Report: Dallas Cowboys signing defensive tackle Linval Joseph

Update: 9:30pm ET

According to the mothership a deal with Joseph isn’t quite finalized.

Just noting the official-ness of things.

The Dallas Cowboys have been far more active in roster acquisition while at training camp in Oxnard than they were for the entire offseason leading up to it. This is how they like to do business.

Last week Dallas traded for defensive tackle Jordan Phillips and signed pass rusher Carl Lawson. Adding more bodies to the rotation along the line is never a bad thing and the Cowboys have been vocal about wanting some more depth since seeing what they have to work with while at camp.

Notably the Cowboys have explicitly expressed a desire to add another body along the interior. Wednesday evening we got the news that they had signed Linval Joseph.

Joseph has bounced around a bit over the last few seasons, but he notably spent a large chunk of time running the middle of the Minnesota Vikings defensive line. You are correct in assuming that it was Mike Zimmer’s defensive line. The two were together a total of six seasons in Minnesota.

Linval joins Jordan Phillips once again as the two were together last season with the Buffalo Bills. Together they will be charged with helping fortify the middle of the defensive line which we entered camp assuming was Mazi Smith’s primary responsibility.

It still seems like a leap to assume that the Phillips trade and Joseph signings are representative of anything specific towards Smith. Remember that over the last two years the Cowboys were dependent on one player specifically in this regard in Johnathan Hankins. Having multiple bodies is a very good thing through the battle of attrition that is an NFL season.