Cowboys LB to have surgery on broken forearm; will miss 'some weeks'

When the Cowboys take the field again, it will be Week 1 of the 2026 regular season, and outside linebacker Marist Liufau will find himself in a very unfamiliar place: in street clothes.

The third-year man out of Notre Dame fractured his left forearm in Friday’s preseason loss to New Orleans and is expected to miss “some weeks,” according to Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer. Those absences will be the first games Liufau has missed since being drafted in the third round in 2024.

Liufau suffered the injury late in the first quarter of Friday’s exhibition after a solid summer transitioning to a new edge-rushing role in first-year defensive coordinator Christian Parker’s new 3-4 scheme. That evolution will now be put on hold as the 25-year-old undergoes surgery, perhaps as soon as Monday.

The injury, though, is not considered season-ending. Liufau was seen in a soft cast and sling after the Cowboys’ 27-24 loss.

“What a great competitor. He’ll be back.” Schottenheimer said of Liufau.

“Losing Marist as a football player is tough. Unfortunately, it’s part of the business. You guys all know him and the way he’ll attack his rehab. So, we’ll get surgery done as soon as we can and next man up. But yeah, he was a critical, critical part of not just two or three special teams, really all four. He’s a four-core guy that you just rely on, and he plays the game with violence. We have some other guys in that locker room that do that as well.”

Now one of those other guys may take Liufau’s spot on the 53-man roster, at least temporarily. With cuts due on Sunday, the Cowboys have many tough personnel decisions to make. Where Liufau is concerned, they may choose to place him on injured reserve with a “Designated to Return” classification. (Each team has two of those to use.) That would allow the club to initially use his roster spot for someone else but allow Liufau to return to action after sitting out at least four games.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was more optimistic with his diagnosis, saying Liufau could be back “quickly,” since the break “is one that’s in the right spot. And if you’re going to have one, it’s the one to have.”

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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys LB to have surgery on broken forearm; will miss ‘some weeks’