Dallas Cowboys aggressively early 53-man roster prediction for 2022

Safety (4):

Jayron Kearse
Malik Hooker
Donovan Wilson
Israel Mukuamu
Juanyeh Thomas

Dallas added three safeties in free agency last season and it turned out to be a great move for them as they had more production from that spot than they had in the past several years. Jayron Kearse wound up being the star of the unit with 101 tackles, two picks, and a sack.

He was re-signed to a two-year deal and should continue to be a featured piece in Dan Quinn’s defense. Another signing from 2021 was Malik Hooker, who was coming off an Achilles injury. A former first-round pick, Hooker played behind Damontae Kazee for much of the season but continued to improve as the year went on.

By the end of 2021, he was playing much better than Kazee which is why he’s the free safety they came to terms with on a two-year extension.

Donovan Wilson is the third safety and he sees the field a lot as well. Like Kearse, he’s a hard-hitter who excels close to the line — and at times serves as a hybrid safety/linebacker.

Fourth is Israel Mukuamu who was a late-round pick last season from South Carolina. He converted from cornerback and has the ability to become a productive free safety one day.

Last is undrafted rookie Juanyeh Thomas who is well-built at 6-foot-1 and 212-pounds and ran a 4.55 in the 40-yard dash. He’s more in the mold of Wilson and Kearse but was a steal as an undrafted pick up considering some had a fourth-to-fifth-round grade on him.

Thomas’ ability to find the ball carrier and deliver the hit is another reason Dallas let C.J. Goodwin go in this prediction. He won’t be doing much in the base defense this season but Thomas could be their new special teams tackle leader with enough upside to one day make it to the rotation on defense.