Clark Bar

Malik Hooker is continuing to be the definitive leader of the safety group, along with Donovan Wilson, but the absence of the versatile and talented Juanyeh Thomas, due to injury, is opening the door for undrafted rookie safety Alijah Clark to at least make a name for himself.

Clark had quite a day on Saturday. On one play, he broke up a pass over the middle from Dak Prescott, intended for Jalen Tolbert, with a jarring hit/thud and, two plays later, he made Joe Milton pay for a mistake downfield.

Milton dropped back and launched a ball deep down the right side of the field but Clark would have none of it, tracking the ball well and grabbing the interception before celebrating with his defensive counterparts. The former Syracuse standout looks like a budding piece on an already deep safety unit. - Patrik Walker

Going With the Flo'

To say the battle at wide receiver is hot-and-heavy is much akin to describing a Texas summer day as chilly. Fact is, the emergence of Jonathan Mingo and undrafted rookie Traeshon Holden in camp has truly added to a fire that has Jalen Tolbert and KaVontae Turpin also cooking in that room, and don't look now but here comes Ryan Flournoy.

Flournoy had what was arguably the best day of his second training camp, on Saturday, making plays both deep and middle deep, in coverage and showing separation with an ability to identify the hole in zone coverage to make for an easier target for the quarterback.

And as his routes become more crisp, his unbridled athleticism (his biggest calling card) is beginning to make for a potent mix. All Flournoy has to do is to rinse and repeat the events of Saturday each day going forward. - Patrik Walker

Micah

Despite releasing a statement on Friday requesting a trade from the Cowboys, Micah Parsons was on the practice field with a Cowboys hoodie and shorts, but without his number 11 jersey for the first time since the team arrived in Oxnard. Parsons spent some time with the quarterbacks and wide receivers on one side of the field, but once again did not participate in on the field activities. - Tommy Yarrish

Dak to CeeDee

The Dak Prescott to CeeDee Lamb connection that hasn't been in Oxnard since 2023 is all the way back, as the two connected on two deep balls that drew loud cheers from the Cowboys faithful in attendance on Saturday. On the first throw, Prescott placed the ball perfectly over good coverage from DaRon Bland, and after bobbling the pass heading to the ground, Lamb held on and came down with the ball for what was the play of the day. - Tommy Yarrish

La'el Watch

Veteran La'el Collins, who has played 74 career games with the Cowboys with three different stints, is expected to work out on Friday. The Cowboys are without left tackle Tyler Guyton for at least another 4-5 weeks with a knee injury.
Collins, who joined the team in 2015, started 71 games in Dallas at both guard and tackle.

Dak Prescott said he was excited when he saw Collins on Thursday, just a day before the workout, mentioning they have remained friends and "went fishing this offseason."

Collins hasn't played in an NFL game since 2022, but has had a couple of stints with the Cowboys on the practice squad later in the season.

This offseason, Collins made at least two trips to The Star in Frisco, attending the retirement press conferences for both Zack Martin and Tyron Smith, where he told media members of his desires to return to football again. – Nick Eatman

Shemar James

Matt Eberflus has a knack for bringing along linebackers, and got a fun new project to work on following the draft when the Cowboys picked Shemar James from Florida in the fifth-round. Already, James has worked his way up to taking reps with the first team defense and has flashed some of the attributes of his game that made him an intriguing prospect, like closing speed and being able to hit hard. Now, he needs to continue putting together the mental aspect of the game, something that Eberflus will certainly be able to provide. - Tommy Yarrish

Who Wants It More?

Jalen Tolbert has been fairly consistent in camp, but the battle for WR3 is hot-and-heavy thanks to what undrafted rookie Traeshon Holden and Jonathan Mingo are doing on a daily basis, at least as of late. Holden has turned this week into the Holden Highlight Reel, scoring two touchdowns (again) on Thursday, while Mingo continues to show his hand strength and ability to separate as well.

Both are athletic but in different ways — Holden being more of a Peter Parker-type while Mingo's hands have the strength of The Thing from Fantastic Four. On one play, in one-on-one drills, Mingo came down with a ball on a go route despite the defensive back having his hands all over it as the two went to the ground.

Holden climbed the ladder the day before for a one-handed grab that sent the crowd into a frenzy, though. It all makes you wonder just how difficult it'll eventually be for the Cowboys to figure out who, and how many, receivers to carry on the active roster come September. - Patrik Walker

Hoffman/Bass

Injuries have piled up for the Cowboys along the offensive line, and things continued on Thursday when starting left guard Tyler Smith left practice early after multiple reports indicated he was dealing with some knee soreness. In his place, Brock Hoffman and T.J. Bass took reps with the first team offense at left guard, and rookie Tyler Booker, who played left guard in college at Alabama, was kept on the right side as he continues to get acclimated to playing there. - Tommy Yarrish

Victory Formation

There has been a lot of rightful talk regarding just how dominant the defense has looked to this point in training camp. Things are beginning to shift a bit in the favor of the offense and, on Thursday, in a big way. Dak Prescott, George Pickens, CeeDee Lamb and KaVonte Turpin put on a show in what became, hands down, the most convincing day so far by the offensive side of the ball.

It seems Prescott and Co. are starting to settle into Brian Schottenheimer's scheme and, as such, are beginning to give the defense a lot to think about, both pre snap and during the reps.

This can only lend to the whole "iron sharpens iron" mantra and it will ultimately benefit the Cowboys to see what's becoming a heavyweight bout unfold right in front of their eyes in Oxnard; and it bears mentioning that the interior of the offensive line, despite having a second-year center and a first-year right guard, has looked sensational as of late. - Patrik Walker

Finally!

At long last, Dak Prescott and George Pickens connected on a deep ball during Monday's practice. Brian Schottenheimer said that they were being patient with downfield shots early in camp as he wants his players to get their feet under them in order to avoid soft tissue injuries, but a couple here and there never hurt, right? - Tommy Yarrish

Sidelined

Brevyn Spann-Ford had been having a solid camp so far, with a few really nice plays under his belt before suffering an ankle injury win Sunday's first padded practice.

On Monday, head coach Brian Schottenheimer confirmed Spann-Ford will be about "a few weeks," likely meaning he has a high-ankle sprain.

The second-year tight end might not have any more practice time here in Oxnard but could possibly make it back for one of the final two preseason games on either Aug. 16 or Aug. 22.

In the meantime, the Cowboys will look to get more reps to backups John Stephens, Princeton Fant, Tyler Neville and Rivaldo Fairweather. - Nick Eatman

Guyton walking off the field

After one of, if not his best training camp practice this offseason, Cowboys left tackle Tyler Guyton went down awkwardly during a team period and laid on the ground for several minutes before walking off the field on his own power accompanied by Micah Parsons and the team's training staff. Guyton did not go to the white medical tent, instead straight back to the team's locker room to be evaluated. - Tommy Yarrish

Turpin Time?

One player Brian Schottenheimer would love to get involved with the offensive scheme more is KaVontae Turpin. This showed on Monday as Turpin received multiple targets in the passing game and was successful down the field.

One throw from Dak Prescott resulted on about a 20-yard completion down field, while another utilized his speed in the screen game.

Turpin, who signed a three-year, $18 million extension in the offseason, has been a two-time All-Pro kick return specialist but is expected to have a larger role in the offense this year. - Kyle Youmans

Watch for the Hook

There is much to be figured out by the Cowboys as it relates to the cornerback position, at least until Trevon Diggs and Shavon Revel are ready to return from the injured list, but the safety position is in great shape — no matter what angle you view it from — and Malik Hooker is leading the charge.

The former first-round pick is the resident veteran and leader of the group, and he's showing it more and more as training camp rolls along.

His best day was in the second padded practice, when Hooker was flying around with his hair on fire, making plays in run defense and breaking up pass plays on more than one occasion. His intensity is there as well, and though Brian Schottenheimer wants thuds and not actual hits that put the offensive player on the ground, Hooker had a few infractions regarding that matter.

So, yes, there's great depth with the return of Marquees Bell and the emergence of Juanyeh Thomas to combine with the presence of hard-hitting Donovan Wilson, but don't for one minute think Hooker can be overlooked. - Patrik Walker

Fowl Ball

It's an embarrassment of riches for the Cowboys at the defensive end position, and Dante Fowler helps make that true, having returned to Dallas after a career season with Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders.

Fowler finds his way into the backfield often, and when he wins his rep, he wins it in glaring fashion.

This is true both as a pass rusher, having more than one potential sack that would belong to him if he was allowed to hit the quarterback in practice, but also several run stops for a loss as well.

It helps that he's in direct competition, including verbally, with rookie defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku — the defensive line room creating a points system to push everyone to their full potential — and that only makes Fowler that much more dangerous for opposing offenses in 2025. - Patrilk Walker

Camp Crowded

The first Saturday of training camp 2025 saw the biggest crowd by far at the Oxnard River Ridge complex. Dak Prescott and the offense made a few big plays, as did the defense, giving plenty for the raucous crowd to get excited about. - Nick Eatman

Parris Campbell leaves practice with injury

Parris Campbell had to be helped off the field during the middle of Saturday's practice. Campbell, one of the fastest players on the team, suffered what appeared to be a lower-leg injury. He went to the medical tent and didn't return to practice. - Nick Eatman

Ending on a High Note

On the final play of practice in a redzone team drill, Joe Milton laid a pass up and high for Brevyn Spann-Ford in the back of the endzone, who went up over a defender to come down with the touchdown. Spann-Ford has already made an array of contested catches early in training camp, a welcome sign as improving his hands is the next step in his progression. - Tommy Yarrish

Filling the Gaps

With all the talk about turnovers being forced by the Cowboys' defense, the linebacker unit has quietly held their grown filling running lanes in the first four practices of camp. Namely, Damone Clark has popped up in the middle of plays a number of times, with his biggest play coming earlier in the week when he punched a ball free from Luke Schoonmaker. With Kenneth Murray missing practices for the birth of his child, Clark has taken advantage of his opportunities. - Tommy Yarrish

Who Nose?

With so much discussion circling the weight and utilization of Mazi Smith, it's rookie defensive tackle Jay Toia hoping to make a mark in the run defense, and more. Nobody's wondering if Toia has slimmed down, because he still looks every bit the 342 pounds he weighed entering the 2025 NFL Draft.

Furthermore, he's using it to his advantage in his first-ever training camp. When he's not being double teamed, a rarity, it seems, he's been seen bull rushing a lineman or two all the way back into the lap of the quarterback; and that's a great sign for what Matt Eberflus has planned for his defense. - Patrik Walker

Corner Store

With Trevon Diggs on the PUP list to start training camp and DaRon Bland away for the moment as he expects to welcome a newborn in his family, it's Kaiir Elam making waves at a cornerback position that is in desperate need of answers going into the 2025 season. On Saturday, Elam grabbed yet another interception at the expense of Schottenheimer's offense — marking his third of camp.

He then celebrated by hoisting up a young Cowboys fan from behind the barrier, one of the best moments you'll see in any NFL training camp, and it also shows Elam is truly enjoying his fresh start in Dallas. - Patrik Walker

Marist Liufau flies around

After Brian Schottenheimer mentioned Marist Liufau as a player he likes watching get after the passer, Liufau did just that on a rep that likely would've been a sack during team periods in practice. He also flashed his ability in coverage, breaking up a pass over the middle that was in Brevyn Spann-Ford's hands. - Tommy Yarrish

Looking for Depth

The Cowboys announced their four players on the injured lists to start camp, and three of them were cornerbacks. So with Trevon Diggs and Josh Butler on PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) and Shavon Revel on NFI (Non-Football Injury) all out for a while, it's not only putting pressure on the remaining top-line corners to perform, but giving the rest of the corners more looks on the field.

DaRon Bland is obviously manning one spot, but Kaiir Elam had a solid start to his first training camp with the Cowboys. Elam, who was acquired via trade with the Bills this offseason, looked more than comfortable in his first day practicing at camp. He had two plays where he was stride for stride down the field with both George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb and broke up a pass over the middle intended for Jalen Tolbert.

Elam, a former first-round pick of the Bills in 2022, had two interceptions in Buffalo as a rookie but has yet to pick off a pass in the last two years. The Cowboys are counting on him to be on of their starters, while a host of other youngsters are getting reps including Israel Mukuamu, Caelen Carson, Andrew Booth, Kemon Hall and Troy Pride all took their share of reps on Tuesday. - Nick Eatman

The Lay of the 'Land

It took all of one practice for Kneeland to show that my faith in him as my dark horse is well-placed, considering it was he, not a cornerback or linebacker, who grabbed the first interception of 2025 training camp — when Dak Prescott's only mistake of the day was to try and check down a pass to a defender being covered by the young pass rusher.

It ended in the former second-round pick taking away the ball, shedding a would-be tackler or two and rattling off several yards for Matt Eberflus' defense, and to a raucous applause and celebration by Kneeland's defensive compatriots. I'll say it again: keep your eyes on him. - Patrik Walker

Dante's Inferno

Back like he never left, only seemingly better and/or more motivated to prove he's one of the best pass rushers in the league when given the reps, Dante Fowler left his imprint all over the first practice. His most notable contribution was on an attempted handoff from Dak Prescott to JaVonte Williams. Fowler teleported to the backfield and nearly got to the ball before Williams did, on a play that would've been destroyed if the players were in a padded practice.

His first step and football IQ are a dangerous combination that makes Fowler, who is also coming off of a career season for the Commanders, an impact player off of the edge that looks to raise hell for the Cowboys in 2025. - Patrik Walker

Backup Plan

While the Cowboys have said Joe Milton and Will Grier would potentially compete for the backup reps, it was mostly Milton on the first day of practice. In fact, Milton got nearly as many as Dak Prescott as the Cowboys worked the No. 2 and No. 3 units often.

Milton, whom the Cowboys traded for this offseason from the Patriots, had a few nice throws down the field, but he was off-target a few times as well. Milton also fumbled twice, including once while running down the field. It was one of several fumbles by the offense as the Cowboys defense was aggressively poking the ball out to go along with a couple of interceptions in team drills.

For now, Milton is getting plenty of reps and looks to be in the lead for any competition to be Dak Prescott's backup. - Nick Eatman

Early George Pickens flashes

There were a few plays where new Cowboys WR George Pickens and Dak Prescott weren't on the same page, which is to be expected early on in their time together issues that should be fixed now at training camp. There were also plays where they did connect, and you got to see flashes of what could be, including Prescott finding Pickens over the middle on a rollout, and a throw to the far sideline where Pickens found another gear and took off. - Tommy Yarrish

Showing leadership

Growth as a leader is something that Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones has been very adamant that he wants to see from Micah Parsons before giving him a large contract extension. So, with Parsons potentially holding in at camp and not participating on the field, what does that look like?

"I want him popping those young guys on the butt, and rah-rahing and moving around out there, and showing good body language and just involved because he can be, and he is a leader," Jones said. "And those guys, he's going to have to count on them to get to the Super Bowl."

Parsons showed some of that presence during minicamp and OTAs, where he joined his teammates on the practice field and even participated in a couple drills. Now, the question is if he'll do the same thing in Oxnard.

Turning the corner?

It's justified to say that, at least at the beginning of training camp, that the Cowboys are in dire straits at the position. That's because Trevon Diggs and Josh Butler will both start out on the PUP list, while rookie third-round pick Shavon Revel goes to NFI at the moment; and then there's the reality that Caelon Carson is working his way back from a season-ending shoulder injury; but Brian Schottenheimer sees a silver lining there.

"I see it as a positive," the head coach said. "I can see where there are issues, but it gives you a chance to look at the younger players. Our objective to come out of these first two weeks, before we get into the joint practice with the Rams, is to see all these compete. We wanna see who is developing and who took the things we taught in the spring and will carry over.

"… You can look at it like, 'Oh, it's a negative for continuity.' We'll get that figured out. We need to figure out and make the right evaluation of these guys so that when it comes time to trim the roster, that we're keeping the guys that fit our football team — not just as a player, but as a person."

Frontrunner at RB, or nah?

Dating back nearly 15 years, you'd be hard-pressed to find many, if any, situations wherein the Cowboys entered training camp without at least an inkling of who their lead running back will be, but that is indeed the situation going in the 2025 version, and with four new faces in the group, no less.

JaVonte Williams and Miles Sanders are the longest-tenured NFL veterans of the bunch, true enough, but is there a glimmer of a frontrunner right now?

"They'll all get fair shots. The problem with OTAs, for a running back, is that the game is meant to be played very physically. The way you run through the holes differently when you're in pads is different than when you're running in shorts and t-shirts. They'll all get [first-team] reps."

He's the (Land) Man

The middle of Monday's opening press conference took an unusual turn, thanks mainly to a statement regarding Jerry Jones' cameo scene in the TV series "Landman," starring Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore and Jon Hamm on Paramount+. Just a simple mentioning, led to a few follow-up questions about Jones' Season 1 appearance in an emotional scene in which he plays himself, and tells a true-life story to Hamm's character, who is in the hospital.

Jones was asked directly if he felt he should've won an award for his performance, and after a playful back-and-forth, he discussed the show, which was ranked as the No. 1 series on Paramount+ last year.

"I will say this, it was a great pleasure to work with those guys that were there," Jones said, mentioning that Billy Bob Thornton grew up about 30 miles from Jones' household in Arkansas. "I spent about six or seven hours doing (the shoot). It was a really, really good experience."

It's not the first popular series Jones has been on. Back in 2010, Jones also played himself in the later seasons of Entourage on HBO.

Addressing Turpin's Situation

For the first time since his arrest on July 5, the Cowboys spoke publicly on KaVontae Turpin's situation and status with the team.

Head coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked to address Turpin, who was arrested in Allen, Texas on charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon and marijuana possession. He was jailed and released on the two misdemeanor charges.

"I spoke to Turp," Schottenheimer said. "He talked through a lot of things. He understands that there is a standard with how we conduct ourselves. He knows that he needs to be better, but we won't get into all of the specifics."

Schottenheimer wouldn't get into detail on a possible fine or if the NFL would be involved with any disciplinary action.

Turpin has made the last two Pro Bowls as a return specialist and signed a three-year, $18 million extension this offseason.

Eager to win

It's finally time for Brian Schottenheimer to get his first shot at an NFL head coaching job after nearly three decades of coaching experience. Inspired by his past and especially his father, legendary coach Marty Schottenheimer, he's more motivated than ever to bring a championship back to Dallas.

"The hunger I have now is for the young men in that locker room, its for the Joneses," Schottenheimer said. "When we win a Super bowl, my dad will get a ring. I can promise you that. But this is something where I grew up with a father that there was one goal, and he was very open talking about Super Bowls and winning the world's championship and he never did it…" Schottenheimer said.

"These guys over here [the Joneses] have Super Bowls. They've won rings. I don't have one, and I want one in the worst way."

That work begins on Tuesday with the first official practice at training camp, where Schottenheimer gets Dak Prescott back under center as the Cowboys begin installing their gameplans for 2025.