The Dallas Cowboys played their second preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night. The Cowboys won the game 32-18. That’s nice, but what I wanted to see coming into this week was a much cleaner performance after committing 17 penalties last week in Denver. 

That’s exactly what we got. Let’s take a deeper look at this week’s stock report. 

Stock Up 

KaVontae Turpin 

Surprise! What a game for the TCU alum and USFL MVP. Turpin got the Cowboys on the board with a 98-yard kick return. 

On offense, he had one carry for seven yards on an end around. That 7 yard gain was impressive because most players in the league would have been tackled for a loss on that particular play. 

With the Cowboys leading 15-10, Turpin earned himself the rest of the night off with an 86-yard punt return. 

It is safe to say that Turpin will be on the roster when the Cowboys host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 11th. 

Trysten Hill 

Coming into training camp, we knew that the Cowboys had defensive line depth. Having depth in training camp means incredibly hard decisions coming when it is time for roster cuts. Hill has played the best football of his career throughout camp. On Saturday, he was able to force a fumble that the Cowboys offense was able to turn into a touchdown to take a 29-10 lead at the half. 

Israel Mukuamu

The Cowboys’ defense is poised to make a major leap from an impressive 2021 season. Part of the reason is the young talent at every level of the defense. Israel Mukuamu made his presence felt from the first offensive possession of the Chargers. He started by making a tackle on the first play of the drive and capped it off by intercepting Easton Stick. 

Stock Down 

Will Grier and Cooper Rush 

The backup quarterback position is one of the most intriguing battles on the roster. Rush had a poor performance last week against Denver and followed up that performance with a 32-yard performance on Saturday. Rush completed 3 of his 6 attempts to accumulate those yards. 

After missing last week’s game due to injury, Grier returned to the field and completed 6 of 10 passes for 98 yards. I felt Saturday night was an opportunity for Grier to really step up and take the lead in this battle. That didn’t happen. He didn’t play poorly based on the opportunities he had, but he didn’t do anything to say, “I’m the guy.” 

Jalen Tolbert

For the second consecutive week, I was a bit disappointed in Jalen Tolbert. Tolbert brought in 2 catches for 25 yards on four targets. He should have brought in a touchdown but awareness was an issue in the back of the end zone where wasn’t able to get his second foot in bounds to complete the catch. 

The Cowboys will return to The Star in Frisco this upcoming week for practice and then take on the Seattle Seahawks Friday night in their final preseason game at AT&T Stadium.