Competing against Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah for a roster spot, Dallas Cowboys running back Malik Davis entered the 2026 offseason with a chip on his shoulder. That fire showed up throughout camp, and especially when he played the first two preseason games against the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals. But even with his spot now secured, that competitive fire has caused the league to take a swing at his bank account.

The NFL recently dropped its gameday accountability fines for all three preseason games. In that list, Davis incurred a $6,735 fine for unnecessary roughness (use of the helmet) in the first quarter.

The specific play came with 12:07 left in the first quarter, on a 1st & 10 for Dallas from the Cardinals’ 39-yard line. Davis rushed to gain 5 yards for Dallas and faced the Cardinals’ linebackers Karson Sharar and BJ Ojulari. While there was no flag on the play at the time, the league was watching and decided to fine Davis for it.

He’s the only Cowboy to be fined this preseason. Interestingly enough, since coming to Dallas as an UDFA in 2022, this is the first time he’s been slapped with a fine, marring an otherwise perfect record.

On the other hand, the Cardinals have gotten the short end of the stick. They have been issued with 3 fines totaling $17,455. In the first quarter, Karson Sharar was fined $5372 for use of the helmet, and Dadrion Taylor-Demerson got hit with $7,148 in Q1 for hitting a defenseless player. In Q2, Wydett Williams got a $4935 fine for another hit on a defenseless player.

Coming back to Davis, that fine might not matter because it was his performance in that Week 2 preseason game that might have sealed his roster spot. Against the Cardinals, he logged 29 yards on five carries. 21 of those yards came in the first drive itself, and to top it all off, he even hauled in an 8-yard touchdown reception.

In Week 1 against the Seahawks, he’d logged 39 yards for seven carries. If there was any lingering doubt around his roster status, the fact that he got pulled out of the Week 2 game early – and was held out of the final preseason game – sealed the debate.

“So, in 15 plays, we’ve seen Cowboys Malik Davis run for 29 yards on five carries, pick up a blitz in pass protection, and haul in an eight-yard TD reception on a third down in the red zone,” Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote after the Cardinals game. “Sounds like an RB2 to me.”

Last season, Malik Davis played just 10 games, logged 52 carries for 250 yards, hauled in two touchdowns, and 11 first downs. Now, after two solid preseason outings, he has his roster spot locked in as RB2 behind Javonte Williams on the depth chart. He would be a restricted free agent in 2027 and has all the reasons to ball out to get a bigger check than the $1.15M he’s set to make this year.

If he can earn that bag by showing he can be an explosive backup, his first NFL career fine of $6,735 would just be a drop in the bucket.