FRISCO, Texas – The first mandatory minicamp of the Brian Schottenheimer era begins on Tuesday, the first of three days where he's expected to have his full arsenal of players in front of him.
The following three days will be the last time the Cowboys practice together as a whole until training camp, as the clock continues to tick down towards Week 1 in Philadelphia.
Here's five questions to monitor over the next three days of minicamp:
How involved will Micah Parsons be?
After being in and out of the building during OTAs, the biggest question coming into the week was whether or not Parsons would hold out of minicamp as he awaits a contract extension. It appears that won't be the case, according to a social media post by Parsons on June 3.
"I will be there! I haven't missed a mini camp in 4 years!" Parsons said on X. "Even though the contract is not done, I have teammates and a playbook! I'm preparing as if I will be on the field the first week of camp! But it's in the owner's hands. I'm ready to win a Super Bowl!"
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer has reiterated that he and Parsons have been in contact and have had good dialogue while he's been traveling, but what will Parsons do on the field? He may be present for minicamp, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a guarantee he'll be a full participant.
The final three lines of Parsons' post are telling as well, with a subtle hint that he may hold out of training camp next month if his contract extension isn't finished by then, and that the decision on whether that can happen is in the hands of Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones.
Do the Cowboys look to add at positions of need?
Talent acquisition is a 24/7 process for the Cowboys, and there's still areas for improvement on the roster. Defensive tackle and cornerback seem to be the most glaring question mark positions, with a lack of depth and injury struggles at both.
Cornerback especially seems to be an area where an addition could be welcome as Trevon Diggs and Shavon Revel continue to nurse serious injuries. If the Cowboys do look to the current free agent market, a big fish in former Packers corner Jaire Alexander just became available. Is he a player worth pursuing for Dallas?
Alexander is still just 28 years old and has been named to two Pro Bowls in his career, but has struggled to stay healthy recently, playing just 14 games over the course of the last two seasons. That said, the upside if he stays healthy is high, and would give Matt Eberflus more flexibility with his secondary.
Stephen Jones said last week that nothing was on the front burners in terms of adding to the roster, but things change all the time in this league, and if the front office sees an opportunity they like, they'll jump on it.
What kind of progress has Trevon Diggs made since his injury?
Speaking of cornerbacks, mandatory minicamp will be the first time the media has seen Trevon Diggs since his season-ending knee injury following Week 14 of the 2024 season. Diggs was not in the building for OTAs and instead was rehabbing elsewhere, so the Cowboys and their training staff will get their first look at him Tuesday.
Obviously, Diggs won't be participating on the field, but it will be interesting to see if he's a member of the rehab group that does cord work with Cowboys associate athletic trainer and director of rehabilitation Britt Brown. If Diggs is part of the group and goes through some of the exercises, it'll be a good sign for his recovery.
How much will the offensive line rotate?
During OTAs, there was a lot of movement amongst the starting five on the offensive line as Schottenheimer and his staff try to find their best five options, and then their next in line should an injury occur.
It's very likely that barring injury, the Cowboys starting offensive line in Week 1 will be, from left to right, Tyler Guyton, Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, Tyler Booker and Terence Steele. That said, Dallas has built depth and versatility in the room, with guys like Beebe, Smith and Booker having the ability to play in different spots.
And there's plenty of guys waiting in the wings too, like Brock Hoffman, T.J. Bass, Rob Jones and Saahdiq Charles bringing experience to the room that can also play more than one spot. Having good, competitive depth is a good problem to have for the Cowboys, and now they just need to figure out who gets what snaps, and how many they get at that spot so they can start to settle in.
Will DaRon Bland continue to take most slot corner reps?
A side effect of the Cowboys plague of injuries in the cornerback room has been the very real potential of DaRon Bland moving from outside corner to slot corner, where he took a lot of reps at during OTAs.
Bland has said in the past that he'd prefer to play outside but would be open to the possibility of playing in the slot if need be. As it stands, it's a need be situation, and it'll continue to be pointing to being that way as long as he dominates taking the slot corner reps.
If Bland does go back to the outside, it'll likely mean that the Cowboys have liked what they've seen from the likes of Israel Mukuamu, Juanyeh Thomas and/or Kemon Hall enough to be confident in their abilities in the slot. They've been the other three players who have seen slot reps, but still have a ways to go if they want to earn the starting job there.
