OXNARD, Calif. – Welcome to the Dallas Cowboys 20th training camp here at the River Ridge Sports Complex, and within three days, one mass organizational press conference and the first practice on Wednesday, although no more than one of those OTA deals as the NFL CBA mandates three ramp-up workouts, and already we have developed a theme out here.
Call it the 3-Cs Training Camp.
Competition.
Communication.
Conditioning.
All three have been obvious and intentional, and needed for a team trying to break a streak of two consecutive losing seasons.
Let's start with competition, one phase we've all been harping on all along. There are a bunch of positions up for grabs, but not just positions, but how hard head coach Brian Schottenheimer wants his offense and defense to practice against each other on a daily basis. And on this first day out here, that really showed.
And not just the players competing but can see this coaching staff ramping up and promoting the emotion, and Schotty has not been squeamish to point what it's been like going up against new defensive coordinator Christian Parker in practice, then getting together in meetings afterward to trade secrets. Even they are competing.
Then communication. My gosh, while this defense especially has needed this influx of upgraded personnel, and good mix of veterans and young dudes seemingly has it pointed in the right direction, certainly been obvious for even someone like to see me how poorly the communication was last year, a huge reason for finishing with one of the worst defenses the Cowboys ever have fielded. Busted coverages. Busted assignments. Guys just not knowing what their responsibilities were.
There will be no patience for such lapses this year. Guys seem to be on point, even the newcomers, and if you listen to the veterans, that is exactly what Parker is demanding, eighth year veteran Quinnen Williams who came onboard at last year's trade deadline pointing out if he's asking Parker a question, the DC always has an answer ready.
And even owner Jerry Jones piped in on Tuesday pointing this out seemingly everyone being on the same page on the field: "I don't care whether they are rookies or whether they're 10-year guys, if they can't communicate with each other when they get out there, it didn't make any difference on an individual basis where they were.
"And one of the main things that I have heard us talk about and say in interviews, countless interviews, and after we made the decision of who's going to be doing the coaching, the word of communicate, talking to each other, understanding what it is that the other one expects of the other one. This thing is ad nauseum, the chant. If you listen real hard out there when you're watching practice, you'll hear it be one of the real focal points of this whole camp is communication."
The third C: Conditioning. Schotty pulled no punches about this one, saying Wednesday, "One thing you'll notice, we'll so some conditioning work during the ramp-up," and true to his word, there were the Cowboys 1 hour, 20 minutes into practice lining up for some post-practice 50-yard half speed sprints at 1:06 p.m. (PDT). And for the next five minutes, in groups of three, the players ran those 50 yards back and forth for like three times.
Plus, Schotty points out there will be a few more padded practices in training camp, fewer 7-on-7 periods, more 9-on-7s and then 11-on-11s, the genesis for building he hopes a more physical team.
Consider the groundwork set.
- Locked Up: While the Cowboys, all 91 of them were on the field for the first practice, meaning no one placed on the PUP or NFI list, they nearly got through the first practice without any ailments until defensive back P.J. Locke limped off with head trainer Jim Maurer and into the medical tent. Word is Locke suffered a hyperextended knee but was headed for an imaging test they hope confirms the initial prognosis.
- Birthday Boy: Ten years ago, 2016, Dak Prescott arrived here a 23-year-old fourth-round draft choice figuring to be the third string quarterback until injuries rained down on the quarterback position, first Kellen Moore going down in camp for the season, and then as it turned out, Tony Romo, too, Dak becoming the rookie starting quarterback never to relinquish the job. And so here he was Wednesday, starting his 11th season and turning 33, seeking his fifth NFC Pro Bowl award and Schotty when naming his 11-member leadership council mentioning Dak as "the birthday boy." Yet another thing fans watching practice knew about, coming with signs wishing Dak a Happy Birthday.
- Just Win . . . Now: If Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said it once, he must have said he four or five times on Tuesday during the state of the Cowboys camp opening press conference: "I feel good about giving up the future for now," meaning he would not hesitate to make a significant trade that would help this team win big in 2026. And he used the Rams method of trading draft picks for immediate talent, saying, "They will put tomorrow out for today." Now Jones is not talking about going willy-nilly trading just to be trading, and likely if anything is done the Cowboys will give some positions possibly in need of more support time to play out. But this certainly this stood out when Jerry said, "I'd give up future to add substantive to where we are today as to a player, to give you an idea about would I invest something substantive to get the right kind of deal to improve us opening day? I would. I feel that good about this team this year." Well.
- Up Close & Viewable: Here are things I saw in Wednesday's first practice: Jaydon Blue, getting the second reps at running back behind starter Javonte Williams, sure can run, and granted this workout was not in pads and no tackling, just thumping up, Blue broke off a couple of long runs, and nobody, I mean nobody was running him down . . . Sure was great to see veteran cornerback DaRon Bland back on the practice field in team drills after continuing his rehab from season ending foot surgery and missing all the off-season practices . . . Sure was good to see second-year DE/OLB Donovan Ezeiruaku also missing the entirety of offseason practices following his season-ending hip surgery back lining up with the first team at outside linebacker in the base 3-4 defense . . . Sure was great to see second-year corner Shavon Revel working with the second-team defense and in practice during training camp, after missing all last offseason, camp and preseason games still recovering from his torn ACL . . . With so much being made about Blue and last year's seventh-round draft choice Phil Mafah breaking into the running back rotation, last year's backup Malik Davis, who finished with a 43-yard touchdown run against Kansas City on Thanksgiving and turning in a 103-yard performance Christmas Day against Washington, causing Schottenheimer to proclaim him All-Holiday, put his hand in the air in this first practice with a couple of impressive runs, as if to say, "Hey don't forget about me." . . . Saw backup quarterback candidate Joe Milton complete a couple of impressive deeper passes, both to Jonathan Mingo, passes he regularly missed wildly last year, and also fit another one in nicely in traffic to TE Brevyn Spann-Ford . . . And finally, from my view, the offense only put one ball on the ground one time, and guess who was Johnny on the spot to recover the ball on the run, none other than rookie Caleb Downs, having this knack at Alabama and then Ohio State to somehow always be around the ball.
Now for the camp-opening last word, and since Jerry Jones was nice enough, along with Stephen Jones and Brian Shottenheimer, to provide us with nearly 45 minutes of words during the opening press conference, thought this was worth repeating after he was asked what would need to happen to make this 2026 season successful:
"Oh, I think to contend for a Super Bowl, which would, if you contend, you got a real chance of being in it and being in the game. I think those are the kinds of things that I don't believe are an outlandish or a reach to expect. And so that's a successful season.
"I expect us to be significantly improved defensively. Significantly improved. And I actually expect us to improve over on the offense. And I expect the enthusiasm that coach has talked about here to be contagious on the field. And if something like that happened, you can have somebody get in the big hunt and get in the deal that maybe a lot of people didn't think were ready for it. So let me just say this:
"There's no way that I would do anything that would delay until next year or the next year to try to get to a Super Bowl this year."
And sure am confident all would agree with that.
