The regular season is still several weeks away, but the Dallas Cowboys have officially turned the page on training camp in Oxnard, Calif. A lot has happened since Jerry Jones kicked off camp with his “State of the Cowboys” address July 25, so let’s recap some of the month’s biggest stories:
All quiet on the contract front
The biggest story from training camp was who didn’t show up: CeeDee Lamb. The star wide receiver sat out as he awaited a new contract. The contract hasn’t come yet, but lines of communication are reportedly open, with the Cowboys offering him $33 million a year last week. Jones came under fire during camp for saying there was no urgency to getting a deal done, which he later clarified.
The holdout wasn’t a surprise. Lamb has made himself scarce all offseason, failing to appear at voluntary offseason workouts or team minicamp, and the attention he’s drawn has also shined a light on the extensions due Dak Prescott and eventually Micah Parsons. The vibes for a Prescott extension are better, as the quarterback has been vocal about talks going in the right direction and wanting to retire a Cowboy. The waiting game for Lamb and Prescott will surely be resolved eventually, but Cowboys fans will only get temporary serenity: next year it’s Parsons’ turn.
Dak/Dad
Perhaps Prescott seems so calm about his contract situation because he has a new perspective. The quarterback and his girlfriend Sarah Jane welcomed baby MJ this year, and she’s the star of the show as soon as the whistle blows at the end of practice.
“Going from being so locked in to forgetting about football so fast is something I’ve never done,’’ Prescott said. “That is the balance I need. It allows me even more to focus in on what I need to do and want to do when I’m in between the lines.’’
All month, MJ could be found in the arms of Prescott, teammates and coaches, that is, if she wasn’t on the field.
“She’s just over five months, so she’s in the laughing, smiling stage,’’ Prescott said. “Just to get to see that laugh, good day, bad day, whatever it may be, allows me to reset and know that’s where my focus needs to be. Just to be intentional with her.”
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Mike McCarthy’s big “challenge”
It’s not just the players that are in need of contracts. Head coach Mike McCarthy is entering the final year of his contract and led training camp without an extension. Heading into camp, he admitted that that would be “a challenge,” and Jones confirmed just days later at the start of camp that McCarthy had yet to receive an extension because of the Cowboys’ playoff collapse against Green Bay.
So where does that contract stand? To steal Jones’ favorite word, it’s “ambiguous,” as the subject hasn’t come up much in the second half of camp. But be sure that it will be a hot topic so long as the extension remains un-offered and un-signed.
Sir Lance-(played)-a-lot
Quarterback Trey Lance got plenty of work this training camp, and impressed the coaching staff in the process. The 49ers’ 2021 first-round pick has been a bit of a mystery since joining the league, but he’s looking for another shot in Dallas. After an imperfect start in the Cowboys’ first preseason game, a loss vs. the Rams, Lance got more comfortable and led the Cowboys to victory against the Raiders.
For now, it doesn’t seem like he’s surpassed Cooper Rush for the No. 2 job, but he’s done enough to make that a question at all and earn himself consideration in the future.
Keeping up with the Joneses
The Cowboys are the first professional sports franchise to cross the mythical $10 billion valuation.
Mythical, because unless the Jones family sells the franchise — something patriarch Jerry Jones swears won’t happen in his lifetime — the value is on paper only and not a reality.
There’s no logical link to suggest the franchise’s increasing worth is responsible for the 29-year-old divisional round ceiling that has been imposed on the team’s postseason success. But fandom isn’t about logic. It’s about emotion. So when Sportico estimates the club’s value at $10.32 billion or when Forbes puts the Cowboys at the top of the list for the world’s most valuable sports franchises, some fans grumble.
It’s doesn’t help that Jones’ training camp refrain, “ambiguity,” is less than comforting. After a training camp marred by few free agency signings, contract holdouts and a desperate need for rookies to perform, no wonder tension between fans and management is red hot. All that’s left to be seen is if the Cowboys can finally find success in the playoffs...
All eyes on Marshawn Kneeland
Second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland was already facing lofty expectations, earning comparisons to DeMarcus Lawrence as soon as he was drafted, but those got even more concrete during camp. Defensive end Sam Williams suffered a season-ending ACL tear, and now it’s up to Kneeland to help fill in the gaps.
Williams was expected to play 70%-75% of the defensive snaps in coordinator Mike Zimmer’s scheme. Zimmer doesn’t rotate his pass rushers as much as previous coordinator Dan Quinn. So Williams was a projected starter opposite DeMarcus Lawrence in some packages, allowing Micah Parsons to play more outside linebacker. It’s expected that Kneeland will now take Williams’ role.
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Committee chair Zeke
Ezekiel Elliott is back in Dallas after a short stay in New England and two things are clear: 1) He’s the starter, and 2) the Cowboys will be run-by-committee this season. Even after the much-maligned choice to not take a running back in the draft, the Cowboys have myriad options at the position, and all have showed their stuff this training camp.
Elliott isn’t what he used to be, but with a reduced workload, Dallas isn’t expecting that he’ll be. The Cowboys love to pass, and for good reason, as they had one of the best passing offenses in the league last year. Behind Elliott, Rico Dowdle is technically the Cowboys’ top returning running back, and he could earn a bigger role with the Cowboys’ new approach.
The staff has a tough decision ahead of it. Royce Freeman, Malik Davis and Snoop Conner are other names in the mix, while Deuce Vaughn came back from injury and shined in Dallas’ preseason win over the Raiders. Another option: Micah Parsons?
Young players making the jump
Though this year’s rookies have taken a lot of the spotlight, DT Mazi Smith, WR Jalen Brooks and LB DeMarvion Overshown are just some of the older but still young guns the Cowboys are hoping will make a jump in their second year.
While Overshown impressed at last year’s camp only to get injured, Smith simply struggled as some rookies do. The scheme didn’t fit him. Both have made big strides this year, though Smith was temporarily sidelined for an allergic reaction. Meanwhile, Brooks has moved up from practicing primarily with Rush to getting reps with Prescott.
It’s not just second-year players making the jump. WR Jalen Tolbert has been building his chemistry with Prescott, as well, after a slow start to his NFL career. TE Jake Ferguson, a vital part of the Cowboys’ offense, already made his second-year jump. Now, he wants to make a third-year one.
The Zimmer-Parsons connection
Micah Parsons said pass rushing is an art. He’s is the paintbrush, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is the painter.
What he plans to do with Parsons, the Cowboys do-everything pass rusher, is to do, well, everything.
Parsons will not only play outside linebacker, his official position, but line up between the guard and center. He will line up as a defensive end. He will line up on the left side of the line. He will line up on the right side of the line. He will roam the line of scrimmage making it hard for offenses to “ID me.”
It’s something they’ve talked about over regular camp breakfasts. This development is notable in light of the fact Parsons told reporters in June that he and Zimmer had “probably said a total of 20 words to each other” since the coach was hired to replace Dan Quinn, who left to become head coach of Washington.
The result of the Zimmer-Parsons connection? A defense that has set an early tone in preseason games.
O-line optimism
Tyler Smith, 23, might be the grizzled veteran of the Cowboys’ offensive line this season, but that doesn’t mean fans shouldn’t be optimistic about it. Rookies Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe have proven they can be trusted to anchor the unit.
Guyton’s path to a starting role was cleared by an injury to Chuma Edoga, the veteran who had been working ahead of the team’s first-round pick to open this camp. McCarthy then casually mentioned last week that Beebe, the team’s third-round pick, would begin to work with the starters at center, after a camp-long saga of transitioning to the position from guard.
The pair have earned glowing praise from veteran teammates, be it for their on-field prowess or Guyton’s ability to spell “hippopotamus” and sing karaoke.
Staff writers David Moore and Calvin Watkins contributed to this report.
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