Cowboys DT Brent Urban Signs with Ravens

Dallas is turning the page with young run-stuffing tackles.

FRISCO - Dallas Cowboys free agent defensive lineman Brent Urban is re-joining the team that first drafted him.

“I actually can’t even put into words how emotional today has been,” Urban’s wife Kate writes on Twitter. “Being from Baltimore. My family being in Baltimore. The love Brent has for Baltimore. It’s been a very special day guys. We can’t wait to get back there.”

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Urban was drafted by the Ravens in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Virginia. The native of Canada was a part-time starter there, and then bounced from Baltimore to the Titans to the Chicago Bears, and then in the 2021 offseason to the Dallas Cowboys via a one-year minimal contract.

Urban - long notable for his his 6-7 height - was to be a season-long rotational defensive tackle and run-stopper for Dallas. But unfortunately, he sustained a bicep injury in zzz that ended his campaign. 

Urban’s injury history is not the biggest driving force in Dallas’ disinterest in bringing back the 31-year-old. Rather, the Cowboys have turned the page via the last two drafts, with the late selections of Quinton Bohanna (in 2020) and John Ridgeway this year. Both are wide-body defensive tackles who the Cowboys believe can be successful while also playing on their cap-friendly late-round rookie deals. It is that same logic, by the way, that makes it quite unlikely that Dallas will chase veterans like Akiem Hicks, who probably comes at a much higher price than Urban would have.