Cowboys-Seahawks Preseason Recap: What Dallas and Seattle Learned in Week 1

Dallas beat Seattle 17-7 in the preseason opener for both teams on Saturday night. Dak Prescott did not play for Dallas, and Seattle sat its entire projected 2026 starting group too, per ESPN's recap, turning the game into 60 minutes of roster-bubble evaluation instead of any real snapshot of either offense. That is exactly the kind of game where backups and rookies matter more than the final score, and both sidelines had real ones worth tracking.

Jaydon Blue got the clearest look yet at Dallas's complementary backfield job

Jaydon Blue

Blue, a fifth-round pick out of Texas in 2025 (No. 149 overall), moved the chains multiple times and converted a screen pass for 13 yards, showing the physicality Dallas's own game tracker noted early: extra yardage into the A and B gaps instead of getting knocked back at first contact, according to the team's Starlights recap. Javonte Williams sat out entirely and remains the presumptive early-down back once games start counting, but the room behind him thinned further when Phil Mafah left in the third quarter with a chest injury after catching a short pass and picking up four yards on the ground. That leaves Blue as the healthiest complementary back on the roster heading into Week 2, exactly the kind of opening a Day 3 pick needs before final cuts.

Michael Trigg can catch anything, he just has to prove he can block

Michael Trigg

Trigg's hands were the story of his night. Dallas's own tracker put it bluntly: he can catch a football, full stop, but still has real technique work to do as a blocker at this level. That is the honest scouting report on most receiving tight ends in year one, and it is also exactly why Jake Ferguson's job is not in any danger. Ferguson remains Dallas's clear starter at the position, with Luke Schoonmaker still around as the more finished blocker. Trigg's path to real snaps runs through packages where his catch radius outweighs the blocking limitation, not through unseating Ferguson outright.

The best player on the field Saturday night was not anyone who projects to make an opening day roster on name recognition alone. Camden Brown caught three passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns through three quarters, including a diving one handed grab in the back corner of the end zone. He is an undrafted rookie out of Georgia Southern with no guaranteed roster spot, and the head coach said afterward that Brown does it every single day in practice, that Saturday was just the first time a wider audience saw it. Snaps at quarterback behind him were split close to evenly. Sam Howell started and went 8 of 12 for 94 yards and a touchdown before giving way to Joe Milton, who finished 12 of 15 for 107 yards and a score of his own. Both are chasing a backup job beat writers have called a genuine toss-up all camp, and neither did anything Saturday to lose it.

Jadarian Price did not play, and that is still the biggest story in Seattle's backfield

Jadarian Price, the No. 32 overall pick out of Notre Dame in this year's draft, was held out while working back from a minor injury that had cost him practice reps, but he was still on the field early taking handoffs in pregame warmups. That matters because of who he is replacing. Kenneth Walker III left in free agency for a three-year, $43 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, and Seattle spent a first-round pick specifically to replace him rather than hand the job to Zach Charbonnet outright. Charbonnet is the proven, healthy option right now, and he is the name to roster if Price's absence stretches into the regular season. But every camp report out of Seattle treats Price as the back who takes the job over once he is fully healthy, not a committee piece.

Jalen Milroe might be the best athlete on either roster

Milroe entered fall camp as Seattle's third quarterback, but his relief outing did more for his case than a strong month of practice reports could. He carried the ball five times for 36 yards, including a scramble on third-and-11 that extended a stalled second-half drive.

That burst matters because of who is ahead of him. Sam Darnold is the entrenched starter, but the backup job is still Drew Lock's to lose, not something Milroe inherits automatically, according to beat coverage of the position battle throughout camp. A performance like Saturday's, more explosive than anything either passer in front of him offers with his legs, is exactly the kind of tape that changes a coaching staff's thinking before final roster cuts.

What to do with this

None of these four are roster locks yet, and production this early in August does not guarantee a single regular-season snap. But Blue and Price both just got clearer runways behind a banged-up or departed veteran, and Trigg and Milroe both showed a real, specific skill their competition does not have. Check the rookie rankings to see where Price and Blue currently sit before Week 2 gives them another data point, and if you are building a best ball roster this month, the best ball tool is a reasonable way to see whether either offense's early usage is already showing up in the model. Preseason Week 1 is never the whole story. It is just the first real look at who these two teams are actually counting on behind their starters.