‘God’s work’: Cowboys UDFAs from Syracuse hope to realize NFL dream together

FRISCO — The story of former Syracuse safety Alijah “Cinco” Clark and linebacker Justin Barron, Orange co-defensive coordinator Robert Wright will say, is a testament to the beauty of football.

“There are probably not two people on this earth with more different backgrounds than those two,” Wright said.

Clark is an aggressive and energetic city kid from Camden, N.J. — just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Barron is a calculated and deceptively hilarious private school kid from the suburbs of Hartford, Conn. Their bond was forged immediately through an obsessive love for football and FaceTime calls at any moment, day or night, to discuss even the most unique intricacies of the game.

“[We’re] from different cultures. ... But we’re the same person,” Clark said, “if that makes sense.”

And now, the two close friends are in the same boat, too.

The Dallas Cowboys have drafted well over the last decade. That includes the subsequent hours after the draft.

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.

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.

“It’s just God’s work, to be honest,” Clark said.

A free-for-all

Or the power of manifestation.

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’s mom also would tell Barron the same thing.

Funny enough, when the prophecy came to fruition, none was the wiser.

Time and its inherent feel can change in a moment’s notice for an NFL draft prospect — especially for someone who goes undrafted. It’s three days of waiting followed by a jarring free-for-all. In the moments after the draft, undrafted players can become priorities.

Clark and Barron were no different. They each had options, but both ultimately signed with the Cowboys for $234,000 guaranteed — the highest among all Cowboys’ undrafted free agents.

“Free agency is hectic,” Barron said. “It’s like so crazy, I don’t even know how to explain it.”

Maybe this will do the trick: Barron was so wrapped up in his free agency experience that he didn’t have time to check on some of his other teammates, including Clark. He didn’t 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.

There were signs. On the night before Syracuse’s 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’re together. They talked ball and joked. One message wasn’t a joke, however.

“We told them we’ll probably end up going to the same team anyways,” Clark recalled. “And they heard it and made it come true.”

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’s seen the same emphasis from Brian Schottenheimer in his first year as a coach. Conveniently, intentionality has become one of Schottenheimer’s 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’s hard to believe that their pairing was an accident.

Their success together at Syracuse wasn’t an accident, either.

Special connection

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 “mob,” as they called it in Syracuse. This past season, they played different but conjoined positions. Barron played the “star” 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.

“The connection we have on the football field, we know where each other is going to be without even talking to each other,” Barron said.

That connection was discovered the first time they met, shortly after Clark transferred from Rutgers. It was fostered through their love for the game — something they believe is shown, not told.

Like Barron continuing to play in his final bowl game despite taking a fist through his face mask, leaving him with a badly broken, and slanted, nose.

“I finally got to the field after the game and saw it,” said Wright, who operated as co-defensive coordinator from the press box. “He 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’t even touch it without him basically screaming. But he didn’t care. He played the whole game and played well.”

There were less painful examples, too.

“The 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,” Barron said. “He’s always one of the guys closest to the ball every single play, and that’s how he really shows his love, through his effort.”

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.

One of Clark’s 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’t be enough to overcome.

“I just want to go,” Clark said, “and he would be the one to get me back on track so we could do what we had to do.”

Conversely, Clark believed Barron could use some of that aggressiveness at times — instincts, Clark said, rather than only intelligence. Instead of thinking, just doing.

Clark laughs when he thinks about the best example of it.

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 Chestnut, did often: battle rap. Instead of trash-talking the Wolfpack, he rapped about them — and toward them.

The hilarity of it — the kid from the Connecticut suburbs making plays and dropping bars — relaxed Clark and the rest of his teammates.

“That was the first game I wasn’t like seriously just trying to go and kill somebody,” Clark said. “He had me laughing because he was just making the game fun and killing them and letting them know, ‘Y’all are going to have four people block me.’”

The two brought out the best in each other during college.

“He was the one person at Syracuse that his game and my game complemented each other,” Clark said.

Which is why they’re both thrilled to be starting their professional journey together.

Clark and Barron understand that it won’t 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’ll probably have to push one of them out.

They’ll 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.

“The sad thing about the NFL is that it is a business,” Clark said. “So any given day, me or him could be separated, but the goal is for us not to be separated since we’ve got here. I feel like as long as we’re the hardest workers on the field at all times, somebody will see it.”

Their bond has already brought them this far.

Undrafted impact

The Cowboys have made a habit of finding talent on the undrafted free agent market. Here’s a list of some undrafted free agents who have made the team since 2015.

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.