The NFL combine kicks off in a bit over a week and will give interested football fans a good chance to watch some of the top prospects in the 2026 NFL draft work out. And the names that have already dominated the headlines and comments here on BTB will dominate the coverage from the combine. But when some of the lesser-known names take the stage, you’ll be wondering who to keep an eye on.
Not anymore.
Every year, in addition to 30 usually high-profile national draft-eligible players the Cowboys bring in for pre-draft visits, they also bring in roughly 50 draft-eligible local prospects who are usually less well known.
These visits by local prospects usually happen in early to mid April and are known as “Dallas Days”. A player is considered a local prospect if he went to high school or college in the Dallas/Fort-Worth area, he was born there or his parents live there. That DFW area is defined as stretching from Sanctuary in the West to Princeton in the East, and from Prosper in the North to Glenn Heights in the South. TCU, SMU, and North Texas are the three colleges in the area from which the Cowboys are allowed to invite prospects.
Here’s a map detailing the boundaries of the area from which prospects qualify for Dallas Day.
These “Dallas Days” have delivered their share of Cowboys players in the past, with the likes of Patrick Crayton, Bryan McCann, Lance Dunbar, Cole Beasley, Terrance Williams and more recently Connor Williams and DeMarvion Overshown all visiting the Cowboys during Dallas Day.
We don’t yet know which local prospects the Cowboys will invite this year, but we do know which 319 players are invited to the combine this year. And we also have a pretty good idea about which combine invitees would qualify as local prospects for the Cowboys. Here are the 21 local players we know of who’ll be attending the combine this year.
body .sbnu-legacy-content-table td, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table th, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table { border: 1px solid #000 !important; border-collapse: collapse !important; }| PFF rank | Player Name | Position | College | Hometown |
| 14 | Jordyn Tyson | WR | Arizona State | Allen, TX |
| 40 | Anthony Hill Jr. | LB | Texas | Denton, TX |
| 45 | Eli Stowers | TE | Vanderbilt | Denton, TX |
| 99 | Seth McGowan | RB | Kentucky | Mesquite, TX |
| 111 | Malik Muhammad | CB | Texas | Dallas, TX |
| 115 | Bud Clark | SAF | TCU | Alexandria, LA |
| 147 | Eric McAlister | WR | TCU | Azle, TX |
| 164 | Ar’maj Reed-Adams | G | Texas A&M | DeSoto, TX |
| 212 | J. Michael Sturdivant | WR | Florida | Highland Village, TX |
| 234 | Taylen Green | QB | Arkansas | Lewisville, TX |
| 271 | RJ Maryland | TE | SMU | Southlake, TX |
| 318 | Ahmaad Moses | SAF | SMU | Arlington, TX |
| 353 | Matthew Hibner | TE | SMU | Burke, VA |
| 366 | Kaleb Elarms-Orr | LB | TCU | Hayward, CA |
| 368 | Charles Demmings | CB | Stephen F. Austin | Mesquite, TX |
| 405 | Namdi Obiazor | LB | TCU | Eden Prairie, MN |
| — | DJ Campbell | G | Texas | Arlington, TX |
| — | Jordan Hudson | WR | SMU | Garland, TX |
| — | Louis Moore | SAF | Indiana | Mesquite, TX |
| — | Febechi Nwaiwu | G | Oklahoma | Coppell, TX |
| — | DJ Rogers | TE | TCU | Little Rock, AR |
The players are arranged according to how they rank on the PFF big board. The 21 names listed here are all I was able to find, but there may be others who are eligible for Dallas Day. In principle, the Cowboys could invite any of these players to Dallas Day and save a spot on their national invite list for another prospect.
While some of the names on the list will be familiar to Cowboys fans, others will have even hardcore draftniks scrambling for their draft manuals. But with this list in hand, you’ll know who to root for once the lesser known names take the stage at the combine – you never know, one of them might end up a Cowboy.
For those more in tune with the local football talent in the DFW-area, do any of these players stand out to you?