Just mention the words “edge rusher” to a Dallas Cowboys fan and you might see them wince, even if just slightly. Might be that way for awhile.
It’s what happens when you trade away a generational player, in his prime, at that position. Which the Cowboys did when they sent Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers this summer.
While everyone around the Cowboys has collectively mourned Parsons’ departure the last few months, someone on the roster has begun to quietly assert himself in place of the perennial NFL All-Pro.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox tagged Cowboys rookie edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku as the team’s potential “Breakout Star” for the second half of the season as he seems to continue to get better every game.
“Rookie pass-rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku has already made an impact for the Dallas Cowboys,” Knox wrote on November 13. “He has two sacks and 10 quarterback pressures.The Boston College product has had both sacks, three QB hits and three tackles for loss over his last three games, and his production could continue rising over the second half of the season. Dallas added Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline, and he should create regular one-on-one opportunities for the guys playing next to him.”
Potent 1-2 Punch Playing Next to Ezeiruaku
There might be no player on the roster more poised to benefit from the new look Cowboys defense than Ezeiruaku.
When the Cowboys take the field for Monday Night Football against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11, they’ll do so with a pair of new starters in Williams, a 2-time NFL All-Pro, and another high impact player in inside linebacker Logan Wilson, who they obtained in a trade with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Williams, 6-foot-3 and 303 pounds, is a 2-time NFL All-Pro who is one of the league’s premiere run stuffers. Wilson is a playmaker on both levels, with 12 career interceptions and is on pace for his fifth consecutive season with over 100 tackles.
“Donovan Ezeiruaku is suddenly the league’s top rookie pass rusher,” Pro Football Focus reporter Ryan Smith wrote on November 8. “A couple of impressive weeks vault the Cowboys edge defender past Abdul Carter for the top PFF pass-rush grade among first-year players.”
NFL Draft Stock Plummeted Over Size
Ezeiruaku put together one of the greatest seasons by a college pass rusher in his final year at Boston College in 2024, when he won the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation’s top collegiate defensive end with 16.5 sacks, 20 TFL and 3 forced fumbles in just 12 games.
Those are the type of numbers — and against the type of competition — that almost guarantee you a spot in the first round of the NFL draft.
For Ezeiruaku, 6-foot-2 and 248 pounds, it meant dropping to the Cowboys at No. 44 overall in the second round. That drop happened almost entirely because he’s 2-3 inches shorter and 30-40 pounds less than what teams think an ideal NFL edge rusher should look like.
From Bleacher Report’s pre-draft scouting report: “Undersized and lacks the strength to hold up against offensive linemen as a run defender in the NFL … Lack of size and strength also shows up when trying to turn speed to power as a pass-rusher.”
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