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.”
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.”
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.”
The New Orleans Saints aren’t where they want to be in the standings, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t get their search right when picking a new head coach this past offseason.
After a 5-12 season, the Saints were looking around for a new head coach and selected Kellen Moore after he worked as the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles. Right now, the Saints are 2-8, but young playmaker Chris Olave had nothing but praise for the work he has done so far this season while speaking to Kay Adams on “Up & Adams.”
“He’s just a great leader,” Olave said to Adams. “He does everything right. I feel like he is so detailed with his work. He knows how to win football games. I mean, not this year. Not this year, but he came from a Super Bowl to a tough situation in just a year. Just the way he carries himself.
“Even being 2-8, I know it’s tough. I know he’s so frustrated. I know it’s taking a lot on him. Just the way he leads. Team meetings, he leads the team with such great energy and just moving on so quick and try to move on and get some wins. I feel like he does a great job at that and I’m excited moving forward.”
Moore is known around the league as one of the top offensive minds in the NFL. Although things haven’t been clicking for New Orleans yet, it showed promise against the Carolina Panthers last week and now has a week off to prepare for its next matchup next week against the Atlanta Falcons.
If Tyler Shough can play like he did against the Panthers the rest of the way, then Moore is going to look even better by the time the season ends. At the end of the day, if the head coach is right, the quarterback is right, and there are pieces around like Olave, this team should be able to turn things around as soon as 2026.
Shortly after the trade deadline, Olave addressed the state of his extension talks with the Saints.
“It’s in the works…I want to be in New Orleans forever,” Olave said on a recent episode of the Up and Adams Show.
This kind of eagerness to stay in New Orleans is exactly what Saints fans need to hear right now. Olave is the best player on their roster, and it would be a huge deal to keep him on the team for the next four or five years.
Olave could sign for over $100 million, similar to the deal that his college teammate, Garrett Wilson, recently signed with the New York Jets.
Either way, keeping Olave on the team for the next few years would be huge for the franchise. It would also be huge for rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, who’s still learning and growing as a young signal caller.