Thompson Is Out. Dallas Has No Starting Safety Left Standing.

Jalen Thompson is out, and with Malik Hooker already sidelined, the Cowboys are entering Week 3 without a healthy starting safety on the roster. That's not a depth problem anymore. That's a positional vacancy.

Between the two of them, Thompson and Hooker handled the meaningful safety snaps in Dallas's secondary last season. The depth chart behind them — Darian Thompson, Markquese Bell, Justin Barron — are all technically active, but none of them logged significant playing time in 2025. Whoever draws the start this week is being asked to fill a role they haven't earned yet under game conditions.

This is the same secondary that was already thin coming into the year. A former Cowboys safety left for Pittsburgh in the offseason, and the linebacker corps behind them offers no real cushion either. The defense has been giving up points faster than the offense can generate them — I've written that sentence twice in the last two weeks, and here we are again. The problem isn't new. The personnel crisis just got more acute.

Week 3 is a reasonable place to start panicking, if you're inclined. My read is simpler: Dallas needs a safety off the street, and they need one before Sunday.