The latest news surrounding the Dallas Cowboys.
KaVontae Turpin addresses recent arrest, making waves at RB – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
They always talk about it, but maybe they finally make KaVontae Turpin part of the offense.
Don’t look now, but there’s another entrant into the contest to determine what the depth chart ends up being for the Dallas Cowboys at the running back position, and it’s a wide receiver slash All-Pro kick returner — namely KaVontae Turpin.
Through the first two days of training camp practice, Turpin has taken several handoffs in both first- and second-team drills, and he’s made the most of each opportunity by making defenders miss (either actually or presumably, considering the pads aren’t on yet), not to mention the fact he’s also getting targets as a receiver.
And he hasn’t dropped one of those yet, by the way, as he morphs into a true do-it-all player.
“The way they get the ball in my hands, you know I’m gonna go out there and be a playmaker,” said Turpin. “That’s the goal. Everybody can make plays. We’ve got all these weapons, so it’s gonna be hard to get everybody the ball. So me going into the backfield, that’s the one way to get me the ball.”
As Brian Schottenheimer installs his version of the Cowboys’ offense that he plans to include an attacking principle rooted in multiple fronts and looks, with plenty of motions to go along with it, Turpin appears to factor in greatly to what’s in store.
“No. 1, there’s no fear,” said Schottenheimer of Turpin. “That’s the kick return mentality. There was an outside zone play we ran [on Tuesday] where he literally hit the hole and there was no fear. He was gone. So, no fear, plus speed, and he doesn’t need a lot of space. It’s really just getting him to understand the different tracks we have the [running] backs take. There’s some cross-training.
“He’s just dynamic. The guy’s a weapon. … He’s a guy we wanna move all over the field.”
Mailbag: Should Cowboys hit more in training camp? – Tommy Yarrish & Mickey Spagnola, DallasCowboys.com
Injuries are always a thing in football.
I understand this isn’t the 1990s anymore, but I’m concerned that a lot of the early season injuries we see come from the lack of physicality in training camp. The only way to get in hitting shape is to hit. Safety is one thing, but don’t we achieve the exact opposite by not having the players ready to be hit in Week 1? – Justin Vandiver/Lumberton, TX
Mickey: Couldn’t agree with you more. Much of practice these days is taking premeditated steps, not playing real football. If there was more physical contact in practice bodies would become more acclimated to the type of movements actually made in games. Now understand why such a conservative approach to practice has developed. With the advent of a salary cap teams can’t take the chance of players getting injured for no tangible reason, meaning winning and losing. Plus, if a player spend time on injured reserve or suffers a season ending injury, those salaries count against the cap and then teams must spend more cap money replacing that player on the 53-man roster. It has become vicious cycle, and another reason why there isn’t as much contact here in training camp than used to be. Guarding against injury is the big reason why teams have been restricted from having two-a-day contact sessions. All doesn’t contribute to better football.
Tommy: You make a good point, Justin. At the same time, though, you have an equally high chance to get injured by hitting more in training camp. That’s where the unsolvable problem lies, unfortunately. I think the NFL and the NFLPA have done as well as they can to find a middle ground, but it’s going to be hard to get there. Would I like things to be more physical? Yes, but I also understand the hesitancy to move in that direction given what it could mean from an injury standpoint, especially for players heading into contract years or those that have struggled with injuries in the past.
With Micah Parsons, Jerry Jones Is Playing Another Contract Game He Can’t Win – Ralph Vacchiano, FOX Sports
Death, taxes, and another Cowboys contract negotiation moving at a glacial pace.
Micah Parsons is going to get paid a lot of money by the Dallas Cowboys, probably sooner rather than later. Jerry Jones will open his enormous vault and make the linebacker one of the highest-paid defensive players in the game.
It is inevitable. It will happen, as long as Parsons doesn’t get hurt this summer. The two men even apparently agreed to the parameters of a deal back in March.
Yet, for some reason, here we are again, in the same spot as always with the Cowboys, where Jones just can’t help but make things more difficult than they should be. Parsons is yet another star player they intend to keep and have promised to pay, waiting in limbo for a deal everyone knows he will get. Meanwhile, Jones is once again insisting there’s no “angst,” no reason to panic.
So why, every year, does he keep welcoming that panic in?
“We’re just working with what it is,” Jones told reporters as his players reported to camp in Oxnard, Calif., on Monday. “It’s not uncommon for me and not anything there’s a lot of angst over. … We are where we are. And I sign the check. Period.”
Translation: Jones is the boss. The deal will be done when he says it’s done. And if the waiting doesn’t make sense to anyone else … well, that’s just too bad.
It probably makes the least sense to the 26-year-old Parsons, easily one of the five best defensive players in the NFL. The Cowboys have made it clear they plan to give him a lucrative, long-term extension. And they obviously know he’ll end up being one of the NFL’s highest-paid defensive players, which means a deal worth more than $40 million per year.
In fact, back in March, Jones and Parsons had a one-on-one meeting in the owner’s office and hammered out a deal — or so it seemed. “Let’s put it like this,” Jones said on Monday. “We went over every possible detail that you can go over and had agreement.”
And yet, there is no deal. It’s no different than it was last summer when receiver CeeDee Lamb sat out waiting for his inevitable contract, or in 2023 when guard Zack Martin skipped the start of camp waiting for the deal he knew he was going to get. Parsons, for the moment, at least has arrived at camp and has promised to be a limited participant. That makes him more like quarterback Dak Prescott, who practiced all last summer waiting for his predictable contract extension.
George Pickens excited to ‘run better plays’ with Cowboys, says he and CeeDee Lamb are like the ‘Mario Bros.’ – Robby Kalland, CBS Sports
Dallas’ offseason acquisition seems to fit right in with his new teammates.
The start of training camp is a time for optimism around the NFL and that is certainly the case for the Dallas Cowboys’ offense. Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and new offseason addition George Pickens were all on the field at the Star for the first time on Tuesday, allowing Cowboys fans to dream of what their new receiver combo could do to open up their passing game this season.
Pickens spoke after practice about his “fresh start” in Dallas and how Prescott and Lamb have welcomed him in. He also couldn’t help but take a jab at his old team in Pittsburgh. Pickens was asked about being typecast as a deep ball threat only and if he though he could expand his role in Dallas, and offered a succinct and telling response.
“I’m definitely excited to run better plays, for sure,” Pickens said.
As a receiver, you can see where Pickens is coming from as the Steelers offense was not exactly a dynamic passing attack. Pickens accounted for 25% of the team’s receiving yards last year with 900 and receivers as a whole accounted for just under 2,000 yards of the Pittsburgh offense that ran a lot through running backs and tight ends.
The difference this year for Pickens is that, despite what they may say this summer, Lamb will be WR1 in Dallas and Pickens will be the secondary option. Even as that dynamic still gets sorted out, Pickens feels he and Lamb complement each other extremely well, and provided what could be a nickname that sticks for the duo if they thrive on the field this fall.
“CeeDee’s a certain type of guy, then I’m a certain type of guy,” Pickens said. “So when you mesh that together it’s like Mario Bros. So we definitely could do something special.”
