LOS ANGELES — Ahead of Monday night's primetime showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers, the Dallas Cowboys have announced six roster moves following injuries to key contributors against San Francisco last week.
The Cowboys have officially moved linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and cornerback/special teams ace C.J. Goodwin to the injured reserve after suffering neck and pectoral injuries, respectively. With that, the Cowboys have activated cornerback Nahshon Wright from the injured reserve and signed defensive end Tyrus Wheat to the active roster to fill the two open roster spots.
Wright, who will make his debut on Monday night, has been on the injured reserve since the start of the season after suffering an ankle injury in the preseason. He returned to practice on Thursday and was officially activated on Monday.
Wheat, a rookie who was an undrafted free agent addition after April's NFL Draft, will make his NFL debut on Monday night while adding depth to the linebacker room with injuries forcing his presence. In the week of practice leading up to the Chargers game, Wheat ran positional drills with the linebackers. In college at Mississippi State, Wheat played more than 700 snaps as an off-ball linebacker in the SEC.
For the game against the Chargers on Monday night, the Cowboys will elevate running back Malik Davis and linebacker Malik Jefferson from the practice squad. It will be Davis' first elevation this season and Jefferson's third elevation. Practice squad players are only allowed three elevations for an entire season before needing to be signed to the active roster to play in another game.
Earlier this week, the Cowboys signed former first-round pick linebacker Rashaan Evans to the practice squad, but he will have to wait at least until after the week seven bye to make his debut with the team.
The Cowboys will take on the Chargers on Monday night at SoFi Stadium with kickoff set for 7:15 p.m. CST on ESPN.
