Dallas City News

In a league dominated by wide receivers and quarterbacks, the Dallas Cowboys will arrive in Oxnard, California for their 2024 training camp this week with plenty of intrigue at both marquee positions. At the top of both depth charts are players in search of new contracts with QB1 Dak Prescott and WR1 CeeDee Lamb. With training camp being the first extended on-field look at these two players that will be so pivotal to the Cowboys success this season, the hope is that their performance can help distract from the off-field situations and bring the focus back to how this team can repeat as NFC East champions and win at least ten games for the fourth year in a row under Mike McCarthy. When it comes to how the Cowboys can achieve this, mainly by remaining near the top of the league in total and scoring offense, no player has gone more under the radar this offseason than TE Jake Ferguson.

Ferguson was top ten among all tight ends last season in catches, yards, and touchdowns while averaging over ten yards per reception as an emerging big play threat for the Cowboys. The year two breakout for Ferguson overshadowed the fact Dallas did not get much from rookie second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker at the position, though the opportunity for two tight ends to coexist in year one of McCarthy’s offense was evident.

The Cowboys were a Jekyll and Hyde offense when playing at home compared to away from AT&T Stadium, never showing the same level of comfort away while scoring over 30 points in seven of eight games and winning all of them at home. With three of Ferguson’s top four receiving yards totals coming in these home games and all five of his touchdowns, the Cowboys TE1 was a focal point no matter how Dallas lined up. How the Cowboys can get even more out of Ferguson in year three and create mismatches for the dynamic middle-of-field threat that will open up other big plays for not only Lamb but Brandin Cooks, Jalen Tolbert, and other upcoming receivers like Jalen Brooks is the top headline for the Cowboys at tight end going into camp – but far from the only one.

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Schoonmaker will again be missing out on valuable practice time as he begins camp dealing with rehabbing a shoulder that required surgery earlier this offseason, but is still a player that in limited playing time as a rookie had a role in the underneath passing game. With the Cowboys likely breaking in two new starters on the offensive line with rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton and center Cooper Beebe, as well as seemingly taking the RB-by-committee approach, finding top efficiency in this short passing game will be critical for the evolution of McCarthy’s offense. This is still an area Dallas can expect Schoonmaker to contribute at some point if he’s able to turn his injury misfortune around and be fully healthy by the time the regular season arrives.

Also looking to recover from an ACL injury and make good on the Cowboys keeping him on the roster as a UDFA from last year’s class is fan-favorite John Stephens Jr. The 6’5” former wide receiver has potential as the type of red zone threat this team sorely lacked at times last season. The Cowboys have not shied away from putting their most important players in bubble wrap for much of the preseason, so the team will get an extended look at Stephens Jr. as early as August 11th in the opener against the Rams. The Cowboys need another player besides Ferguson that will discourage opponents from keying their front seven against the run and forcing Prescott to carry the offense with only his arm, and Stephens Jr. is someone to watch in this role as his suddenness in route running and ability to adjust to the ball in the air give him upside to be a real contributor in 2024.

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The Cowboys will also go into training camp getting their first real look this year at third-year TE Peyton Hendershot after the UDFA out of Indiana was absent from minicamp following a minor medical procedure. Hendershot spent most of his second season on IR, and now has an even more stacked depth chart working against him, but Dallas would be wise to let competition play out fairly and see if Hendershot and Ferguson can form the duo that some expected would be a potential starting pair at one point. This is another player very comfortable in the intermediate passing game with sharp route running skills, and like any player returning from 2023 on offense, has the benefit of a year in McCarthy’s scheme to grow further this season. Hendershot has a clear role on special teams as well, making it easier to factor him into roster projections no matter where exactly he falls on the TE depth chart.

An example of a player competing with Hendershot that also has this experience, and the benefit of being kept on the roster for a full season and offseason to this point as a UDFA is Princeton Fant. The Cowboys signed Fant after the 2023 draft as a prospect with enough upside to consider it a mild surprise he wasn’t a day three pick by any other team, and turned this potential into a special teams contributor appearing in two games. Special teams coordinator John Fassel will have plenty of new players at a multitude of positions looking to contribute and make Fant replaceable, but with enough reps with the offense Fant has similar skills to Stephens Jr. or Hendershot. If he can flash enough as a viable TE for game days, the Cowboys will have serious depth and multiple options at the position to give them much more formation flexibility than they’ve had in any recent season at the skill positions.

With all of these unknowns to evaluate at tight end, it feels unlikely that the Cowboys are coming into training camp with any more notable additions at the position, but the depth chart is rounded out by 2024 UDFA Brevyn Spann-Ford. The latest development player here for Dallas has already generated some buzz as a sleeper to make the roster, as the big blocking TE out of Minnesota could be key to gaining traction in the ground game in a way the Cowboys couldn’t for much of last year. Where Ferguson, Schoonmaker, and Hendershot are all willing blockers that won’t overpower any defenders or deal with pass rushers on their own, the threat of having them on the field as receiving options is still a positive when the Cowboys want to mix up the run and pass. When it comes to how this team can get much better at short-yardage situations and picking up the dirty yards needed to extend drives and rest their defense though, a player like Spann-Ford can immediately prove valuable. The team brought back former RB Ezekiel Elliott who can still excel in these power, between-the-tackle running plays, and whether or not he does so with one or multiple TEs on the field will go a long way in determining if Spann-Ford can have enough of a role to warrant a game day jersey in his first season.

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On the surface, the average fan or national media pundit may easily see this year’s Cowboys team as virtually the same one that’s followed the familiar script of dominating the regular season just to fall woefully short in the playoffs under McCarthy. It feels almost inevitable that this trend will continue for one more season, and that will be the catalyst for sweeping changes around The Star with so many coaches and players on expiring contracts. A closer look at the makings of this roster tell a different story though. As the teams on the Cowboys’ schedule start to prepare for playing against them this season, they’ll find familiar stars that can wreck a game like Lamb, Ferguson, or Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, and Micah Parsons on defense, but also more than enough new faces going into year two of an offense that should still have plenty of added wrinkles that can make Dallas much tougher to play against than they were just a year ago in route to 12 wins.

The time of year for the Cowboys to turn uncertainty that’s created nothing but doubt this offseason into a positive that gives them an advantage in game planning is here, starting as soon as the team hits the practice fields on Thursday, July 25th.

The tight end group is the best example of this ahead of training camp, with an emerging star in Jake Ferguson being far from the only player of interest to keep an eye on. The final roster numbers crunch will come down to hard decisions at not only TE but at offensive line, running back, defensive line, and the secondary, meaning the Cowboys can still keep a strength in numbers approach to their current tight end room full of potential, but it likely won’t be with all names they arrive in Oxnard with. A true starting competition may not be in store for this position thanks to Ferguson, but there is fierce competition nonetheless at TE for Dallas.