Cowboys outside linebacker and special teams contributor Marist Liufau exited Friday night’s preseason finale early, returned with his arm in a cast and sling, and is now expected to get surgery and miss time.

Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Liufau will miss “weeks,” while owner Jerry Jones said Liufau could be back “quickly,” according to ESPN.

Advertisement

“Losing Marist as a football player is tough,” Schottenheimer said. “Unfortunately, it’s part of the business. You guys all know him and the way he’ll attack his rehab, and so we’ll get surgery done as soon as we can and next man up. But yeah, he was a critical, critical part of not just two or three special teams, really all four. He’s a ‘four-core’ guy that you just rely on and he plays the game with violence and we have some other guys in that locker room that do that as well.”

It’s unclear whether the Cowboys will keep Liufau on the 53-man roster after Sunday’s final cutdowns, or put him on injured reserve to start the season.

Liufau was a 2024 third-round draft pick who has played all 17 games in both of his first two seasons with the Cowboys. Last year he was on the field for 18 percent of the Cowboys’ defensive plays and 75 percent of the Cowboys’ special teams plays.