Marist Liufau's Wrist Injury Muddies Cowboys' Roster Math
The Cowboys linebacker grabbed at his wrist in the preseason finale — days before the 53-man cutdown deadline on Sunday.
Bubble linebacker with a wrist issue — no fantasy value until he clears cuts.
- Liufau labeled questionable to return with wrist injury
- Injured in Cowboys' preseason finale
- 53-man roster cutdown due Sunday
- Valued mainly for special teams work
- Considered a roster-bubble player pre-injury
Marist Liufau picked the worst possible moment to get hurt. The Cowboys linebacker went down grabbing at his wrist during Dallas' preseason finale, took a knee on the field and had to be tended to before being ruled questionable to return. The timing matters: teams have to trim to a 53-man roster by Sunday, and Liufau was already living on the bubble.
That's the crux of it. Liufau wasn't a lock to make the team even at full health, and now a wrist injury lands right in the middle of the cutdown calculus. The staff likes what he brings on special teams, which was his best path to a spot. An injury of any real severity could tip that decision the wrong way.
The severity is the whole story here, and we don't have it yet. A wrist issue that lingers is a very different conversation than one he shakes off in a week. Until the team clarifies, everything about his status is a guess — including whether he's on the roster at all come Monday morning.
The Fantasy Angle
Let's be honest about the stakes for your roster: they're basically zero right now. Liufau is a special-teams-first linebacker fighting for a job, not a fantasy contributor you're rostering in any standard format. There's no meaningful production profile to point to, and our database doesn't have him ranked as a startable option heading into 2026-27.
So this is a monitor-only situation, and only for the deepest of IDP leagues. If Liufau survives cuts and carves out defensive snaps beyond special teams, that changes the equation — but that's a big 'if' stacked on top of a wrist injury. For now, keep him on your watch list and check back after Sunday's roster deadline. Don't spend a waiver claim on a player who might not have a team by the weekend.
