Somebody has to catch the ball in Oxnard.
With All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb still holding out for a new contract, the Dallas Cowboys signed a pair of UFL pass-catchers with NFL experience.
Wide receivers Deontay Burnett, Terrell Bynum and Kelvin Harmon worked out for the team on Saturday after rookie Ryan Flournoy sustained a minor knee injury. Bynum wasn’t signed, but Burnett and Harmon were both offered contracts.
Burnett had 86 catches for 1,114 yards and nine touchdowns his junior year for USC before signing with the Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2018. Unable to make the team, he joined the New York Jets as a member of their practice squad and played in six regular season games that year.
After being signed and released by San Francisco in 2019, he joined the Eagles practice squad, seeing action in three games over the next two years before being waived with a non-football injury designation in 2021.
In 2022, he was drafted by the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks, who would later become the Houston Gamblers of the UFL. In 2024, he had 33 receptions for 306 yards and two touchdowns as a member of the UFL’s Arlington Renegades.
Harmon had 177 catches for 2,665 yards and 16 touchdowns for North Carolina State before joining the Washington Commanders as a sixth-round pick in 2019. After appearing in 16 regular season games as a rookie, Harmon missed the 2020 season with an ACL tear and spent 2021 on the team’s practice squad.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound receiver spent 2023 with the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars and last season with the UFL’s DC Defenders, where his three touchdowns tied for eighth-most in the league.
While not many would expect Burnett or Harmon to make the Cowboys’ 53-man roster, the pair should see plenty of work in training camp. As the team sounds optimistic about its latest contract proposal to Lamb, he’s still working out in Houston, leaving plenty of room for other receivers to show what they can do.
