Your Sunday morning Cowboys news.
Will McClay on improving Cowboys roster, evaluating speed and toughness -Tommy Yarish, Dallascowboys.com
Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay gives insights on how looks to enhance the roster.
The Cowboys front office has been clear that player acquisition is always a 24/7 process and, like McClay said, they’ll always look at every option to improve their roster.
On Thursday, the Las Vegas Raiders released defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who was a first-round pick in 2019 and signed a five-year, $110 million deal with the team in March of 2024, but is dealing with a left foot fracture and was let go because of a disagreement between he and the team on the recovery process.
Nonetheless, it’s a position of need for the Cowboys and an intriguing name to hit the market. Will it be a situation that McClay and the team take a look at?
“I mean, yeah, sure.” McClay said.
While that work is being done off the field, it’s been no secret that Brian Schottenheimer is looking for a fast, physical training camp on the field in his first run as a head coach in the NFL. So far through three practices, he’s gotten just that, and maybe more than he’d like in some instances with a few skirmishes. That said, it’s still exactly what the Cowboys want, and exactly how McClay and the team have gone about constructing the roster.
“That’s Schotty’s mantra and what we wanted to bring,” McClay said. “It’s fast and furious. You want to compete every day. That’s kind of our mantra; the NFL is a fast game. We got these guys, college guys number one, you got to get used to the pace. Number two, it’s about conditioning. If you want to play fast, if you want to be a fast football team, you want to play that way, you have to practice that way.”
In today’s NFL and the game of football as a whole, speed is one of the most important factors for success, and it’s a trait that McClay learned the importance of early in his career from his father, Melvin.
“Football is a game of leverage and angles,” McClay said. “My father taught me about that, that’s how I learned football. You think about it, so leverage and angles, that’s speed, right? I didn’t go into math class, I went straight to P.E., but there’s some principles that I learned, right?”
“The faster that you can play, the faster you can get from point A to point B, the quicker you can make things happen.”
While physical speed is one thing, processing speed is equally as important to be able to gain advantages on the field.
“It’s the old saying: Speed kills,” McClay said. “If you know what you’re doing, if you understand where your weaknesses are, if you know that if you’re on top of things, if you play fast, people don’t want to play fast. People don’t want to play physical. If you can do it down after down after down, you impose your will on people, and you have to condition for that.”
Finding speed during the evaluation process is pretty evident when you turn on a player’s film. Something a little more difficult to ascertain on video is toughness, but it’s equally as important of a trait to McClay and the Cowboys. So, that begs the question: How do you evaluate toughness?
3 Underrated Cowboys who Must Deliver in Camp – Mark Heaney, Inside the Star
The Cowboys are hoping these players can play above expectations at training camp.
After months of hype, speculation, and roster moves, NFL football is finally back. While fans have soaked in a week’s worth of training camp highlights, for three underrated Cowboys, this stretch means far more: It’s their shot to prove they belong. As always, the big names have dominated the headlines. When you throw in contract disputes and flashy newcomers, those under-the-radar guys get overlooked even more.
However, as Cowboys fans should know by now, a lack of depth and support around those stars is what can actually kill a season. Dallas is going to need a total effort to compete for the playoffs this season, and while the front office has done a good job bringing in that additional talent, it’s up to these guys in camp to showcase what they have.
Time to spotlight those three guys I alluded to, and why this camp is so important to their futures.
Cooper Beebe: Year 2 Improvement, Or Stall Out?
This has been a crazy year for the Cowboys’ offensive line. The turnover, the retirements, the draftees; it has been a full-scale upheaval of the previous era. In all that chaos, Cooper Beebe seems like one of the few stable pieces around. The 73rd selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, Beebe stepped into a new role at center as a rookie and played pretty damn well. Perfect? No. Reliable? Absolutely. Where fellow-rookie Tyler Guyton seemed raw, and, at times, overmatched, Beebe handled a hard job with consistent play. Now, it’s time to see if he can grow beyond that, or stay put as a high-floor, low-ceiling player.
Beebe comes into training camp alongside Tyler Smith as the two set-in-stone options for Dallas. Guyton, rookie Tyler Booker, and the now-injured Terence Steeleall have major questions that need answering. That presents a perfect opportunity for Beebe, one of the most underrated Cowboys, to change the narrative surrounding his potential.
Caelen Carson: Tapping Into Potential, Or Another Disappointment?
Personally, Caelen Carson’s rookie season was one of the most disappointing I’ve seen as a Cowboys fan. I know what you’re thinking: “He was a fifth-round pick.” But hear me out. Coming into the 2024 Draft, Carson was one of my absolute favorite cornerback prospects. He was my 61st overall player in the class. What looked like one of the biggest steals in the draft turned into an injury-riddled, average performance rookie campaign that took many out of his fan club. Carson’s hype in Dallas has completely plummeted.
Despite that, he still has an opportunity to right the ship. The Cowboys’ cornerback depth is weak, their starters are injury-prone, and a fully healthy Carson could capitalize on that. If not, his future in Dallas is headed nowhere.
Cowboys RB’s Miles Sanders and Deuce Vaughn impress in first week of training camp-Connor Livesay, Blogging the Boys
These veteran running backs have turned heads this week at camp.
The first week of training camp is over. After six long months without football, it was nice to see the 2025 Dallas Cowboys back in their white and navy uniforms knocking off rust in Oxnard, California.
One of the positions that will be heavily monitored throughout camp is the running back position. The team has added new faces to the running back room this offseason including Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, and Jaydon Blue. While the players are still without full pads, one of the easiest positions to evaluate in shells is the running backs. Early returns show that Miles Sanders and Deuce Vaughn are making a case for roles in the regular season.
Sanders, now 28, and Vaughn, now 23, have a lot to prove heading into the 2025 season. Sanders has struggled since signing with the Carolina Panthers in free agency and Vaughn has struggled to carry any momentum over into the regular season in very limited opportunities. But so far so good for Sanders and Vaughn who are in a tight competition to earn reps at the running back position for Brian Schottenheimer’s offense.
It is still early, but in early practices, Javonte Williams has looked a bit on the slower side and rookie-fifth round pick Jaydon Blue has just now started to show what he can do in camp. Williams was signed to be the starter when you take into account is contract and guaranteed money, but so far Sanders looks to be the favorite to win that job at the end of camp.
2025 Dallas Cowboys training camp: Latest intel, updates-Todd Archer, ESPN.com
Here’s the most recent buzz at Cowboys camp.
Training camps have kicked off around the NFL, and our team reporters are on the ground each day following all the action. The Dallas Cowboys’ camp is taking place in Oxnard, California, and Cowboys reporter Todd Archer has the latest intel on standouts, highlights, position battles, depth chart movement, cut decisions and of course the quarterback room.
What follows is everything we are seeing and hearing at Cowboys camp. We will update this file often. How do Dak Prescott and the offense look? What’s new with Micah Parsons? Who are the breakouts to watch, especially for fantasy football? And which players on the roster bubble could make the final 53?
Saturday, July 26
Cornerback Kaiir Elam might have created the best celebration in the history of Dallas Cowboys training camp.
After Elam intercepted a Dak Prescott pass intended for wide receiver Jalen Tolbert near the sideline late in Saturday’s practice, he reached into the stands and pulled a youngster out on to the field, lifting him in the air like it was a scene out of “The Lion King.”
The rest of the defensive backs and linebackers joined into the celebration drawing a huge cheer from the fans.
“It was like I was holding Simba,” Elam said with a smile after the practice.
It was second interception of training camp for Elam, who was acquired in the offseason in a trade from the Buffalo Bills.
More:
· The pads come on for the first time in camp on Sunday. Count left guard Tyler Smith as ready. “Football ultimately isn’t played in t-shirts,” Smith said. “I feel like these days have been good just in terms of getting acclimated, but I truly do think it’s all about when those pads come on. I think the guys are ready. Energy has been high all camp. We’ve emphasized this is going to be a physical, physical camp and that’s something I want to embrace.”
· Free-agent pickup Rob Jones was the right guard with the first-team offense on instead of rookie first-round pick Tyler Booker. His first play must not have gone well because he was replaced by Booker, although he returned after the quick absence.
· Another free agent addition, edge rusher Payton Turner, was active early in team drills, getting in the backfield for a would-be stop on running back Deuce Vaughn and pressuring Prescott into a scramble.
