Dallas City News

Cowboys pads come on Tuesday: Rookie just shoved into major role – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports

The Cowboys will start padded practices with an unexpected need at defensive end, after losing Sam Williams for the season to an ACL and MCL tear.

1. New EDGE3, Marshawn Kneeland

With Sam Williams’ season over after ACL and MCL tears last weekend, Kneeland is under the spotlight as DC Mike Zimmer admitted the second-round rookie will be forced to play a lot in 2024.

So far, Kneeland has left a positive first impression on those watching practice in Oxnard, California. But one of his biggest calling cards in college was his play strength and power. What that looks like in padded work will be the most intriguing in the next few weeks.

The Cowboys will badly need him to step up earlier than expected, whether or not that’s fair to him.

The Cowboys Think This Is Their Time, and It Better Be – Albert Breer, SI.com

McCarthy has developed a plan for ending the playoff draught in Dallas, but is it more than hot air?

McCarthy’s teams have won 12 games three years in a row. The roster is talented—and the fact that the Jones family has so many mouths to feed financially is, indeed, a good indicator of the team-building job Dallas has done. Longer-term, the franchise is sixth among NFL teams in wins over the last 19 seasons, and has finished under .500 just three times during that stretch.

And, yet, where the five teams with more wins since 2005 have won Super Bowls in that time (and the teams ranked 7, 8, 9 and 10 have, too), the Cowboys haven’t even been to a conference title game since 1995, which is the NFL’s fourth-longest such drought.

McCarthy’s trying to be intentional about making that happen. Going back to his time in Green Bay, he’s always been keenly aware that NFL games, especially in the playoffs, and championships are won on the margins. When you get to that level of football, the talent disparity shrinks, and little things become big things.

It’s why McCarthy’s always tinkered with his program, trying to find the 1% that’d make a difference over the year before. This year, he’s pushed his players more and, he says, there was an 8% uptick over 2023 in the offseason work done as a result. His performance staff reported the team’s strength levels are at their highest point over McCarthy’s five years as Cowboys coach. So there have been tangible gains.

But the margin the coach has been most aggressively chasing is intangible—mental conditioning. In his words, “I’ve put way more time and energy and resources into emotional development with more education.” He’s worked with Chad Bohling, the team’s director of mental conditioning, on it. In the spring, he gave Dr. Heather Twedell, Dallas’s mental health and wellness consultant, a big platform, integrating her into team meetings.

And he even tapped into Dak Prescott’s network, bringing in the people the quarterback works with from O2X Human Performance. O2X works with the military, and police and fire departments, and McCarthy thought enough of their program, and the effect he saw it make with Prescott, to give them 10 hours with the players over the course of the spring.

“Ten hours is a lot of time,” McCarthy says. “It’s just how I’ve always done it. When the red zone offense and defense aren’t very good, I steal 4% from normal O and D and put it in the red zone. When I look at the program of charting what we’re going to do in the offseason and training camp, I wanted to put more of an emphasis into the emotional education and development of our team.”

3 things we learned from Cowboys’ first off day at training camp in Oxnard – Staff, DMN

What’s the status on the Sam Williams contingency plan?

Well … there really isn’t one yet.

“I don’t know yet, honestly,” defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said when asked who fills the hole left after Williams’ knee injury. “We’re looking at all of those guys. We’re just going to have to see. Until we get the pads on, it’s hard for me to make a lot of evaluations.”

The Cowboys have internal candidates in Marshawn Kneeland, Viliami Fehoko, Chauncey Golstohn, among others. If that doesn’t work, there may be some free agency targets still left on the market.

3 players the Cowboys could call to replace Sam Williams – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star

The Cowboys will take their time evaluating the potential they currently have at DE to replace Williams, but experienced outside help is available.

Carl Lawson

The first player that came to mind was Carl Lawson. He is a guy who can get after the quarterback and is good enough to stop the run.

Lawson has played a total of 73 games. During his career, he has tallied 27 sacks, 150 pressures, and 83 quarterback hits.

His biggest flaw is staying on the field. He only played six games a year ago, and in 2021 he didn’t play at all.

Yannick Ngakoue

He played 13 games for the Chicago Bears last season. He finished with four sacks, 34 pressures, and eight quarterback hits. He is solid in the run defense, finishing with six tackles for loss.

Ngakoue is a veteran who knows the game well, playing a total of 123 games thus far in his career.

Shaq Lawson

A name everyone should know is Shaq Lawson, and if I had to guess, he or Ngakoue would be the two to keep an eye on.

Lawson has been known as a run-stuffer for most of his time in the NFL. He was drafted in the first round in 2016, but never really peaked. He has played over 100 games and has 130 pressures, and 67 quarterback hits.

Cowboys LB DeMarvion Overshown returns from ACL injury ready to energize Dallas defense – David Moore, DMN

A camp standout last year, Overshown aims to pick up where he left off before his injury.

Tuesday will be the first padded practice of this camp for Dallas. The training staff will have some restrictions for Overshown. To what extent, he’s not sure.

As long as he gets to do one thing.

“I know I’m going to be limited, but I’m going to be out here and you’re definitely going to hear my pads popping a little bit,’’ Overshown said. “I know I’m going to throw my pads around even if I’ve got to hit myself.

“I’m hitting somebody.’’

No time to dream about what might be – Mickey Spagnola, DallasCowboys.com

The intrigue in how the Cowboys will look in the trenches with pads coming on goes far beyond just looking for a Sam Williams replacement, as players like Mazi Smith and Tyler Guyton also need to be evaluated.

And know it’s just four practices into Training Camp 2024, but the Cowboys cannot afford to dream about what their past two first-round draft choices might become. They’ve got to be. Somewhat desperately got to hit. And right away.

Mazi Smith at defensive tackle.

Tyler Guyton at left offensive tackle.

There is no two ways about it. There is a reason the Cowboys drafted those two players, not only for their projected talent late in the first round – Mazi at No. 26, Tyler at No. 29 after a five-spot trade down from 24 – but out of an abundance of need.

The alternatives at those two positions following the free agency losses of presumed Hall of Famer Tyron Smith at left tackle and veteran Johnathan Hankins at nose tackle are slim (nothing to do with size) and none.

The Cowboys need these two most recent first-round picks to become starters. Not two or three games into the 2024 season. Not next year after a year of growth, or in Mazi’s case, another year of growth. We’re talkin’ now. Right now.

And if Saturday’s “mock game” practice is any indication, and Sunday’s practice, too, after working with the second-team offensive line behind veteran Chuma Edoga, Guyton already has been promoted to first team.

NFL Holdouts: Breaking Down Contract Situation for CeeDee Lamb – Dallas Robinson, Pro Football Network

Interesting how all the contract projections for Lamb are about the total value of the contract, when the sticking point is the guranteed money. No mention of that anywhere below.

Projecting Contract Resolutions for NFL Holdouts

CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys

Where negotiations stand:

Over the weekend, Cowboys COO Stephen Jones told NFL Network’s Jane Slater that Dallas has proposed a new contract offer to Lamb and his agency. After previously suggesting that Lamb wants to become the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback, Jones walked those comments back, per Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram.

Contract projection: Four years, $136 million ($34 million AAV).

Justin Jefferson‘s $35 million AAV with the Minnesota Vikings should put a temporary cap on the wide receiver market. He’s almost universally regarded as the NFL’s best wideout, and Lamb doesn’t have the track record to pass Jefferson in yearly salary. A $34 million value would make Lamb the league’s second-highest-paid WR, $2 million per year ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles’ A.J. Brown.

Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson focused on putting on weight this past offseason – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys

What does a bigger, stronger Jake Ferguson mean for the Cowboys offense in year two of Mike McCarthy’s scheme?

According to Jake Ferguson he is bigger and faster this year than last

It sounds like sensationalism to say that a big and physical player who plays a big and physical sport wanted to get bigger and more physical, but in the case of Jake Ferguson it really does appear like this idea truly manifested itself.

Ferguson met with the media following Sunday’s practice (where unfortunately Sam Williams tore his ACL) and he was asked about the work that he put in over the course of the offseason and what it was directed towards.

It is common for players to wear down a bit as seasons go on, an NFL campaign is in many ways a battle of attrition. Perhaps Ferguson having some extra weight will help him sustain that grind a bit better.

Ferguson noted that he is faster than he was at the NFL Combine. Here is his Mockdraftable profile from when he entered the draft two years ago.

Over the past four years, Dak Prescott has been the cash-flow king – Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk

Dak Prescott has already profited nicely from being QB1 for America’s Team, but the Cowboys will still have to show him the money in a new contract if they hope to keep him past 2024.

In recent days, we’ve tried to shift some of the focus regarding quarterback contracts from APY (and only APY) to cash flow. As to the four-year window from 2023 through 2026 and 2024 through 2027, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the cash-flow king.

As to the four-year period that ended in 2023, the winner was Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

Per a source with knowledge of the numbers, Prescott earned $157.4 from 2020 through 2023. Deshaun Watson made $131.2 million. Kirk Cousins and Matthew Stafford each earned $130.5 million. Mahomes got $122.4 million.

Prescott’s high cash-flow number happened despite that fact that his contract has an APY of $40 million — $15 million below the top of the market.

Prescott doesn’t appear on either of the lists moving forward because his contract expires in 2024. Whenever he signs a new one (and he will, with the Cowboys or someone else), he’ll surely spring back up the list.