Trysten Hill’s start on PUP will put his chances of making the roster in jeopardy

The Cowboys veteran defensive tackle could face an uphill climb this season.

It’s been a rough start to the young career of Trysten Hill. After underwhelming massively in his rookie season, and then missing 11 games in 2020 with a torn ACL, Hill has yet to live up to expectations that were placed on him after being selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. In twelve games (five starts) in his first two seasons, Hill has yet to record a sack, but does have two TFL, and five quarterback hits. With him sidelined for the foreseeable future, some of the younger and/or newer defensive linemen will get an opportunity to step into the void that Hill will leave. That’s not great news for Hill.

As the Cowboys opened camp, they has six players listed on the PUP (physically unable to perform). Third-year defensive tackle Trysten Hill was one of the names highlighted on the injury list, along with DE DeMarcus Lawrence, WR Amari Cooper, and K Greg Zuerlein.

For Hill, he wasn’t a lock to make the roster coming out of camp either way, and was likely going to need a strong training camp and preseason to secure a roster spot for the 2021 season. With no real sponsors in the building now that Rod Marinelli is in Oakland, Hill’s future with the Cowboys is solely tied to how he plays on the field. While he did show some signs of growth in 2020, he still was graded out as the third worst interior defender in all off football by Pro Football Focus with a PFF grade of 33.8. Hill tore his ACL against the Giants in week five and missed the remainder of the 2020 season.

This offseason the Cowboys invested heavily in the defensive line acquiring Carlos Watkins, Brent Urban, Osa Odighizuwa, Quinton Bohanna, and Chauncey Golston. Along with all the new additions, second-year lineman Neville Gallimore is looking to build momentum off a great ending to his rookie season. Second-year lineman Ron’Dell Carter also has some fans in the building, and got some playing time down the stretch last season. With a defensive line room consisting of as many bodies as the Cowboys currently have, Trysten Hill missing most if not all of training camp, does not bode well for his chances of having a locker in The Star when he does get off of the PUP list.

Once healthy, Hill will need to be ready to produce right away, or his time with the Cowboys could end, before it ever really got started.