When he was brought over to the Dallas Cowboys nearly two weeks ago following his release by the Chiefs, Emari Demercado was thrilled. The former TCU star was coming home, in a way, not only to Texas, but back with collegiate teammates KaVontae Turpin and Dee Winters. He was also rejoining Klayton Adams, the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator, who had forged a good relationship with Demercado when both were in Arizona.
“It’s been obviously a roller coaster getting cut, nobody’s excited about that,” Demercado said of his release by Kansas City. “But to get the call that I was coming back here, I just bought a house here this summer, so couldn’t have written it better.”
At the time, the focus was mainly on who the Cowboys cut to make room for Demercado–quarterback Joe Milton, the preseason standout who has since re-signed with the practice squad. But now that running back Malik Davis is out for an extended period and will require surgery on his hip after an out-of-the-blue injury on Friday, Demercado has suddenly become a lot more important.
Despite limited practice time and just one day to swallow the news, Demercado is the likely option at RB2 behind starter Javonte Williams on Sunday night in New York.
Emari Demercado Solid as Cardinals Backup
Certainly, he has shown he is a capable NFL running back, and the Cowboys ultimately targeted him not only because of his pre-existing relationship with Adams, but because of his no-frills running style. After a summer tinkering with using jitterbug back Jaydon Blue as the backup to Williams, the Cowboys instead decided they wanted the more straightforward Davis in the role.
Now, they get Demercado, who carried 126 times in three seasons in Arizona, going for 819 yards, an average of 6.5 yards per carry. He also caught 50 passes for 324 yards in those three seasons.
‘Emari Demercado Will Debut for the Cowboys’
As Patrik Walker of the Cowboys team website noted on Twitter/X, “Emari Demercado will debut for the #Cowboys against the Giants, but as RB2 following the injury to Malik Davis.”
And Tommy Yarrish, also of the team site, pointed out that while Israel Abanikanda could be rostered, it looks like Demercado will get the first crack. He wrote: “With Davis now expected to be out Sunday against the Giants, Cowboys COO/co-owner Stephen Jones said on @1053thefan that Emari Demercado will likely be active Sunday night against the Giants after he was initially going to be inactive. Also felt Israel Abanikanda had ‘a heck of a camp.'”
Cowboys Dealing With 2nd Big Injury
After the thumb injury to Tyler Smith, who has been placed on the IR and will miss at least a month, the injury to Malik Davis does mark two significant health losses for Cowboys rotation players. The team has entered the 2026 season with Super Bowl hopes, but as with any team in the NFL health and attrition are always X factors.
The rest of the roster has held up, though the early indications were that the Davis hip injury is a serious one.
As The Athletic beat reporter Jon Machota wrote: “Cowboys RB Malik Davis suffered a hip injury in today’s practice that has him ruled out for Sunday night’s game against the Giants. Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones just said on @1053thefan that Davis, who is Dallas’ No. 2 RB, suffered a “pretty serious injury that could take him out for some period of time.”
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