OXNARD, Calif. – Let's put into perspective the renovation taking place on the Cowboys defense. First, maybe what they have added, but more so what the Cowboys were trying to play with last year when they gave up the most single-season points in franchise history, the second most single-season total yards in franchise history and the second most single-season passing yards in franchise history, just to point out a few statistics.
That bad.
So great, the Cowboys have restocked the defense with proven veterans. Guys like Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary, Dee Winters, Jalen Thompson, Cobie Durant, P.J. Locke, Derion Kendrick, Curtis Robinson, Jonathan Bullard and Otito Ogbonnia. Good their first three draft choices, all defensive players: Caleb Downs, Malachi Lawrence and Jaishawn Barham. Good that DeMarvion Overshown is healthy from the jump. Same for Shavon Revel, Josh Butler, and most of all, DaRon Bland.
But for further perspective, let's also give you an idea of just who they were forced to play with. Take the first game of the season against Philadelphia. Seven of those starters are no longer on the team, and 10 defensive players overall are gone. That includes two of the four secondary starters, gone: Kaiir Elam and Donovan Wilson.
In Game 2 against the Giants, still seven starters no longer on the team, plus seven other defensive players having played in the game, and that all includes the three starting linebackers (Kenneth Murray, Jack Sanborn, Damon Clark). Game 3 against the Bears, eight of the starters no longer on the team, including Elam, Wilson and Trevon Diggs, along with seven other players who played.
Want me to go on? OK, Game 4, Green Bay, still seven starters gone and five others no longer on the team. And by the time they got to Game 5, seven starters still gone, and get this, including Jadeveon Clowney, Mazi Smith and Solomon Thomas. And think about this: Reddy Steward was starting just his fifth NFL game, Alijah Clark playing in his first NFL game and Shemar James in his second NFL game and first NFL start.
Oh, and let's remember the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons a week before the season opener, and didn't include him in the gone guys,
And they expected to win with a defense like that? With a defense riddled with busted assignments and broken coverages. With a run defense giving up more than 100 yards rushing in 12 of 17 games, and as many as 216 to Carolina, 179 to Denver, 164 to Green Bay and 161 to the Giants?
Seriously?
Good gosh, might be a near miracle they actually won seven games and tied one. That they actually tied the likes of Green Bay, though needed to score 40 to do so. That they split their two games with the NFC East champion Eagles, and the one they lost in the opener coming by just four points. Or that they beat the Chiefs by three.
Personnel "do" matter.
- Bad Timing: During Brian Schottenheimer's Tuesday morning press conference, he announced the staff changing minds over the predicted starting left tackle competition between 2024 first-round draft choice Tyler Guyton and seventh-rounder Nate Thomas, declaring Guyton his starting left tackle. But wouldn't you know it, by the time the afternoon practice was taking place, Guyton was missing from the majority of the first-team snaps with a sore elbow, and there was Thomas, taking the first-team snaps. The elbow didn't seem to be a severe injury, but during Guyton's two-year career, he only started 11 of 15 games played in 2024, limited with knee and shoulder injuries. Again in 2025, he was then limited to just 10 starts with an ankle injury before landing on IR. This latest injury gave the inconsistent Thomas valuable reps in his now attempt to win the backup swing tackle job. Offensive coordinator Klayton Adams seemed to minimize Guyton's elbow soreness, saying, "Sounded to me, the elbow thing, they just wanted to look at."
- 50th Anniversary: Not exactly a celebratory occasion, but 50 years ago, July 23, 1976, was the final College Football All-Star Game, pitting the previous season's Super Bowl champions against a team of college all-stars selected from that year's draft for the first preseason game of the summer, the game played at Soldier Field in Chicago. Had the Cowboys won Super Bowl X, they would have been playing in that game, but instead the NFL representative was the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-17 winners over the Cowboys. Well, remember watching this game, a torrential downpour hit the stadium with the Steelers leading 24-0 with 1:22 left in the third quarter. Then, at 11:01 p.m., the game was called due to heavy rains, lightning and fans spilling onto the field, frolicking in the mud and on the goalposts. And that was the last one in the 42-year history of the game, the brainchild of former Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward. Proceeds earned $4 million over the years for Chicago Tribune Charities, and no surprise, the NFL champions finished with a 31-9 winning record against the college kids with two ties and two games canceled since the advent in 1934. By December of 1976, the game was permanently canceled since NFL teams realized they didn't want their first-round draft choices exposed in a meaningless game to potential injury, as was Cowboys rookie running back Don Perkins in 1960, suffering what turned out to be a season-ending foot injury. Some of the Cowboys players participating in that game over the years were Chuck Howley (1958), Don Meredith and Perkins (1960), Bob Lilly (1961), Mel Renfro (1964), Roger Staubach, Bob Hayes and Craig Morton (1965), Rayfield Wright (1967) and Randy White (1975). The Cowboys team played in just one of these games, in 1972, following their Super Bowl VI victory over Miami, beating the college kids 20-7 as Super Bowl champs from the 1971 season. Actually, was able to attend the 1971 game, and would have seen the Cowboys play had they beaten Baltimore in Super Bowl V.
- Padded Up: The Cowboys held the first two padded practices of training camp this week, and lost a player in each to injury, with Wednesday being just a walk-through review affair. They lost tight end candidate Princeton Fant to a torn ACL and sprained MCL, scheduled for season-ending surgery in roughly two weeks once the knee swelling subsides. Then on Tuesday, safety candidate Alijah Clark limped off with assistance with a severely sprained ankle, not as bad as initially looked when helped off the field.
- Tradition, Tradition: Not exactly an ode to the song "Tradition" from the movie Fiddler On The Roof, but third-year receiver Ryan Flournoy knows something about the Dallas Cowboys' number traditions. For sure, he's aware of the No. 88 tradition, worn by Drew Pearson, Michael Irvin, Dez Bryant and now CeeDee Lamb. Well, if you remember, Flournoy initially wore No. 80 when he made the team as a sixth-round pick in 2024. Then last year he switched to 19. Why, said he knew the tradition of the Cowboys receivers wearing No. 19, pointing out Miles Austin wore 19, and that the undrafted free agent in 2006 broke out in that 2009 season game against Kansas City, as we know with a 250-yard receiving, two-TD performance, the second a 60-yard OT winner for the Cowboys' 26-20 victory. That 250-yard receiving effort still is the franchise's single-game record. Then in No. 19 there was Amari Cooper, too. But little did the third-year Flournoy know, other noted Cowboys receivers wearing No. 19 were Lance Rentzel (1967-70), Lance Alworth (1971-72) and Keyshawn Johnson (2004-05). Said Flo, "They got the 88 tradition. Now we got the 19 tradition, for sure."
- Coffin Corners: Three former Cowboys players, Tyron Smith, Dez Bryant and Thomas Everett, are on the Texas Sports Hall of Fame ballot, with voting now commencing and induction for those chosen in the spring … In the first padded practice, the defense sure showed great improvement against the run, though no tackling to the ground, right … But on Tuesday, was impressed with another Jaydon Blue practice, busting off a couple of good runs, his speed something to behold … The Cowboys might have hit on two of the more unheralded draft picks, fourth-round cornerback Devin Moore and seventh-round receiver Anthony Smith, to the point at least I realize without looking it up that Moore wears No. 29 and Smith No. 83 … First-team cornerbacks have been DaRon Bland and Cobie Durant, with the seconds coming in being Caelen Carson and Shavon Revel, who has earned a good number of first-team reps … What a nice honor for former Cowboys offensive assistant and assistant head coach Sean Payton, his newly elected Hall of Fame Saints quarterback Drew Brees asking his 15-year head coach to introduce him during Saturdays' induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio, via a FaceTime call. Sean, now the head coach in Denver, said, "It was, as a coach, an honor that somebody would ask you to do that."
There were high expectations for running back Jaydon Blue when selected with a fourth-round pick last year, but the Texas-ex never seemed to blossom despite his uncanny speed and breakaway capabilities. Somewhat of a disappointment, though head coach Brian Schottenheimer keeps suggesting here in training camp he's turning the corner,
Well, let's go to offensive coordinator Klayton Adams for his view of just where Blue is in his maturation process.
"So far it's been consistency," Adams said of what Blue struggled with in 2025, "which was what we were looking for last year was to get a professional every day, and I think he's had some growth in those areas. … I try to talk to him every day, give him some feedback on what I think he's doing good and what he's not doing good, and try to make sure. You know, some of these guys are 22, 23, 24 years old. I just think having the ability, which not everybody does, and having adults on your roster to say, 'You think Dak (Prescott) would do that? How do you think he's carrying out his day? How do you think he prepared to show up today?' is a very positive thing for us.
"So those are the things that we have to continue to grow and look for, and so far there has been a lot of growth."
To go with that speed.
