Cowboys are leaving no doubt they were being honest about their love for rookie that's demoted former starter
From the moment they drafted linebacker Marist Liufau on the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys have told everyone who listened that they loved what they had gotten in him. This was particularly relevant, as many disagreed with the "value" of the pick, claiming the third round was way too early for […]
From the moment they drafted linebacker Marist Liufau on the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys have told everyone who listened that they loved what they had gotten in him.
This was particularly relevant, as many disagreed with the "value" of the pick, claiming the third round was way too early for grabbing Liufau, who was perceived as a player with many weaknesses that would cause him to go in the late rounds. The Cowboys, who had no fourth round pick, proved that wrong.
So far, they've shown why: They're not treating Liufau like a special teams player that barely gets playing time on defense. This guy is essentially the third linebacker on the depth chart at this point.
As Cowboys content creator Foots The King pointed out on Twitter/X, Liufau is out-snapping Damone Clark, who started in 17 games for Dallas last year. For the season, Liufau sits at a snap count of 39%, with Clark at 26%, per Pro Football Reference. There's simply no question the rookie has demoted the former starter and team's best linebacker. It's wild how things can change in the NFL.
Now granted, Liufau hasn't been the perfect linebacker but bear in mind, he's a rookie. Specially earlier in the season, the Notre Dame product missed assignments here and there while the entire Cowboys defense struggled vs. the run.
On Sunday night, he was a big reason why the Cowboys defense played good football against the Pittsburgh Steelers, coming up big on a PBU on third and one and grading as the fourth best defender on the team with another stop. In that particular play in coverage, Liufau closes in on Justin Field's target with remarkable speed and violence to make the play.
The Cowboys defense is slowly finding its identity, halting the New York Giants and Steelers in the last couple of weeks despite being severely shorthanded. Part of that is the D-line playing better but also Zimmer figuring out who he wants doing what at linebacker.
The level of difficulty will be one-upped next week when they take on the Detroit Lions but even with so many injuries to the unit, it seems like Mike Zimmer is slowly adjusting things and getting this unit to where he wants it to be.
