Assessing Denzel Mims’ chances of making the 53-man roster
The Dallas Cowboys finished a strong offseason, and for now, the team takes a break until training camp later next month. While the players wrapped up the latest phase of team activities, the front office was certainly busy. Dallas signed four players on Friday and made three corresponding roster moves, including placing backup center Matt Hennessy on injured reserve with a neck injury. Of the names added to the team, one name does stick out. The Cowboys signed former second-round pick of the New York Jets , Denzel Mims. With Parris Campbell ’s retirement, Dallas added a veteran wideout at the bottom of the roster to get through the summer. However, is there reason to think Mims could stick around longer? Let’s weigh in on whether Mims could make the team. Mims has always been on the Cowboys’ radar. He once starred in-state at Baylor, where he posted two 1,000-yard seasons over his collegiate career. Mims’ size and speed (4.38 40-yard dash) had many teams interested during the draft process, including Dallas, which had him in for a pre-draft visit ahead of the 2020 draft. Once Dallas lucked into CeeDee Lamb in the first round, Dallas set their sights elsewhere in the second round, and Mims landed in New York. A combination of factors went wrong, sending Mims on a negative trajectory with the Jets. First, he sustained an injury that delayed his NFL debut until Week 7 of his rookie season. In his second season, he had lost 20 pounds due to sickness, and the coaching staff apparently lost faith in him, relegating Mims to a reserve role. Distrust between him and the coaches, and his lack of production, led to him being traded to the Detroit Lions in 2023. Since then, Mims is now on his seventh professional football team, which includes stops in the UFL. Clearly, the odds are stacked against him to make the Cowboys’ roster, but if he did, what is he up against? First off, the wide receiver position in Dallas is top-heavy, led by two All-Pro receivers in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens . Ryan Flournoy is poised for a big year as their third receiver, and KaVontae Turpin will handle his duties as the return specialist. This realistically leaves two spots up for grabs at wide receiver for Mims to compete for. What this amounts to is a battle royale among Mims, Marquez Valdes-Scantling , Anthony Smith, Traeshon Holden , and Jonathan Mingo . You can say that Valdes-Scantling is a one-trick pony as a premier deep threat. Yet, he’s very good at that trick. In his career, he has averaged an average depth of target of 15.7 yards and has averaged 20 yards per reception twice. If he and the quarterbacks, like the big-armed Joe Milton , start connecting downfield throughout training camp, he’s going to be hard to part with. Traeshon Holden has made the team the last two years, thanks to some very good performances in training camp. He hasn’t played in a regular season game just yet and so it’s still a mystery as to what he can do when the lights are the brightest. Anthony Smith has a similar style to Mims with a comparable size and speed ratio, and can stretch the field. The Cowboys took him in the seventh round this year and, because of the contractual leverage, would like to keep him around. Mingo is in the final year of his contract and, despite not being worth the draft capital to acquire him, does track the football well and is strong at the point of the catch. Barring an incredible summer from Mims, it doesn’t feel like he can do enough to make the team coming out of the preseason. Smith’s status as a draft pick will buy him chances to prove himself, and the team may choose to stash him for future considerations. Holden faces an uphill battle and likely remains on the outside looking in. This narrows it down to Mims vs. Valdes-Scantling vs. Mingo. It’s not going to be a popular decision, but Mingo’s consistency as both a special teams player and as a backup receiver makes him the ideal candidate to fill the final wide receiver sp [... truncated ...]
