The Cowboys have looked at the undrafted free agent pool as an opportunity, and their method has been proven. Most years, at least one undrafted free agent will make the roster. In some, they will have multiple, like in 2023 when safeties Juanyeh Thomas and Markquese Bell both made the roster. <\/p>\n
Clark and Barron, the two highest-paid UDFAs from the 2025 class, are hoping to be the next success stories. Individually, they earned the right to have an NFL opportunity, but together, they believe they can make the most out of it. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just God\u2019s work, to be honest,\u201d Clark said. <\/p>\n
Related:Meet the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 2025 undrafted rookie free agent class<\/a>A free-for-all<\/p>\n Or the power of manifestation. <\/p>\n During their time together at Syracuse, Barron recalled Clark sharing a similar prophecy. He told Barron often that the two would play on the same NFL team, too. Clark\u2019s mom would tell Barron the same thing, too. <\/p>\n Funny enough, when the prophecy came to fruition, none were the wiser. <\/p>\n Time and its inherent feel can change in a moment\u2019s notice for an NFL draft prospect \u2014 especially for someone who goes undrafted. It\u2019s three days of waiting followed by a jarring free-for-all. In the moments after the draft, undrafted players can become priorities. <\/p>\n Clark and Barron were no different. They each had options, but both ultimately signed with the Cowboys for $234,000 guaranteed<\/a> \u2014 the highest among all Cowboys\u2019 undrafted free agents.<\/p>\n \u201cFree agency is hectic,\u201d Barron said. \u201cIt\u2019s like so crazy, I don\u2019t even know how to explain it.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe this will do the trick: Barron was so wrapped up in his free agency experience that he didn\u2019t have time to check on some of his other teammates, including Clark. He didn\u2019t realize that they both had signed with the Cowboys until Syracuse posted an announcement on social media. He called Clark immediately and revealed the news. Clark immediately reminded him of his prophecy. <\/p>\n There were signs. On the night before Syracuse\u2019s Pro Day, Clark and Barron went to a steakhouse for dinner with Cowboys defensive assistant coach J.J. Clark. The Syracuse teammates, Alijah Clark recalled, did what they always do when they\u2019re together. They talked ball and joked. One message wasn\u2019t a joke, however. <\/p>\n \u201cWe told them we\u2019ll probably end up going to the same team anyways,\u201d Clark recalled. \u201cAnd they heard it and made it come true.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark now wonders if the reunion with the Cowboys was intentional. He knows from experience the value of a good locker room, he said, and he\u2019s seen the same emphasis from Brian Schottenheimer in his first year as a coach. Conveniently, intentionality has become one of Schottenheimer\u2019s biggest buzzwords in his time as head coach. Add in the fact that Clark and Barron received the highest signing bonuses of the UDFAs and it\u2019s hard to believe that their pairing was an accident. <\/p>\n Their success together at Syracuse wasn\u2019t an accident, either.<\/p>\n Special connection<\/p>\n Clark and Barron spent time in three different systems in their three seasons together in college. At one point, they both played safety in the back end of the \u201cmob,\u201d as they called it in Syracuse. This past season, they played different but conjoined positions. Barron played the \u201cstar\u201d for Syracuse, operating as a nickel and linebacker, while Clark played the safety on the same side. Wright said the duo had to be cohesive. He noticed immediately that their communication was on another level.<\/p>\n \u201cThe connection we have on the football field, we know where each other is going to be without even talking to each other,\u201d Barron said.<\/p>\n That connection was discovered the first time they met, shortly after Clark transferred from Rutgers. It was fostered through their love for the game \u2014 something they believe is shown, not told. <\/p>\n Like Barron continuing to play in his final bowl game despite taking a fist through his facemask, leaving him with a badly broken, and slanted, nose. <\/p>\n \u201cI finally got to the field after the game and saw it,\u201d said Wright, who operated as co-defensive coordinator from the press box. \u201cHe had blood all over his jersey, and like the cotton swabs stuck in his nose, and like, it was sensitive to the touch. Like literally, you couldn\u2019t even touch it without him basically screaming. But he didn\u2019t care. He played the whole game and played well.\u201d<\/p>\n There were less painful examples, too. <\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing in football, as we talk about, is you show your love for your brother by how far the distance is between you and the ball by the time the whistle is blown,\u201d Barron said. \u201cHe\u2019s always one of the guys closest to the ball every single play, and that\u2019s how he really shows his love, through his effort.\u201d<\/p>\n It became a race for Barron, Clark and the other Syracuse defenders. They would talk trash to each other when a race was won. They pushed each other. They brought out the best in a way that not every teammate could. <\/p>\n One of Clark\u2019s best attributes is his passion and his aggressiveness. He also admits that his engine can rev too much, sometimes putting him in precarious positions where his athleticism wouldn\u2019t be enough to overcome. <\/p>\n \u201cI just want to go,\u201d Clark said, \u201cand he would be the one to get me back on track so we could do what we had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Conversely, Clark believed Barron could use some of that aggressiveness at times \u2014 instincts, Clark said, rather than only intelligence. Instead of thinking, just doing. <\/p>\n Clark laughs when he thinks about the best example of it. <\/p>\n Barron had eight tackles, two tackles for loss and an interception in a 24-17 win over North Carolina State this past season. He was everywhere, Clark recalled. He also was doing something that Clark and his longtime friend, fellow Syracuse defensive back Duce Chestnutt, did often: battle rap. Instead of trash-talking the Wolfpack, he rapped about them \u2014 and toward them. <\/p>\n The hilarity of it \u2014 the kid from the Connecticut suburbs making plays and dropping bars \u2014 relaxed Clark and the rest of his teammates. <\/p>\n \u201cThat was the first game I wasn\u2019t like seriously just trying to go and kill somebody,\u201d Clark said. \u201cHe had me laughing because he was just making the game fun and killing them and letting them know, \u2018Y\u2019all are going to have four people block me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The two brought out the best in each other during college. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was the one person at Syracuse that his game and my game complemented each other,\u201d Clark said. <\/p>\n Which is why they\u2019re both thrilled to be starting their professional journey together. <\/p>\n Both Clark and Barron understand that it won\u2019t be easy to make the Cowboys. They still went undrafted, after all, despite being UDFA priorities. Linebacker and safety are both positions stocked with Cowboys veterans. If they both want to make the team, they\u2019ll probably have to push one of them out. <\/p>\n They\u2019ll have a chance. Clark appeared at times with the starting defense during minicamp while veterans Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker dealt with injuries. Barron has played wide receiver, safety and linebacker in his career, making him an athletic and versatile asset for any NFL team, Wright believes. <\/p>\n \u201cThe sad thing about the NFL is that it is a business,\u201d Clark said. \u201cSo any given day, me or him could be separated, but the goal is for us not to be separated since we\u2019ve got here. I feel like as long as we\u2019re the hardest workers on the field at all times, somebody will see it.\u201d <\/p>\n Their bond has already brought them this far. <\/p>\n Undrafted impact<\/p>\n The Cowboys have made a habit of finding talent on the undrafted free agent market. Here\u2019s a list of some undrafted free agents who have made the team since 2015. <\/p>\n PositionPlayerCollegeDraft yearOGLa\u2019El CollinsLSU2015QBCooper RushCentral Michigan2017TEBlake JarwinOklahoma State2017LBLuke GiffordNebraska2019RTTerence SteeleTexas Tech2020TEPeyton HendershotIndiana2022SMarkquese BellFlorida A&M2022SJuanyeh ThomasGeorgia Tech2022FBHunter LuepkeNorth Dakota State2023OLT.J. BassOregon2023LBTyrus WheatMississippi State2023TEBrevyn Spann-FordMinnesota2024See where Micah Parsons lands among the NFL\u2019s top edge rushers in a new positional ranking<\/a>What Deion Sanders said at Big 12 Media Days: Texas Tech \u2018spending that money,\u2019 more<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ILCD2CD7DRF7LFDX3TYJDWPY5Q.jpg\")
Dallas Cowboys undrafted free agents Alijah Cisco (left) and Justin Barron (right) played their college football together at Syracuse.(The Associated Press)<\/p>\n