Dallas City News

Dak Prescott held out of Friday practice due to ankle soreness – Todd Archer, ESPN

Dallas took precautionary measures with Dak Prescott.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is being held out of Friday’s light practice with ankle soreness after the joint practice Thursday with the Los Angeles Rams.

The team called it “precautionary reasons,” and it is not considered serious. The Cowboys open the preseason Sunday against the Rams, but Prescott was not going to play. He has not played in a preseason game since Mike McCarthy became coach in 2020.

The Cowboys had their most competitive practice of training camp Thursday. Prescott, who turned 31 on July 29, did not appear to be limited in his movements.

Last month, Prescott briefly wore a walking boot after what was described as a right foot sprain after some workouts before training camp.

Dallas Cowboys trading CB Nahshon Wright to Minnesota Vikings for CB Andrew Booth – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys

The Cowboys pull off a cornerback for cornerback trade for the second consecutive year.

The Cowboys are trading cornerback Nahshon Wright to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for Andrew Booth. It is a cornerback for cornerback swap.

This is actually the second year in a row that Dallas is trading a cornerback for another one as last year they dealt Kelvin Joseph to the Miami Dolphins for Noah Igbinoghene. Joseph and Wright were second- and third-round picks of the Cowboys in 2021, respectively, so it is pretty safe to say that things did not really work out there.

The Cowboys are getting an upgrade in trade for Andrew Booth Jr. – David Howman, Blogging The Boys

The former second-round pick brings a lot more to the table than Nahshon Wright.

Booth has had a similar journey with the Vikings. The 42nd pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, Booth was taken in the first season after Minnesota parted ways with Zimmer. In his rookie year, Booth was eased into game action, mostly playing on special teams. However, he saw ample snaps on defense in a Week 9 win before logging his first career start – coincidentally, against the Cowboys – the following week. In that game, Booth suffered a meniscus tear that knocked him out for the rest of the year.

Following Booth’s rookie year, Minnesota overhauled their defensive scheme with a new coordinator. Between the scheme change and Booth’s own recovery timeline, he saw minimal action last year. Booth didn’t play a single snap on defense for the first month of the season, and he finished the season having played on just 13% of the defensive snaps.

Booth was similarly viewed as entering a pivotal year for his chances at keeping a roster spot, although he had a slightly longer runway than Wright. In swapping Wright for Booth, the Cowboys have bought themselves one more year of cornerback depth while actually adding some minimal cap space for this year.

That on its own makes this trade a decent move for Dallas. However, Booth also comes with significantly more upside. He came into the NFL after a strong run in college with the Clemson Tigers. Many draft experts had him ranked high, and Dane Brugler of The Athletic listed him as the fourth best cornerback in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Booth may have been drafted after Zimmer left the Vikings, but his scouting report reads like a prototype of what Zimmer looks for in his cornerbacks. Vision, ball skills, versatility in coverage techniques, and aggression in run support all fit the Zimmer profile to a tee. Booth’s man coverage prowess also made him a natural fit for the Cowboys’ defensive scheme under Quinn, which is why we listed him as a potential trade target at last year’s deadline.

Now, Booth arrives in Dallas for the cost of a player that likely wasn’t even going to make the roster this year. He’ll get to play for Zimmer, whose scheme seems to fit Booth. More than that, though, Booth will get to work under Al Harris, who has been present for the rapid ascensions of both Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.

Trey Lance on preseason opener: ‘Big game for me’ – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com

Trey Lance needs to take advantage of his opportunity to win the QB2 role this weekend.

There is no shortage of pressure on Lance to have an outstanding preseason, particularly considering how routinely difficult it’s been for quarterbacks to displace Rush as QB2 in Dallas over the years — the evaluation process on Lance this August being as intense as he’s felt since pre-draft when he was transitioning to the league from North Dakota State.

But, as Lance explained, he’s just playing football.

“I’m going into this game the same as I’ve gone into every other game my whole entire life — college, high school,” he said. “I don’t think that I’ll put too much extra in it. I’m not gonna play any harder than I have in the past, or not harder.

“Big game for me. Big game for us so I’m excited to go out there and play well.”

One of the most notable things from Lance in this year’s camp, seeing as he wasn’t present for last year’s camp due to the timing of the trade with the 49ers (late August), is how much work he’s put into perfectly mirroring the cadence of Prescott.

It’s an audible doppleganger of the All-Pro quarterback’s tone, inflection and timing; and it’s no coincidence Lance has been so successful in achieving this — to the point media and fans are consistently confusing his snap calls for that of Prescott’s before noticing it’s a No. 19 on the jersey and not the No. 4.

Stephen Jones: CeeDee Lamb Leaving Cowboys Given ‘Zero Thought’ amid Contract Talks – Julia Stumbaugh, Bleacher Report

Despite the latest drama, the Cowboys are still committed to signing CeeDee Lamb to an extension.

Dallas Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones says his team has given “zero thought” to moving on from CeeDee Lamb despite the ongoing dispute over the wide receiver’s contract.

“Zero. Zero. Zero thought process of not having CeeDee be a Dallas Cowboy,” Jones told Matt Mosley and Ed Werder on The Doomsday Podcast by Rogue Media Sports and Mostly Mosley LLC (h/t NBC Sports’ Charean Williams.)

Jones continued: “CeeDee’s not going to be playing anywhere but Dallas, but we want this to be a great situation for him when we’re all said and done, but also a good situation so that we can put a great football team on the field.”

The podcast was released the same day Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told reporters he doesn’t feel “any urgency” to finalize Lamb’s next contract.

Lamb responded to Jones’ comment on X with a post that said only, “lol.”

Spagnola: This offense really cookin’ with Cooks – Mickey Spagnola, DallasCowboys.com

Brandin Cooks looks like Year 2 in Dallas will far surpass Year 1.

Dak to Brandin Cooks, time after time after time again. In lieu of remember-under-contract receiver CeeDee Lamb’s continued holdout, Cooks showed his former team some No. 1 receiver skills, which by no means is suggesting any underlining [sic] meaning on my part.

It’s just that Cooks, with his consistent hookup with Dak, continues to shine. One of the silent stars of training camp, reminding the Rams of his 2018 season in Los Angeles when he caught 80 passes for 1,204 yards (15.1 avg.) and five touchdowns that Super bowl [sic] season. His confidence in his ability allows him to remain comfortable in his own skin, to the point of being more than ready to help these young receivers in camp, such as Jalen Tolbert, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Brooks, Jalen Cropper, Ryan Flournoy, Tyron Billy-Johnson and of late Racey McMath.

How good was Cooks Thursday afternoon?

Well, after spending a good 10 minutes talking with Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, a former teammate, one of the Rams assistant coaches made a beeline over to Cooks, saying, “Everything about you is still precise, just the same. And oh, my goodness, that is why you’re here. No doubt, that is why you’re here.”

Cowboys joint practice: Biggest takeaways, standouts from session with Rams – Jon Machota and Saad Yousuf, The Athletic

Mike Zimmer’s effect on the Cowboys defense is already showing.

Three stars on defense

Carson: It’s understandable that the Cowboys want to be careful with their development of Carson but he’s been making plays against the second team, Cowboys and Rams, all camp. Diggs is on the verge of returning, so the first-team secondary may be close to being back, but it would be interesting to see Carson opposite of Bland for some reps as Diggs ramps his way up. Carson said after practice that although he’s primarily played on the outside, he feels he has versatility to play inside or out.

Kendricks: The narrative around Kendricks has been how great of a resource he can be as a veteran and someone who knows Mike Zimmer’s defense. Thursday’s practice was a reminder that Kendricks is more than just a leader and the quarterback of the defense. He has plenty of juice left, plays fast and is a capable playmaker who should be a boost to the run defense.

Parsons: He can feel like an easy answer but it’s impossible not to include him after a day like Thursday. Parsons was making quick work around the edge of the Rams’ offensive line, to the point where the Rams had to constantly start chipping him with a tight end. With his play and presence, Parsons’ impact is obvious, especially with how Zimmer is using him.

“We were saying, wherever he is, you find him and you slide to him,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “We didn’t game plan, we didn’t know. I thought they did a really good job of having him in a variety of spots. It’s a good test.”

Cowboys’ Big 3 brings financial reckoning to Dallas as top stars wait for new deals – David Moore, Dallas Morning News

The Cowboys have some finagling to do to get their top stars signed, but it can be done.

CeeDee Lamb is the focus at the moment.

He’s the one holding out. Chances are the wide receiver will miss all of camp in Southern California if he doesn’t reach an agreement with the Dallas Cowboys by the middle of next week.

No real sense of urgency. Maybe you heard Jerry Jones utter that statement. Lamb did.

Lol.

But it’s impossible to address the receiver’s contract without viewing it in the context of the impending deals for quarterback Dak Prescott and edge rusher Micah Parsons. The financial fortunes of the three are intertwined in a way that will determine the club’s immediate future.

“They’re connected,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “Are you kidding me? They’re totally connected.”

Don’t feel sorry for the Cowboys, otherwise known as the world’s most valuable sports franchise. An ownership group that can sip mimosas from the deck of the Bravo Eugenia knows it can never play the “poor me” card in public.

This is simply the cost of doing business. Dallas can get all three of these players done and still field a good team.

That doesn’t mean it’s not a big lift.