Cowboys Rookie Making NFL Debut vs. Saints

Getty S Tyler Coyle

The Dallas Cowboys publicized a pair of roster moves hours before its Week 13 tilt at New Orleans.

The Cowboys activated defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence from injured reserve and promoted safety Tyler Coyle from the practice squad, the team announced Thursday, December 2. Both players will be active against the Saints.

Coyle, an undrafted rookie making his NFL debut, is the COVID-19 replacement for offensive tackle Terence Steele, who tested positive for the virus and will not play Thursday night.

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Background/Scouting Report on Coyle

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound defensive back did not hear his name called in April’s NFL draft. Coyle, however, eventually found a niche on the Cowboys’ practice squad, to which he signed after final cuts in September.

As a collegian, Coyle contributed three years to Connecticut before transferring to Purdue for his senior campaign. Altogether, he totaled 172 solo tackles, 16 pass breakups, three interceptions, and two defensive touchdowns across 37 career games between the schools.

“While Coyle wasn’t necessarily a ball-hawk, he owns the requisite ball skills needed from a safety and uses his innate feel for each play to break on the ball and make interceptions,” his scouting profile reads, via The NFL Draft Bible. “When the ball is in his hands, he has the acceleration and speed to take it to the house and score. While Coyle is a solid overall player, the question with him is whether he has three-level talent. He can make plays at the line of scrimmage and in intermediate coverage, but struggles in the deep third area of the field. Coyle is a player with a boatload of experience, but with a capped upside and he probably will succeed as a core special teamer and backup safety.”

Though his reps will be scant, Coyle gives Dallas its fifth safety on its 46-player gameday roster, joining Damontae Kazee, Jayron Kearse, Malik Hooker, and Israel Mukuamu.

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Amari Active, But on Pitch Count?

The good news: Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper will face the Saints after missing the previous two games on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Cooper rejoins WR CeeDee Lamb, who sat out last week’s loss to the Raiders with a concussion.

The bad news: the $100 million wideout, his football conditioning perhaps affected, might not see his normal complement of snaps, according to head coach Mike McCarthy (who’s also on the COVID list, and out Thursday).

“We’re gonna pace it at first, just to get him in the game,” McCarthy said during a pregame interview on 105.3 The Fan, via The Athletic.

Cooper returned to practice on Monday following a mandatory 10-day quarantine. But McCarthy revealed Tuesday that the two-time Pro Bowler was “not feeling the best” and still experiencing symptoms from the virus, including a cough.

“As much as anything, it would be a conditioning thing, easing him in, but he’s in all of the preparation, other than what you saw him not do at practice,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told 105.3 The Fan in Dallas during a November 30 interview. “But he’ll step that up today, and we’re fully expecting him to be ready by game time.”