, Tavon Austin (PR1), Devin Smith, Cedrick Wilson - This got easy at the end. We haven't seen much of Cooper (sore foot) but I continue to get all the right vibes here. This is really about the Big Three here.

Tight Ends 3 Jason Witten, Blake Jarwin, Dalton Schultz - Easy stuff here, assuming the dinged-up tandem of Jarwin and Schultz’ is ready to go.

Offensive Line 9 Tyron Smith, Connor Williams, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin, La’el Collins, Xavier Su’a-Filo, Joe Looney, Cameron Fleming, Adam Redmond - Why Adam Redmond? First off, Dallas is dinged up enough in the O-line to want to make sure it has enough O-linemen to practice. But there's also this: I think Connor McGovern's injury issues are substantial enough to go ahead and IR-stash him. McGovern will be a healthy helper someday. For now, Tyron and Zack and La'el and McGovern are nursing injuries ... Dallas needs insurance here. Dallas needs health here.

Coming up next ... 53-man cutdown on the Dallas Cowboys defense.