FRISCO, Texas – These OTA practices remind me of those weekend farmer's markets. A lot of variety out there, but not a whole lot of permanency.
In other words, a lot of play and scheme installation in these practices. A lot of positional experimentation. A lot of rotation between first team, second team and even third team personnel. A lot of positional drills, including special teams.
And as for competition, low level. No one-on-one drills of defensive backs going for PBUs. No receivers diving for receptions. No pads on, so offensive linemen are at a significant disadvantage. More than anything, a high priority is placed on being assignment sound. Like, know what the heck you're doing out there. Know where you are lining up and where you are going.
There is a better chance of losing a job out there if lost than actually winning a job just by doing what you're supposed to be doing. That's expected. Age no exception.
So, for clarity, let's hear this from head coach Brian Schottenheimer when prefacing an answer to a particular question with, "Well, I'll just say this, and it's OTAs, and you're limited in what you can do."
Now just one more OTA to go come Thursday, and three more workouts next week, Tuesday-Thursday, in what they call minicamp until the official offseason ends. The only difference next week, we learned a long time ago from these OTA workouts – originally known loosely as Quarterback School, thanks to Jimmy Johnson, but essentially was everybody's school – is the meaning of "What do voluntary mean?" thanks to Darren Hambrick, that now becomes for this one "What do mandatory mean?" Yeah, by CBA rules, players under contract with unexcused absences become susceptible to daily fines, like right at $18,000 the first day, which doubles the second day and triples the third day.
Not many three-day protests are worth a hundred thou, so instead of protesting, players have now come up with what's called an "opt-in," physically attending but doing nothing physically. You know, hammy, quad, balky back. Hell, headaches.
Nevertheless, there still is a variety of items to check off after watching two of these OTA workouts over the past two weeks, and thankfully, we can still fire off some meaningful "Shots."
- Curious George II: Sounded off this past Friday about franchised wide receiver George Pickens' baffling absences from the first five of six OTA planned workouts, with really nothing to gain other than to passive-aggressively voice his displeasure about not receiving a long-term contract that includes a hefty up-front signing bonus instead of the one-year guaranteed $27 million tender he signed, paid out weekly over 18 weeks. But then he knew that was the deal from the start, and as Schottenheimer said on Tuesday, "We made it clear we were not going to do an extension." And as Schotty also pointed out, he's been in contact with GP, and said of his potential minicamp attendance, "I expect to see him next week." That would be good to see.
- Bass Fishing: The Cowboys' incentive to tender restricted free agent backup guard T.J. Bass at the second-round level of $5.767 million was to ensure they had a quality starter at left guard if given reason to move Pro Bowler Tyler Smith over to left tackle, which is how they finished the 2025 season in the final three games. Well, now Bass becomes dually important since veteran backup center/guard Matt Hennessy is undergoing microdiscectomy surgery to repair a disk problem in his neck, certain to land on PUP to start training camp and likely the start of the season. So Bass, having been working as the backup left guard, is now working as the backup center to Cooper Beebe, similar to some of the backup work he did last year in preseason and practices. And really, Bass is the only other offensive lineman on the roster with even limited center experience.
- Dueling Tackles: Schottenheimer has made no bones about creating open competition for the starting left tackle job between sort-of-incumbent starter Tyler Guyton, a 2024 first-round draft choice, and 2024 seventh-rounder Nate Thomas, who spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve. First-rounder or not, nothing is just being handed to Guyton, who has started just 21 games over his first two seasons and was limited to playing and starting in only 10 games last year due to injury and performance issues. As Thomas pointed out, and after showing some promise taking over for Guyton during many of last year's training camp practices and gaining four starts, "This really is my first true offseason," since spending the other two recovering from a knee injury his rookie year and other injuries last spring. Keep an eye on this one, because as former head coach Jason Garrett was known to point out, this NFL is a "meritocracy," no matter how you got in.
- Howell-ing To Compete: So those T-shirts guys have been wearing, "Compete Every Day," do having meaning since that's also going on at backup quarterback between Joe Milton and signed free agent Sam Howell. This will be a good one, since Milton, in his third NFL season, has no starts in just the five NFL games he's played in while Howell, in his fifth NFL season out of North Carolina, has started 18 of 20 games played, all 17 in 2024 for Washington. As Schotty said, Howell actually has more NFL starts than previous Cowboys veteran backup Cooper Rush, checking in with 16 over his eight years. And let's remember this about Howell's college career: He holds multiple Tar Heels' career records, including passing yards (10,283) and touchdowns (92), the single-season mark for passing TDs (38), and single-game tallies for yards (550) and TDs (6). This is why Schotty decided to rotate second-team QB reps, not by practices, but by weeks, thus able to look at each so far during OTAs for three successive practices.
- Working Blue: Ditto some more "compete" at backup running back. The Cowboys should know all they need to know about Malik Davis, last year's backup who averaged 4.8 yards a carry over his 250 yards rushing behind Javonte Williams. Now it's time to find out about last year's fifth-round draft choice Jaydon Blue, who wasn't quite ready to step up from college to the NFL last year, limited to appearing in just five games and 38 carries (one catch), 16 of those (64 yards) in the final game of the season. "He came back with a different look than what he had his rookie year," Schottenheimer said. "He's going to be a huge part of what we want to do." And just maybe my dream scenario from last year that never played out occurs this year, placing the speed of CeeDee Lamb, Pickens, KaVonte Turpin and Blue all on the field at the same time. Like, who ya gonna double, the making of Speedbusters.
- Variety Flare: Some interesting positioning on Tuesday, with fourth-round draft choice Drew Shelton taking second-team reps at right tackle behind Terence Steele … Then there is third-rounder Jaishawn Barham not only taking second-team inside linebacker reps, but the guy running the huddle with the play calls while also getting a few first-team reps … As the versatile No. 11 pick Caleb Downs said, "I got safety reps when I'm not at nickel, so learning as we go." … And as pointed out last week here, not a press conference goes by without Schottenheimer making some mention of the minus-9 turnover differential, this time making a point of the need to reduce the offensive turnovers from last year, the 21 contributing heavily to that negativity, as he reasoned, "If you don't turn the ball over, it's going to be zero," and as unreasonable that is over the course of a 17-game season, hard to argue with his math.
And for today's last word, how 'bout since it's my "Shots" we have multiple last words, thanks to so many ringing out all day Tuesday before and after the OTA practice:
From inside linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, married over the weekend but did not excuse himself from this week of OTA practices in favor of a honeymoon, saying he could take one at a later date: "I got my wedding ring. Now I got to go get my Super Bowl ring. It's ring season." And, oh my, no pun intended, has a good, uh, "ring" to it for 2026.
This from Dak Prescott when asked about the multiplicity of Christian Parker's defensive scheme, loaded with so many intentional disguises: "They are already hard on me."
This seems to be the popular question of late, after the Rams traded for Cleveland pass-rusher extraordinaire Myles Garrett: How does that affect the Cowboys? Dak, without missing a beat, parried the question with, "We've got to take care of ourselves. Way too early to be looking left or right or around the block at what somebody else is doing."
Oh, another goody from Overshown when asked about being healthy this offseason for the first time in three springs after having spent time the previous two rehabbing a torn ACL in each knee: "I got the best knees in the NFL. If you ask me, they are brand new. Technology these days is crazy. I feel great. I've already started off with a win."
And since he's the first-round draft choice, how about a little leeway with Downs, getting the final two, first when asked what advice he might have already received about being in the NFL:
"One of the guys came in yesterday and said, 'Keep the main thing the main thing,' and that's what my dad already told me since I was a kid."
And we will end with this when Calab was asked what his intentions were when recently playing a round of golf with Dak, his words speaking volumes of the nerve you want out of your defensive backs: "I ain't going to lie, I was out there to beat his ass."
Now that's what I'm talkin' about.
