Former Missouri linebacker Josiah Trotter is working out for the Dallas Cowboys ahead of the 2026 NFL draft, according to his March 27 Instagram story.

If Dallas selects the 20-year-old linebacker, who is the son of Philadelphia Eagles legend Jeremiah Trotter and the brother of current Eagles LB Jeremiah Jr., it would put two brothers on opposite sides of one of the NFL’s most heated rivalries.

Jeremiah Sr. spent the best years of his 12-season NFL career in Philadelphia, earning four Pro Bowl nods, a first-team All-Pro nod and induction into the Eagles Hall of Fame. Jeremiah Jr. was a fifth-round pick by the Eagles in the 2024 draft and won a Super Bowl ring as a rookie.

Now, a third member of the family is about to enter the league, and it’s clear the Cowboys have a close eye on him.

More on Dallas Cowboys Having LB Josiah Trotter in for a Top 30 Visit Ahead of NFL Draft

GettyThe Dallas Cowboys are bringing LB Josiah Trotter in for a Top 30 visit ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.

Trotter’s college career was brief but sharply ascending. He signed with West Virginia in 2022 and redshirted the 2023 season after tearing his ACL during spring practices — a significant setback that delayed his debut but did nothing to diminish his trajectory.

When he finally got on the field in 2024, Trotter immediately established himself as a tone-setter. He finished the season with 92 tackles, four tackles for loss, half a sack, an interception and two passes defended, earning Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year honors and a spot on the Football Writers Association of America freshman All-American team.

Looking for a bigger stage, Trotter transferred to Missouri, and the move to the SEC only elevated his game. Playing in the tougher conference, he finished with 84 tackles (13 for loss), 2.0 sacks and a pass defended in 2025, earning first-team All-SEC recognition. Across two seasons as a starter, Trotter compiled 176 tackles and 2.5 sacks while playing for two different programs — a testament to his ability to step in and produce regardless of scheme.

Trotter also met with Dallas at the scouting combine, so the Cowboys’ interest is clearly there.

A Closer Look at the Cowboys LB Room Heading Into 2026 NFL Draft

Dallas’ linebacker room was arguably its weakest position group in 2025. DeMarvion Overshown, their most talented option at the position, has now suffered season-ending knee injuries in back-to-back years, including a torn ACL, MCL and PCL in December 2024 that cost him the first 10 games of the 2025 season. He returned in Week 11 but went down again with another serious knee injury in Week 16.

Overshown enters 2026 in the final year of his rookie contract, and the Cowboys have not committed to an extension. Dallas released veteran Logan Wilson this offseason, and Kenneth Murray departed after a relatively underwhelming year-long stint.

Drafting Josiah would mean a Trotter lining up on both sides of the NFC East’s nastiest rivalry — one brother anchoring the middle for the Eagles, the other doing the same in Dallas.

Considering new defensive coordinator Christian Parker is installing a 3-4 base defense that puts a premium on physical, smart players over the middle, there’s little doubt Dallas will be adding to the position in the draft. The only question is which LB(s) they’ll wind up with.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, in a CBS 11 interview, talked about City Hall, ongoing discussions to keep the Mavericks and Stars in the city and his trust of the latest cost estimates to repair the nearly 50-year-old seat of Dallas government.

In a 16-minute interview published Friday, Johnson directly responded to criticism about his focus as the city’s top elected official, insisting he is “fully engaged in everything that goes on around here.”

“I just know what I do every day, which is I wake up early in the morning, come to [City Hall] and give this city everything I have,” Johnson said in the interview.

Johnson said he accepted the latest City Hall repair estimates, including a $1 billion price tag over 20 years, calling the current building “not a great place to work” for employees.

He dismissed skepticism about the numbers, arguing the firms providing them are reputable and no better alternative exists.

He noted the City Council recently authorized City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to explore all options — staying, repairing, or relocating — before making a final decision. His priority, he said, is doing “the best thing for the taxpayers.”

Johnson insisted the process has been “the definition of transparent,” citing public meetings and independent studies as proof.

While he respects the opinions of former mayors Mike Rawlings, Ron Kirk, and Tom Leppert, who argue relocating City Hall could revitalize downtown, Johnson said he won’t defer to their views.

He said he won’t commit to a scenario without seeing more data and the city manager’s report on private development interest in the City Hall site in May.

“I want the city manager to go through the exercise of actually exploring what private development options there would be, what interest would there be in this site,” the mayor said. “And if there are really great economic development opportunities for the city that would be unlocked by us leaving this site, I would be very, very compelled by that.”

Johnson confirmed active negotiations are underway to try to keep the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars in the city but declined to share details, citing the need to protect Dallas’ leverage in economic development deals.

He expressed confidence the city will “work this out” to retain both teams. The mayor shrugged off Plano’s reported discussions with the Stars, calling it competition that doesn’t concern him.

“I welcome anybody’s effort to compete with us,” Johnson said. “But I feel good about what we are going to be able to offer and what we’re able to do to keep our teams here.”

Council members respond

Council member Adam Bazaldua, one of six elected officials who have been pushing to revisit repair estimates, responded to clips from Johnson’s interview online.

“We owe it to our taxpayers to get a third party opinion and scrutinize the assessment. Anything less is subpar leadership,” Bazaldua posted it on X.

Bazaldua also highlighted a Mar. 26 post where council member Cara Mendelsohn questioned engineering firm AECOM’s repair cost estimates Wednesday.

In her post, Mendelsohn shared a 2023 Dallas Morning News article about the engineering firm having to pay a $11.8 million settlement for filing false claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that increased the price tag of repair and construction of schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“No matter what it is, how old it is, how well it functions, their estimate on city hall includes complete replacement and upgrades of every system, pipe, wire, window, floor, fixture, toilet, sink, because some folks want fancier government offices and want to build it to a Class A brand new standard,” Mendelsohn said in her post.

Council member Paula Blackmon told The News she agreed with Johnson that the city wants to keep the Stars and Mavericks in Dallas, but still wanted to have another review of City Hall’s condition and another set of revised estimates.

“I don’t trust that information and I will continue to ask to validate those numbers,” Blackmon said. “I don’t deny these groups put in the work, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t ask for a deeper understanding of how we got there.”

City Hall emails

In the CBS 11 interview, Johnson said he wouldn’t address a series of articles in The Dallas Morning News reviewing 5,000 pages of City Hall emails, which revealed undisclosed alternative City Hall site tours, AT&T’s criticism of city leadership and instances where business leaders struggled to reach him.

Johnson dismissed the articles, saying he “can’t spend time going back and forth with any media outlet about some emails.”

It’s at least the second time the mayor has refused to publicly discuss what came from the cache of emails. In his weekly newsletter to residents on March 15, he called coverage of news from the emails “tabloid-style articles” that were trying to frame routine city business as “scandalous revelations.”

A News review of 5,000 pages of emails exchanged over the past year among city officials, consultants, and others involved in City Hall’s future uncovered several key findings, including:

• City officials arranged private tours of at least 15 potential City Hall relocation sites — including Founders Square, The Epic and Red Bird Mall — for a select group of council members, without public disclosure.
• Before announcing a move to Plano, AT&T CEO John Stankey questioned Dallas’ “effective governance”, signaling concerns as the company explored suburban options.
• Emails reveal Scotiabank’s CEO couldn’t reach Mayor Johnson to thank him for the company’s Dallas headquarters deal, forcing city staff to intervene before a callback.
• Oak View Group, Fair Park’s former operator, is seeking $5 million from Dallas, alleging the city breached its contract after terminating their agreement.
• City leaders feared WFAA-TV might leave downtown after Dallas moved to seize the station’s parking lot for convention center expansion.
• The Dallas Economic Development Corp.’s CEO clashed with city staff over the group’s role in business recruitment, with emails exposing tensions over strategy and influence.

Staff writer Devyani Chhetri contributed to this report.

Inside 5,000 pages of Dallas City Hall emails: site tours, deals and disputes

Review of internal correspondence offers a rare look at officials navigating major civic decisions, disagreements and fallout from major projects.

Advertisement

Dallas mayor calls City Hall debate ‘silly games,’ defends review of options

Mayor Eric Johnson says studying repairs, relocation and redevelopment of the aging headquarters is routine due diligence.

Starting next year, every 3- and 4-year-old in Dallas ISD will be able to enroll in pre-K tuition-free.

The district’s board adopted a new universal free pre-K plan at a board meeting Thursday. The proposal passed by an 8-0 vote, with no discussion.

Currently, the district offers free pre-K to students who qualify under certain federal, state and district guidelines, and charges tuition to all other students. Under the policy adopted Thursday, the district will drop its tuition rate for non-qualifying students to $0 beginning with the next school year.

The district’s current pre-K tuition rate is $5,000 a year for full-day classes for 3- and 4-year-olds, and $2,500 a year for half-day classes for 3-year-olds. During a March 12 board briefing, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde told the board that about 267 families are paying pre-K tuition this year.

Elizalde told The Dallas Morning News this month that it costs the district more to manage those families’ tuition payments than those payments bring in. The district’s pre-K classes have enough open seats that district leaders don’t expect to have to hire more teachers after the new policy goes into effect, meaning the financial impact to the district is expected to be minimal.

Dallas ISD isn’t the first North Texas school district to offer tuition-free pre-K. Fort Worth ISD implemented universal free pre-K more than a decade ago, and Arlington ISD offers free, full-day pre-K for all 4-year-olds and half-day classes for 3-year-olds that are free to students who qualify with a tuition rate of $2,295 for those who don’t.

Dallas ISD’s pre-K registration for the 2026-27 school year opens April 1.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.