A 2-4 record leaves little room to stand still, and the Cowboys aren’t. Ahead of a Monday Night Football meeting with the Eagles, Dallas has brought in a quarterback who was once a second-round pick, and the team confirmed another move alongside it. Neither changes who starts under center, but the timing is worth a closer look.

“The Cowboys are signing QB Kyle Trask to their practice squad, per sources. He replaces Joe Milton III, who signed to the Eagles’ active roster last week. A second-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2021, he has also been with Atlanta and Carolina,” ESPN reporter Todd Archer posted on X.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took him in the second round of the 2021 draft after he spent two seasons as the starter at Florida, where he was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2020. In Tampa, he sat behind Tom Brady and later Baker Mayfield for four years, and he never managed to win the starting job.

Things have been bumpy since the Buccaneers released him in August 2025. After that, he bounced around, spending time with both the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons, and across his seven NFL games, he has completed 4 of 11 passes for 28 yards. His last NFL appearance was with the Buccaneers in 2024.

He was also in camp with the Panthers this year, but they cut him on August 30, and he has been a free agent ever since.

Dallas needed someone to fill its third quarterback spot after Joe Milton left the practice squad. Milton landed with the Eagles this week once Jalen Hurts went down for the season in Philadelphia.

The bigger story in Dallas, though, is the offense. This group was supposed to be explosive, and with Dak Prescott leading a talented lineup, those expectations made sense. Over the past two weeks, it hasn’t looked anything like that.

Against Green Bay, the Cowboys scored just 13 points, and one of their two touchdowns came with less than a minute to play. The week before followed a similar script, with a touchdown arriving late in the fourth quarter.

So while there are larger problems to sort out before heading to Philadelphia, the team still had a gap behind Prescott and Sam Howell once Milton left, and Trask looks like the answer. He won’t be on the active roster for now, but with only two quarterbacks ahead of him, he is one injury away from a promotion.

It has been a rough start to the season for Dallas, which fell to 2-4 after Sunday’s loss to the Packers. This also wasn’t the only transaction of the day.

Cowboys make two roster moves

The Cowboys signed safety Juanyeh Thomas to the active roster from the practice squad and waived cornerback Caelen Carson.

Dallas has a real problem at safety, and that explains the Thomas move. Malik Hooker is dealing with a broken forearm and might need one more week to recover. P.J. Locke is already on injured reserve with a foot injury, and Jalen Thompson is about to join him there because of a hamstring injury that should keep him out for four to six weeks.

With so many safeties hurt, the Cowboys turned to Juanyeh Thomas. He went undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2022 and has been with Dallas over several seasons, playing 36 games before this year.

Most of that time, he has been a backup on defense and a contributor on special teams, so the team knows what it is getting. It also helps that he can fill different roles in the secondary.

He has already been called up from the practice squad several times this season, including for the games against the Packers, Buccaneers and Texans. The NFL limits how often a team can do that with the same player, so Dallas signed him to the active roster to keep him available.

To make room, the Cowboys waived cornerback Caelen Carson. He played in three games this season and made one tackle, with 17 snaps on defense and 28 on special teams. If no team claims him, he will likely look for a practice squad spot elsewhere.

None of this fixes the offense, but it shows Dallas trying to stay stocked with healthy players before a big Monday night game in Philadelphia.