Cowboys Beat Seahawks 17-7 in Preseason Opener, With Sam Howell and Joe Milton Sharing the Job

The Dallas Cowboys beat the Seattle Seahawks 17-7 in their preseason opener Saturday, August 15, at Lumen Field in Seattle — Dallas’ first preseason-opening win since 2017, against the defending Super Bowl champions. Quarterback Dak Prescott, receiver CeeDee Lamb and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams all sat out as expected, continuing the Cowboys’ recent-years habit of resting established starters in August; Prescott has not appeared in a preseason game since 2019. With the top of the roster on the sideline, backups Sam Howell and Joe Milton III split the quarterback snaps, and undrafted rookie receiver Camden Brown caught touchdown passes from both of them.

With the top of the roster likely on the sideline, the game doubles as an early look at players fighting for jobs: a rookie safety expected to make his first appearance in a Cowboys uniform, a backup-quarterback competition that head coach Brian Schottenheimer says will largely be settled in games like this one, and a new contract for Williams that closes the loop on last year’s Micah Parsons trade.

Key facts

Final score: Cowboys 17, Seahawks 7
Where: Lumen Field, Seattle
Series: Ninth preseason meeting; Seattle now leads 5-4
Sat out as expected: Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Quinnen Williams
Quarterbacks: Sam Howell (8-for-12, 94 yards, 1 TD) and Joe Milton III (12-for-15, 107 yards, 1 TD) split the snaps
Standout: undrafted rookie WR Camden Brown — 3 catches, 62 yards, 2 TD, one from each quarterback

How the game played out

Seattle scored on its opening drive — a 5-yard touchdown pass from Drew Lock to Montorie Foster Jr. — and led 7-0 after the first quarter. Dallas answered in the second quarter: Howell hit Camden Brown for a 39-yard touchdown, and the Cowboys added a field goal to lead 10-7 at halftime. Milton took over at quarterback in the second half and found Brown again for a touchdown in the third quarter, making it 17-7. From there, the Cowboys’ defense, under new coordinator Christian Parker, shut Seattle out for the rest of the game, including a fourth-quarter goal-line stand. Seattle finished with just 156 total yards; quarterbacks Lock and Jalen Milroe, who alternated series, combined to go 14-for-21 for 49 net yards.

The backup quarterback competition and other roster battles

Rookie safety Caleb Downs, the No. 11 overall pick out of Ohio State, is expected to make his first appearance in a Cowboys uniform tonight. Dallas traded up one spot, from No. 12, in a trade with the Miami Dolphins, to get him. Malachi Lawrence, like Downs a first-round pick, could see extended work tonight, while cornerback Shavon Revel is expected to see more limited action. Third-round pick Jaishawn Barham, a linebacker/edge rusher out of Michigan, has also been mentioned as a candidate to make his preseason debut, though other camp reporting lists him among the players unlikely to be available tonight.

The other storyline to watch is at quarterback. With Prescott expected to sit, Joe Milton III and Sam Howell are in line to get the bulk of the snaps as they compete to be his backup. Schottenheimer has called it “a very highly competitive contest,” pointing to Milton’s arm talent and athleticism against Howell’s ability to “move the team,” and has said most of the evaluation will happen across the preseason games — starting with tonight’s. Neither player has been named the winner of that competition.

Two injuries in the background

Receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling hurt his knee at an early-August practice and had an MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) ordered on the injury this past Thursday; the results have not been made public, and he is expected to miss tonight’s game. Separately, tight end Princeton Fant tore his ACL and partially tore his MCL at a padded practice on August 4, with the diagnosis confirmed the next day, according to head coach Brian Schottenheimer; he is reported to be out for the entire 2026 season, part of why the tight end room looks different tonight than it did a few weeks ago.

The Quinnen Williams contract

The Cowboys and Williams agreed on August 10 to a three-year extension worth $105.9 million, including $101 million guaranteed and a $35.3 million annual average — the second-highest among defensive tackles, behind only Philadelphia’s Jalen Carter. The deal runs through the 2030 season. Dallas acquired Williams in a trade with the New York Jets during the 2025 season, using draft capital that had come back to the Cowboys as part of last year’s trade sending Micah Parsons to Green Bay. Asked about the Parsons trade at a press conference this week, owner Jerry Jones defended the deal: “Even though Micah’s an outstanding talent, anybody would like to have him, but the bottom line is that I like what the result of the trade has ended up as I stand here today.”

What’s next

The Cowboys’ preseason continues later in August before the regular season opens September 13 at home against the New York Giants on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.