FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys signed only one external free agent to a three-year deal this offseason: Jalen Thompson, the former Cardinals safety who Dallas hopes can be a piece that boosts the secondary under Christian Parker.
Thompson, who is nursing a minor pec injury and has been working with the rehab group during OTAs and minicamp, has still been able to spend quality time getting to know his new teammates and build meaningful relationships with them.
"I think the biggest thing that I notice being at the Cowboys is how much a family everybody is here," Thompson said. "You notice guys are playing around, playing the games, everybody's talking with each other, everybody has a relationship, that's what I've noticed. It kind of took me back to that college feel of Washington State, everybody was always family and brothers."
Playing for the Cowboys comes with a lot of external factors as every move, major or minor, is looked at under a microscope. For Thompson, that's no different than anywhere he's been in the past.
"I think that's with any team though," Thompson said. "Being in the NFL, we're always at the center of attention. This is nothing too different, just keep doing the right things, keep your head down and staying on track, everything will go well."
Along with quickly enveloping the team's culture, Thompson has also picked up quickly on Brian Schottenheimer's "compete every day" mantra.
"Definitely knew that this was a business, the Cowboys is a business over here," Thompson said. "You've got to come to work every day, our main thing here is competing… it's a competition at all times, that's one of the biggest things I took away."
In his position room, the Cowboys also made another big addition. Dallas traded up a spot to select Ohio State's Caleb Downs with the 11th overall pick, and the veteran Thompson is encouraged by how the rookie can help Dallas' defense.
"Really excited," Thompson said of playing with Downs. "You get to play with a guy like Caleb, it's amazing. He's going to make my job easier, he's going to make everybody else's job easier. And that was the main thing coming to this team, helping the defense out as much as I could. I know a guy like Caleb, he's going to make my job a lot easier."
Unlike Downs' draft experience where he was in the green room in Pittsburgh, Thompson was the last player to be selected in the NFL's supplemental draft back in 2019, and found out the Cardinals had drafted him on Twitter.
That's relevant to one of the biggest stories in sports, as Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby is entering the league's supplemental draft, which will be open for the first time since Thompson was picked.
"When I was going through that whole situation, I didn't know what the outcome was going to be, what the plan as going to be," Thompson said of his advice for Sorsby. "Just keep God first, and everything will go well."
It's a unique process, but Thompson has proven it can work as he enters his eighth season in the NFL and first with the Cowboys. Thompson will get to face his former team at AT&T Stadium in Week 8 when Arizona comes to town.
