When it comes to roster moves, the Dallas Cowboys have operated parallel paths by signing undrafted free agents as well as veterans following the NFL draft. In addition to adding a large group of undrafted free agents, the Cowboys signed three veteran players as well.
Dallas kept the defensive theme from the draft going by plucking a veteran San Francisco 49ers defender. The Cowboys agreed to terms with linebacker Curtis Robinson.
Additionally, Dallas inked a pair of wide receivers in Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Tyler Johnson. It is early in the process, but Robinson has been given a chance to make the team’s final 53-man roster by some analysts.
Robinson is coming off the best season of his career notching 42 tackles in 14 appearances, including three starts, for the Niners in 2025. The defender has appeared in 29 games over his NFL career.
Robinson was named the 49ers’ Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2025.
The Cowboys Add Depth at Linebacker by Signing Ex-49ers Vet Curtis Robinson After Career Year
The addition of Robinson gives the Cowboys some potential depth at linebacker. Here’s how NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein described Robinson’s pro outlook ahead of the 2021 NFL draft and following his college football career at Stanford.
“Two-year starter with long, athletic frame. Robinson is heralded for his leadership and overall character on and off the field,” Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft profile of Robinson.
“He displays good initial scrape speed to flow with the ball-carrier but lacks the physicality and instincts needed to put himself in position to make plays. His testing numbers will get him a look, but he often doesn’t play to those numbers.”
Can New LB Curtis Robinson Make the Cowboys Roster?
Dallas Morning News’ Joseph Hoyt is among those bullish on Robinson’s chances to make the Cowboys roster. The team’s recent veteran signings and undrafted free agents will all be competing for limited roster spots in the coming months.
“Don’t sleep on Curtis Robinson as someone who could make this roster,” Hoyt detailed in an April 27, message on X. “Cowboys now up to 88 on their roster.”
Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones After the NFL Draft: ‘We’ve Changed This Defense’
Five of the Cowboys’ seven draft picks were defenders as Dallas clearly believed the team’s defense was the weakest link on the roster. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones claims the franchise has “changed this defense.”
“We’ve changed this defense,” Jones explained following the NFL draft, per Fox Sports. “And if it were just last year, the way we played on defense, then that might not have called for this.
“But … what you’re seeing going on right now is a product of three or four or five years or maybe more that we just haven’t been able to ultimately get where we’re trying to go and be a contender. It’s going to be different, it’s going to be fresh.”
Time will tell if Jones’ prediction will come to fruition, but the team is hoping their pair of first round picks, Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence, can become cornerstones of the revamped defense.
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