{"id":51101,"date":"2025-05-25T09:06:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T09:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101"},"modified":"2025-05-25T09:06:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T09:06:15","slug":"breaking-cowboys-urged-to-sign-17-game-starter-to-fill-out-interior-dl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Jonathan Bullard\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1197\" data-img-load-time=\"1690\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As much as he might seem like Superman at times, it\u2019s not really fair for the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0to expect edge rusher\u00a0Micah Parsons\u00a0to essentially take on an entire team\u2019s offensive line every time he steps on the field.<\/p>\n<p>It was an issue that seemed to catch up with the Cowboys in 2024 when Parsons missed a career high 4 games and the bottom fell out on both the defense and the season as Dallas stumbled to a 7-10 record.<\/p>\n<p>The Cowboys, to their credit, have attempted to address exactly this in the offseason. They used 3 picks in the 2025 NFL draft on their defensive front with one edge rusher\u00a0and 2 defensive tackles. They signed a pair of plug-and-play free agent starters with edge rusher\u00a0Dante Fowler Jr.\u00a0and defensive tackle\u00a0Solomon Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the work must continue. Especially on the interior defensive line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe primary concern when looking at their roster is how they plan to improve a run defense that gave up a whopping 4.8 yards per carry,\u201d\u00a0Bleacher Report\u2019s Alex Ballentine\u00a0wrote on May 23. \u201cSolomon Thomas was the only notable defensive tackle they added this offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One player the Cowboys could sign who is still available is 31-year-old free agent defensive tackle\u00a0Jonathan Bullard, who started 31 out of 34 games for the\u00a0Minnesota Vikings over the last 2 seasons, including all 17 games in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0Sharp Football Analysis, Bullard is the top free agent interior defensive lineman still available. He played 2024 with the Vikings on a 1-year, $2.25 million contract and offering him a similar deal might be a smart move for Dallas and would add depth to a critical position.<\/p>\n<h2>Bullard Struggled to Find Full Time Role Early<\/h2>\n<p>Looking back at Bullard\u2019s career, the fact he\u2019s developed into a reliable, full time starter this late in his career makes him kind of an anomaly.<\/p>\n<p>Taken by the\u00a0Chicago Bears\u00a0in the third round (No. 72 overall) of the\u00a02016 NFL draft\u00a0out of the University of Florida, Bullard played all but 2 games over his first 3 seasons but only made 5 starts before he was released before the 2019 season.<\/p>\n<p>Bullard spent the next 3 seasons with 3 different teams \u2014 2019 with the\u00a0Arizona Cardinals, 2020 with the\u00a0Seattle Seahawks\u00a0and 2021 with the\u00a0Atlanta Falcons\u00a0\u2014 before he caught on with the Vikings in 2022 and spent the last 3 seasons there playing on a\u00a0succession of 1-year deals.<\/p>\n<p>With the Vikings, Bullard only saw his role increase each year. He started a career high 7 games in 2022 followed by 14 games in 2023 until starting every game in 2024, when he 41 tackles, 7 TFL and 3 pass deflections.<\/p>\n<h2>Cowboys Might Be About Through With Mazi Smith<\/h2>\n<p>The only reason the Cowboys really need to consider signing Bullard is\u00a0because of the failure\u00a0of defensive tackle and 2023 first round pick (No. 26 overall)\u00a0Mazi Smith\u00a0to establish himself as a reliable presence up front.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFormer first-rounder Mazi Smith endured a particularly tough 2024 campaign,\u201d\u00a0PFF\u2019s Mason Cameron\u00a0wrote on May 9. \u201cHe posted an abysmal 34.7 PFF overall grade, marking his second consecutive season of earning a sub-48.0 grade. Although Dallas signed\u00a0Solomon Thomas\u00a0in free agency, that doesn\u2019t profile as the answer to the Cowboys\u2019\u00a030th-ranked run-defense grade\u00a0(48.0).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard. As much as he might seem like Superman at times, it\u2019s not really fair for the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0to expect edge rusher\u00a0Micah&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard. As much as he might seem like Superman at times, it\u2019s not really fair for the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0to expect edge rusher\u00a0Micah...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-25T09:06:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"619\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101\",\"name\":\"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-25T09:06:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-25T09:06:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":619},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"Getty Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard. As much as he might seem like Superman at times, it\u2019s not really fair for the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0to expect edge rusher\u00a0Micah...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2025-05-25T09:06:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":619,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101","name":"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-25T09:06:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-25T09:06:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2194119099-e1748118393183.jpg","width":1100,"height":619},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51101#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING: Cowboys Urged to Sign 17-Game Starter to Fill Out Interior DL"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51103,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51101\/revisions\/51103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}