Dallas City News

Preseason football isn’t about wins and losses. Sure, the Dallas Cowboys would have rather won their week one preseason game than lose it, but that’s not the point of preseason. These games provide the coaching staff an opportunity to see players not only fight for their position on the depth chart, but also their spot on the final 53-man roster.

Here are two players who had rough outings in week one of the preseason, and need to have a better performance in week two.

CB Eric Scott Jr.

In 2023, the Cowboys surprised people when they traded up in the sixth-round to select CB Eric Scott Jr. from Southern Miss. Scott didn’t find any playing time his rookie season, but he is hoping to secure a bigger role with the team under Mike Zimmer.

Scott struggled mightily through the first half of Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams. He was picked on heavily in coverage, and didn’t do himself any favors when he was called for a late hit out of bounds in the second quarter.

Luckily for Scott, he found himself in the right place at the right time when he recorded an interception with roughly 33 seconds left in the first half. While Rams QB Stetson Bennett did throw it directly to him, it was a good way to finish a rough half, and hopefully momentum he can carry into next game.

TE Luke Schoonmaker

In a 2023 draft class that had a very unproductive first season last year, Luke Schoonmaker was a player that was drafted high for the Cowboys at tight end. Schoonmaker was selected in the second round out of Michigan, as the team liked his size and athleticism. Many fans questioned the pick at the time, as Jake Ferguson showed flashes in 2022 behind former Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz. However, the team felt they needed to add to the position after losing Schultz in free agency to the Houston Texans.

The pick didn’t age well throughout the 2023 season, as Ferguson quickly established himself as one of the premier young tight ends in the league. He racked up 761 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 71 receptions. Not only did Ferguson quickly confirm that tight end wasn’t as big of a need as the Cowboys had previously thought, Schoonmaker had little-to-no impact his rookie season. Despite playing all 17 games, he finished the season with eight receptions on 15 targets for 65 yards and two touchdowns.

Despite starting at the tight end position for the team’s preseason opener on Sunday, the second-year tight end was the lowest graded pass catcher against the Rams (33.6) as he finished with zero receptions on two targets through 18 total snaps. Schoonmaker needs to step up quickly if he wants to erase the narrative around his draft selection by the Cowboys.