Dallas opened its 20th training camp in Oxnard with three practices before taking Sunday off ahead of Monday’s first padded session. Here’s what stood out across practices one (Wednesday, July 29), two (Thursday, July 30), and three (Saturday, August 1).
Caleb Downs is going to be everywhere. The 11th overall pick didn’t ease into his first NFL camp – he lined up at nickel, in the box, off the edge, and deep in the secondary, sometimes shifting spots within a single play, and came away with a fumble recovery off a Rashan Gary strip on his very first day.
DeMarvion Overshown explains his (and the team’s) early impressions of Downs:
Jaishawn Barham is pushing for real defensive snaps far sooner than expected. The third-round rookie has looked comfortable as an off-ball linebacker through the first three practices, flashing well enough to get a Brian Schottenheimer shout out for his ability to get off blocks and be in on tackles, and got a lot of work with the starters in the second and third practices.
The Twitterverse is all aflutter:
The offense is spreading the ball around more than expected. It’s not just Lamb and Pickens – Javonte Williams, Jonathan Mingo, and others have all had moments through the first practices, a sign the offense isn’t just a two-man show. In the second practice, Prescott targeted seven different receivers on 13 observed throws.
Just as importantly, the red-zone offense already looks sharper with Prescott’s red-zone touchdowns on Saturday going to four different targets. Improving red-zone efficiency was a stated point of emphasis entering camp, and Saturday’s session backed it up. Per Todd Archer:
“Dak Prescott had touchdown passes to CeeDee Lamb on the post, two to Ryan Flournoy (dig, slot fade) and a bullet of a throw low to the outside that receiver George Pickens corralled for the score. There was one interception when a Prescott checkdown was tipped by running back Jaydon Blue into the arms of safety Malik Hooker.“
Three Things We Still Need To See
Can Jaydon Blue prove he can be the RB2 rather than simply look like the most explosive back? That distinction matters because the padded practices will reveal things that shorts don’t: pass protection, contact balance, physicality, ball security, etc. Blue has looked good in shorts, but real contact starting Monday is the next real test of the RB2 race behind Javonte Williams.
Can Jonathan Mingo pull away from Marquez Valdes-Scantling and the rest of the receiver room? Behind the Lamb-Pickens-Flournoy trio, the fifth (and maybe sixth) receiver spot is still up for grabs, and the next several practices should start sorting out who’s separating from the pack. And don’t underestimate the rookie receivers. UDFA rookie wide receiver Camden Brown had the “catch of the day” during Saturday’s practice, hauling in a back-pylon fade from Sam Howell for a TD. He’s an intriguing size/athleticism bet at the bottom of a crowded receiver room. Seventh-round rookie Anthony Smith is also making plays.
How the retooled defense responds to Monday’s first padded practice. Three straight practices in helmets-and-shorts have shown promise, but BTB’s own early-camp notes flagged that “when the pads come on, things will really heat up.” That’s the next real proving ground.
Across three practices, per Calvin Watkins, Prescott is lighting it up, going 12-15 on Saturday, 14-17 on Thursday, and 11-15 on Wednesday. While unofficial, that’s 37-47 over three days, a completion rate of 79%. It’s encouraging, but it’s also exactly the kind of number that needs a giant training-camp asterisk. The pads aren’t on, the throws are largely scripted, and nobody is keeping an official stat sheet for a reason. Over the same span, Joe Milton went 14-22 (64%) and Sam Howell 12-21 (57%), which probably says more about the quality of the backup QBs than the quality of the defense.
Still, Prescott’s efficiency, combined with the distribution of the ball and the early red-zone results, is one of the more encouraging offensive signals through three practices – and a challenge for the defense.
Three Things That Haven’t Changed
Lamb and Prescott are still automatic together. The middle of the field remained friendly territory for the two of them through three practices, continuing one of the most reliable connections in football rather than revealing anything new.
George Pickens is locked in. With his franchise-tag situation settled, Pickens arrived engaged, not distracted – exactly the version of him the Cowboys were hoping to see after a clean offseason, and not the largely media-driven narrative of “drama.”
Dallas came into camp about as healthy as a team can be. DaRon Bland and Donovan Ezeiruaku, both coming off offseason surgery, remain on a “monitored” workload plan rather than any injury list.
Through three practices, safeties Jalen Thompson (hip), P.J. Locke (knee), and Zion Childress (hamstring) are the only players missing time, though none of their injuries have appeared serious enough so far to disrupt the bigger picture. In their place, others step up. Safeties Alijah Clark and Markquese Bell shared the work with the first-team defense, but one down-roster guy stood out.
Communication: DeMarvion Overshown is wearing the defensive green dot, running Christian Parker’s play calls from the middle linebacker spot. Coaches have already tested him with simulated communication breakdowns between Parker and the headset. Schottenheimer said Overshown got the defense lined up correctly regardless.
Schottenheimer said in addition to DeMarvion Overshown, rookie Caleb Downs, Shemar James, and Curtis Robinson (likely a backup green dot/CJ Goodwin replacement on special teams) are also wearing the green dot. Caleb Downs getting the green dot just reiterates the Overshown quote from above:
“We’re not even looking at [Caleb Downs] as a rookie. We’re looking at him as a guy that’s going to change this defense around.”
Leadership: Schottenheimer named an 11-player leadership council to open camp: QB Dak Prescott, WR CeeDee Lamb, RB Javonte Williams, TE Jake Ferguson, OL Tyler Smith, OL Tyler Booker, DT Quinnen Williams, DT Kenny Clark, OLB Rashan Gary, S Jalen Thompson and P Bryan Anger. It’s a mix of established voices (Prescott, Lamb, Smith, Ferguson) and newcomers Schottenheimer wants to fast-track into the locker room (Clark, Gary, Thompson, Quinnen Williams — all first- or second-year Cowboys).
But it’s more than just old-versus-new: Schottenheimer appears to be deliberately building a leadership structure around the team’s new physical identity. The roster has been reshaped around the lines, and now the leadership council is disproportionately populated by them.
That emphasis on the lines is exactly what former safety Darren Woodson, three-time Super Bowl winner and a member of the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor, recently highlighted when talking about what made the Cowboys successful in the 90s.
“You want to win football games, you get them boys up front lined up. They’re big boys, they’ve got some pride in that front seven. That’s when you start to connect.”
“We were at our best – as Super Bowl champions – not because of the skill guys, but because our offensive line was the best in the league and our defensive line, we had a seven-man rotation, and they didn’t drop, and they had so much pride in what they were doing.”
“And they ran the locker room. Don’t let your DBs and wide receivers run the locker room! Your defensive backs and wide receivers run the locker room? You’ve got a problem.”
“When your offensive and defensive line are telling everybody ‘Shut up! Get your ass in line.’ ”
“That’s when you’ve got something.“
Physicality: Dallas has been running gassers after every practice to build stamina for the fourth quarter. CeeDee Lamb explains:
“Yeah, man, we’re trying to build that competitive stamina. Honestly, I feel like last year we kind of veered off a little bit towards the 4th quarter. We weren’t really finishing as strong as we thought we were capable of. So just building that endurance as a team and as whole, overall that will be beneficial in the end.“
And the Cowboys are looking to continue building that conditioning. Schottenheimer said the Cowboys will have more physical practices this year. More two-hour sessions. More padded practices with 7-on-7 and 9-on-7 work. “We’ve got to build some callouses and get ready,” Schottenheimer said.
After three practices, the most interesting thing about the Cowboys isn’t really who made the most plays, and three practices aren’t enough to tell us whether the Cowboys are actually better.
Downs being everywhere, Barham getting first-team reps, the emphasis on pads, the leadership council, the gassers, Woodson’s comments — they all point toward the same thing.
It’s that Schottenheimer seems to be building the team around a very explicit identity: versatile on defense, physical up front, harder to wear down, and less dependent on a handful of stars to make everything work.
Monday’s pads will tell us whether they’re actually capable of playing that way.
