They say when you get a chance, you have to grab it with both hands. Only Trasheon Holden missed his. In Saturday’s preseason game against the Seahawks, Holden’s attempt to pick a bouncing punt turned into the kind of mistake bubble players can’t afford. The broadcast then caught him on the bench with a towel over his head, processing the magnitude of his error. He was already fighting for a spot, and the mistake came at the worst possible time. Now days later, Holden seemed an easy choice when it was time to cut for a roster spot.

As Pro Football Talk reported on X, “Cowboys cut WR Traeshon Holden to make room for Von Miller.” The call looked like one that could be seen from miles away. Given everything working against Holden, his spot on the roster was already looking shaky.

Even if Holden had managed to secure that punt against the Seahawks, Dallas was leading 17-7 at the time, and his mistake gave the opponent an opportunity to make it a one-score game. But that wasn’t even his only mistake that night.

Holden’s Mistakes and Controversial Past

On the opening kickoff of the second half, he was flagged for an illegal block above the waist. The return reached the Dallas 28, but the penalty at the 26 pushed the Cowboys back to their own 16 for Joe Milton’s first drive. For a bubble receiver, it was another costly mistake. Fans had little sympathy. One summed it up bluntly: “DO YOUR JOB OR ELSE.”

“I don’t know. I want to talk to him. I know he was disappointed. He knew he made a mistake. Traeshon wants to win. He’s competing. I think any time players step up, you can be affected by that. But Traeshon’s a pro, and he’ll bounce back,” Brian Schottenheimer said about Holden.

On top of that, Holden has had some controversial incidents in the past that don’t exactly add value.

In 2024, Holden, who played for Oregon, was ejected for reportedly spitting into the face mask of an opponent, as seen on the video replay. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty then forced his team to settle for a field goal, giving Oregon a 15-14 lead.

Yet, Dallas saw enough to keep Holden around, bringing him back on the practice squad in 2025 and giving him another shot in 2026.

And for a while, that faith looked justified. Holden turned heads during last year’s training camp and backed it up in the preseason, putting together a couple of solid outings. He hauled in two catches for 42 yards in one exhibition game, then followed that up with two more catches for 22 yards in the preseason finale. Not bad production. The only thing missing was a regular-season snap, since he never got on the field during the season.

In contrast to this, Von Miller now looks like a player whose addition can get the Dallas Cowboys out of the championship drought.

Von Miller’s Hall of Fame status

After all, Miller is a two-time Super Bowl Champ and has been a Super Bowl MVP in the past. Plus, he finished the 2025 season with 10 sacks and 36 total pressures on just 289 pass rush snaps. How do these numbers compare to Holden’s?

Well, when Holden arrived in 2025 as an undrafted free agent out of Oregon, he was waived during final roster cuts, then brought back a day later on the practice squad. He spent the rest of his rookie season there without appearing in a regular-season game, then signed a reserve/future contract in January 2026 to earn another shot at a roster spot.

Interestingly, Dallas has never been shy about choosing veterans over projects. They signed Parris Campbell in 2025, and Holden became the latest reminder. Once Von Miller was available, Dallas made the choice quickly. Holden was a fringe player; Miller came with 138.5 career sacks, eight Pro Bowls, three first-team All-Pro selections, and more. The roster spot was never really a debate.

“Man, it’s going to be d-pe. I think it really just has not hit me yet. Like, I was talking to my agent about six hours ago, and he was like, ‘Man, you know, we’re going to go ahead and pull the trigger on this,’ and it still just didn’t hit me yet,” Miller says about him joining the Cowboys.

Miller hasn’t taken a snap since Jan. 4, the final game of the Washington Commanders season. Yet Schottenheimer said, “We’re not gonna rush him out there…He’s gonna be in a ramp-up. 
I’m pretty sure he hasn’t forgotten how to rush the passer or play football, so we’ll be smart with him. I think he gets in tonight, and we’ll get rolling with him tomorrow.”

On the other hand, for now, Holden is out of a job in Dallas. If nobody claims him, he’s free to sign wherever he wants, and nothing is stopping the Cowboys from bringing him back either.

Either way, the numbers game at receiver just got a little less crowded. With Holden gone, there’s one fewer name competing for that fifth wide receiver spot on Dallas’s 53-man roster, and Von Miller officially has his.

Who wins the Cowboys’ final receiver spot?

The top of Dallas’ receiver room looks settled. CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens headline the group, while KaVontae Turpin and Ryan Flournoy already have defined roles. That left Holden fighting for scraps at the bottom of the depth chart.

The real intrigue is further down the roster. With Holden gone, the race for the final receiver spots now includes Jonathan Mingo, Camden Brown, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

Right now, Mingo and Brown look like the ones to beat. Both outplayed Valdes-Scantling in the preseason opener against Seattle. Mingo chipped in two catches for 20 yards, solid but modest production.

Brown, on the other hand, was the story of the game, hauling in three catches for a team-high 62 yards and two touchdowns. It was a contested grab where he had to wrestle with a Seahawks player for the ball before grabbing it; that was his first score. His second one was even better; it was a one-handed grab on a fade route in the end zone.

However, Dallas definitely has a lot invested in Mingo since the team traded for him in 2024. With Miller now in the fold, the question is what Dallas will do with the rest of its roster.