Football fans love to point to the fabled Year 3 Jump when talking about young prospects; the notion a player who has underperformed — for whatever reason — may have it all suddenly and magically click as he embarks on his third campaign in the pros.
It makes for good summertime chitchat, but when someone whose literal job it is to evaluate football talent day in and day out hints that a third-year player may be about to go off, it’s time to sit up and take official notice. That player? Linebacker Marist Liufau.
On the Doin’ Alright podcast, hosts Bryan Broaddus and Voch Lombardi sat down last week for a wide-ranging interview with Cowboys national scout Ross Wuensche as their guest. And though their conversation touched on a multitude of players and topics, it was Wuensche’s words about a Cowboys underachiever who many had been ready to write off that should only add to the optimism around the Dallas defense for 2026.
“He balled out yesterday,” Wuensche said of converted outside linebacker Liufau. “He looks good. He looks like he’s put on a little weight.”
The third-round pick from Notre Dame had high expectations pinned to him when he was taken as a top-100 pick in 2024’s draft. But Liufau has yet to really break through at the pro level.
Some of it has been lack of opportunity. While Liufau has appeared in all 34 games the Cowboys have played since he joined the team and made 14 starts, he’s been on the field for 50% or more of the defense’s snaps in just six of those contests.
Draft slot speaks to potential. Stats quantify performance. But snap count reveals whether the coaches actually believe. It can be argued that when it comes to Liufau, they largely haven’t.
And that’s also been a part of Liufau’s struggles up to now. The 25-year-old is on his third defensive coordinator in as many years. Liufau often looked lost under the 4-3 schemes of Mike Zimmer and (especially) Matt Eberflus, but the retooling to more of a 3-4 look under Christian Parker may be the thing that gets the Hawaiian-born heat-seeking missile pointed in the right direction.
“The second we made the switch, I think [head coach Brian Schottenheimer] was the one that was like, ‘Hey, this helps Marist out,'” Wuensche said.
“He’s got a new lease on life. … His ability to move multiple spots and handle it mentally. He’s got the length, he’s got the play style we’re looking for, he looks like he’s filled out. He looks great.”
Liufau’s high motor and equally high processing abilities were big selling points when he was drafted. Once considered the eventual heir to the defense’s green-dot duties, Schottenheimer and Parker have now officially moved him this offseason from inside linebacker to outside linebacker, where, instead of playing centerfield and directing 10 other guys, he’ll can focus on erasing tight ends and fullbacks while hunting down quarterbacks.
“As a scout, sometimes you’re like, ‘Well, is it a Swiss-Army knife? Or is it being asked to do too much?’ Wuensche explained. “I think that’s what we loved about him coming out, and he’s shown it. He’s taken to the new defense. I think he’s going to be a really cool matchup piece for us.”
Still smart and violent, but Liufau will also be bringing the explosiveness and sideline-to-sideline speed that Cowboys fans have seen only flashes of. Wuensche didn’t come right out and draw an A-to-B comparison by naming names, but he definitely hinted that Liufau could become Dallas’s version of Zack Baun, a weapon Parker saw deployed from up close and personal while on staff with the Eagles.
“Seeing CP at Philly,” he said, “it’s like, ‘He can do that role for them.’ And it’s like, ‘If they can make that guy work, we can make that guy work.’ We have that guy, you know? You see the tools; he’s ours. We’ve had him for two years now. Let’s make it work that way.”
If Cowboys coaches can help Liufau flip that storied switch in Year Three, then everyone wearing silver and blue can say they saw it coming all along.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys scout hints 3rd-round pick about to leap off TV in new role
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire | USA TODAY Network
