Dallas City News

Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the Roundtable. This week we have Jess Haynie, Brian Martin, RJ Ochoa, Tom Ryle, Sean Martin and David Howman giving us their thoughts.

With training camp just days away, what position will be the most exciting to keep an eye on?

The team is scheduled to travel to Oxnard this week for the start of training camp. The first workout will commence at 2:30 PM (ET) on Thursday, July 25th, with the last open practice on Wednesday, August 21st. Upon returning to Texas, the final segment of Dallas Cowboys Training Camp will take place at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, with specific practices open to the public to be announced at a later time.

The team is scheduled for a joint scrimmage on Thursday, August 8th at 5:00 PM (ET) and will also play three preseason games. On Sunday, August 11th, Dallas will play their first preseason at SoFi Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams. Followed by the Las Vegas Raiders on August 17th and then the Los Angeles Chargers at AT&T stadium on August 24th.

So who do we need to watch in training camp?

Jess: In terms of overall competition, I’m really interested in what we hear about the linebackers. There’s so much intrigue there with Kendricks’ arrival, Overshown’s return, Liufau’s draft doubters, and more. But until Dak Prescott has a new deal, it’s hard not to be hyper-focused on QB and every morsel we get about Trey Lance.

Brian: Offensive line counts as the position, right!? Regardless, I’m personally excited, intrigued, and a little concerned about watching how both Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe perform in training camp and preseason. Both rookies are pretty much making a position switch from what they played at the collegiate level and both really need to be Day 1 starter’s with the Cowboys.

RJ: If I have to focus on one specific spot it might be WR3. I feel like I may be more concerned than most here as I am not quite ready to just totally trust Jalen Tolbert. If we assume that he is not properly ready for the challenge then what is the answer? Is there even one? This is why I’ll be paying some attention.

Sean: This won’t be the popular answer, but for me it’s the tight end group. Year one of Mike McCarthy’s offense showed a pointed effort to get these guys involved more in the passing game, led of course by Jake Ferguson. If Ferguson has even more room to grow like many fans are counting on, watching him alone go up against the Cowboys secondary in practice will be fun. The intrigue at the position doesn’t stop here though, as Luke Schoonmaker is still looking to establish himself, John Stephens Jr. is already a “pet cat” of many, Peyton Hendershot has shown some potential, and even UDFA Brevyn Spann-Ford is a name to keep in mind to help the run game.

Tom: It’s not very original, but LT. I think Beebe will be OK sandwiched between Tyler Smith and Zack Martin, but if Tyler Guyton is not up to the task replacing Tyron Smith, this is going to be a long season.

David: I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on the receiver group for reasons RJ mentioned, but I’m really intrigued by the quarterback spot. Obviously we all know about Dak Prescott’s contract situation, and the possibility of life without Dak in 2025 invites all sorts of questions about Trey Lance. But we haven’t seen Lance do anything as a Cowboy, and he’s also a free agent after this season. We’ve been told that Lance will get plenty of work in training camp and the preseason, so this might very well be a look into the future of this franchise. Even if the Cowboys work something out with Prescott, though, it will be fascinating to see what Dallas has in Lance, especially considering what they gave up to land him.

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Which position heading into training camp gives you the most cause for concern?

CeeDee Lamb continues to holdout and recent comments made by Stephen Jones leave open the long-term status of Dak Prescott in Dallas. The return of both DeMarvion Overshown and Trevon Diggs will be closely watched as they return from injury, and the rookie influx on the offensive line will be an interesting story to watch in Oxnard as the players progress and develop.

On top of all that is how the running back committee will look and fans will finally get to see what the plan will look like when training sessions begin on Thursday. On the opposite side is how will the Cowboys run defense hold up this year? With pieces on defense now with other teams and concerns on Mazi Smith and the inside defensive line position, keep close watch on available defensive tackles on the market. The front office may look to add more bodies at the position as training sessions move on.

Jess: Until we know for sure what we have in the rookies, you have to be sweating the offensive line. Guyton and Beebe may be amazing but it’s only hypothetical right now. Even if just one of them struggles, it could be a huge problem for the offense. And if they’re a problem, it doesn’t matter who we have at running back.

Brian: Mazi Smith and the interior of the defensive line and Ezekiel Elliott and the RB-by-committee is a tie for me for the positions that concern me the most heading into training camp. From a starting and depth standpoint, both positions really need a significant upgrade. Unfortunately, it’s probably a little too late to find any help. Fingers crossed it works out.

RJ: I talked about WR3 in my first answer, but I’ll go to the other side of things in a sense and say CB4. I feel great about the top of the group in terms of starters but who is the first man off of the bench? Eric Scott Jr.? Maybe? I am anxious to find out.

Sean: It has to be running back. Not only is it difficult to fully evaluate this position in many of the drills we see throughout camp, but this team has tried something of a RB-by-committee approach before without results. There is nothing too encouraging to think this one will be any better with Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle likely leading the way, especially considering the uncertainty on the offensive line being its own separate reason for concern.

Tom: I’m concerned about linebacker as a group. Too many seem to just assume DeMarvion Overshown is going to come in and shore things up, but he’s an untested rookie in effect, with just some extra practices from last year. Outside of that you have Eric Kendricks and Damone Clark leading the bunch, and that is just not giving me a very warm feeling.

David: Honestly, the cornerback position. We know how great Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland can be, and Jourdan Lewis is heavily undervalued in my opinion, but they’re all playing in a new scheme. Al Harris is still the position coach, but Mike Zimmer runs a complex coverage system that often takes some adjusting for his players before they’re clicking on all cylinders. There’s also the recovery factor for Diggs. I’m curious to see how quickly these corners pick up the new scheme, and that could translate directly to the level of success this defense will have.

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Last week, Dak was ranked as the best quarterback in the NFC. Where would you rank him this year?

ESPN have been issuing out their position rankings based on consensus rankings from coaches, general managers and front office staff. The rankings raise more questions than they do answers. But Pro Football Network did a ranking of their own and placed Dak as the leading quarterback in the NFC.

Where Dak ranks among starting quarterbacks in the league is always a good debate. This is the most important question Jerry Jones and company need to figure out as it’s the difference between to building the team around Dak, or going for a rebuild altogether.

So where does Dak rate in the NFC?

Jess: Best overall, best in the regular season, best in the locker room; sure. But none of that matters if he doesn’t show better in the playoffs. Outside of the win over Tampa and his rookie postseason game against the Packers, Prescott’s been pretty pedestrian in January. I don’t know why he developed Romo-itis, but it’s going to wreck his legacy without some immediate change.

Brian: I think I would rank Dak as probably the fourth best QB behind Matthew Stafford, Brock Purdy, and Jared Goff in the NFC for this upcoming season. From a better offensive line to better weapons surrounding them, all three of these QBs have a better supporting cast to make their jobs easier. Prescott doesn’t have that luxury this year and could struggle because of it.

RJ: I saw PFN’s ranking for Dak, but obviously ESPN had him third in the NFC. I can certainly see how somebody would argue for Matthew Stafford ahead of Dak and while I maintain that I’d rather have Dak, I’m willing to not fight that fight today. But that is where I draw the line. ESPN’s ranking also had Jared Goff ahead of Dak and the most annoying thing lately has been hearing about how he “took the Rams to the Super Bowl.” Even if we do want to give him an overwhelming amount of credit for that, do we forget that the same Rams willingly traded him away two years later? And paid a heavy price to do so? Or that the Rams “led” by Goff in that Super Bowl had literally the worst offensive output in Super Bowl history? I rest my case.

Sean: This is a fun question because it allows regular season results to matter, which they should. I know Cowboys fans only want to talk about fast forwarding to the playoffs and seeing how this will all finally play out, possibly one final time with Prescott, McCarthy, or both. For consistently guiding this team to the playoffs though, Prescott is deserving for me of the top spot in the conference. I understand the arguments for either Brock Purdy or Jared Goff, but they are much more regularly helped by their supporting cast and an overall sense of stability that Prescott doesn’t have the luxury of. The way Dak overcomes these things to keep the Cowboys in contention is admirable, but ironically may also be the reason for his downfall as the starter here. This team going into battle for #4 this season is one of the very few things to not be concerned about when it comes to winning at least ten games for the fourth year in a row.

Tom: This is such a non-issue for me, because the rankings are really about where people think they were at the end of last year. We have no idea how most QBs are going to show up, particularly in the NFC, which has a much more lackluster group than the loaded AFC. It’s fun to argue about, but until the first real game, it is pretty much a meaningless exercise, and I’m too old and beat up for any kind of exercise unless it accomplishes something.

David: This is easy: Dak Prescott is the best quarterback in the NFC. I would even argue that he’s the best quarterback not named Mahomes in the entire league. He does have some legitimate competition for that title, but none of it comes from the NFC. I also believe this wouldn’t be a debate if Prescott played for any other team besides the polarizing Cowboys. His production speaks for itself, as does his MVP runner-up status this past year.

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