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By Jon Machota Jun 11, 2021
FRISCO, Texas — Dak Prescott has moved on from his injury and he’s hoping fans and media members will do the same. That was the biggest takeaway from Prescott’s final group interview with reporters until training camp next month.
“I’ve buried the injury, honestly guys,” the Cowboys quarterback said after the team’s final minicamp practice on Wednesday. “From the point of practice, from the point of just moving forward and going about my life, I’ve buried it. I’ve buried it mentally. And I think you guys and a lot of people around have to help me and bury it as well as we move forward.”
Prescott looked healthy throughout the two organized team activity practices and both days of minicamp open to reporters. He participated in everything except the 11-on-11 team drills. The team-drill portion he took reps in was without a defensive line. The last thing the Cowboys wanted was a player accidentally falling into Prescott’s surgically-repaired right ankle. The plan is for him to be a full-go at the start of training camp, so that will likely be when he’ll return to regular 11-on-11 work.
Prescott has been throwing from the pocket and on the run to both his right and left. Whether it’s individual or group drills, he has shown no signs of having experienced a significant injury. He also said he has not had any recent soreness or swelling the day after practicing. The next big test will come when Prescott takes a hit to the ankle. That might happen in the preseason, but maybe not until Week 1. Defenders usually don’t tackle quarterbacks to the ground during training camp practices.
So if the injury is officially buried for Prescott, when was the official time of death?
“I’d honestly say about a month ago,” he said. “Somewhere around Cinco de Mayo. Yeah, I had a good Cinco de Mayo, was a little active and at that time maybe did some little dance moves and I felt like I’m ready to go. So that was the time that I said in my head, ‘The injury’s gone.’”
To wrap up the Cowboys’ offseason program, here are 15 highlights and observations from this week’s minicamp practices at The Star.
1. In a good place on and off the field. Randy Gregory’s past is well-known. He has been suspended more games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy than he has played in since being drafted by the Cowboys in 2015. But Gregory considered it a small win this week when reporters didn’t ask him about any non-football issues during the first 10 minutes of a 16-minute interview session.
“It’s in the past,” he said. “I’ve done a great job the last few years with the team on and off the field, and I’m looking forward to the future, if that’s three years, five years, whatever it is. I’m having fun. I’m doing what I need to do. The coaches love me, the players love me, at least I think they do, and I’m not worried about all the other stuff. I’m doing a good job.”
After being suspended for the first six games last season, Gregory finished with 3.5 sacks and 12 quarterback hits in the final 10 games. He wanted more playing time. With veteran edge rusher Aldon Smith, who started all 16 games in 2020, no longer on the roster, Gregory is expected to get significant time rushing off the right edge.
“He’d better want to play more, because I plan on playing him more,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “I think the most important thing for him is he’s been here every day. … He’s doing great, looks great and we’re expecting big things from him.”
Gregory said one of the biggest changes he’s made off the field is he’s trying to keep his life as simple as possible. He acknowledges that he used to surround himself with too much chaos.
“There was a time in my life when you could ask me to say one good thing about myself and I couldn’t,” Gregory said. “I could say 20 bad things. I have come a long way from that where I can say a lot of good things about myself. I am very proud of myself. I am proud of where I am at. I am proud of the journey I took. A lot of guys don’t make it as far in this league as I have. I have made a lot of mistakes. But I think I have earned what I have gotten, whether it’s bad or good. And I am going to continue to do that.
“I think my best years are to come. They are ahead of me. Very excited for the future. As long as there is a lot of positive thinking and staying around the right people, keeping my obligations in the right place and having the right priorities off the field and on the field, I will be all right.”
2. Contract year for Gregory. The 28-year-old was also asked about being in the final year of his contract and how he plans to go about handling that part of the job.
“Same way I have always gone about it,” Gregory responded. “I should have already had a new contract. I was still on my rookie contract last year. That is kind of crazy to think about, but I understand it’s a contract year. It’s all about earning everything now. I’m going to do that on the field. Barring injury, I think I will be all right. I love it here. I love the owners. I love the staff. I love the players. When that time comes, we will talk about it. But from where I came from I am not thinking about a damn contract right now before the season starts. I still got a lot to do.”
3. Edge rushers. One example of how new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is trying to build on some of what former DC Mike Nolan implemented last year is that defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Gregory have been working on rushing from a standup position, which has included dropping into coverage. That was not something the Cowboys edge rushers were asked to do often before last season. It didn’t appear to be a good fit for Lawrence last year, but maybe Quinn and new defensive line coach Aden Durde will be able to get better results this time.
“What I can say is I think it’s a little more diverse as far as the different looks we can give on defense,” Gregory said. “I think it’s going to be a lot more fun for us, at least for me. And then it will really be able to stretch my limits athletically on the field as far as me dropping, coverage, lining up wide, and trying to get to the quarterback and different games and stunts we can do as a D-line. It really feels to me, I’m sure it feels like for a lot of guys, it’s kind of similar to what we did last year.”
4. Ezekiel Elliott continues to look more explosive. It will be interesting to see how he builds on a strong showing in OTAs and minicamp when the team begins training camp. Probably the only negative for Elliott during the time reporters were allowed to watch practice came on Wednesday when he slipped during a red-zone period. With Elliott on the ground, Prescott’s pass ended up right in the hands of veteran safety Jayron Kearse, who returned it 95 yards for a touchdown. Elliott was so frustrated about slipping on the play that he stayed motionless, face down, on the turf for about 30 seconds. Other than that, he looked sharp throughout the offseason in both the running and passing games.
“Zeke looks great,” Prescott said. “Zeke’s in the best shape of his life. Looking fast. Obviously, everybody’s seen the clips of him working out independently with his running back coach. His cuts, just how explosive he is. Excited just to have a full year with him again and getting him healthy throughout the whole season. When Zeke’s healthy and Zeke’s doing his thing, he’s the best running back in the league. It’s just exciting to see him in the best shape of his life, or best shape since he’s been in the NFL. That’s going to be special for us moving forward.”
5. Tony Pollard on Zeke. The backup running back has noticed how “locked in” Elliott has been the last few months. The two have spent some additional time together away from The Star working with a personal running back coach.
“I can tell he’s taken the right step forward this offseason,” Pollard said of Elliott, “getting his body right and getting in shape. … Our whole goal here is to win it all, no matter how far we get, we want to win it all. That’s everybody’s goal coming into the season. If you’re not doing that, you’re falling short. So there’s room for improvement all around.”
6. First-team defense. The minicamp practices were similar to OTAs with Kearse and Damontae Kazee getting the first-team reps at safety. Donovan Wilson didn’t participate as he is working his way back from an undisclosed setback that McCarthy called a “slight injury.” Wilson is expected to be ready to go at the start of training camp.
“A little soreness, but it’s nothing that’s going to hold me back,” Wilson said. “Just going to work on that this offseason and come back to Oxnard ready to go.”
Trevon Diggs, Anthony Brown and Jourdan Lewis were usually the first-team corners. Second-round pick Kelvin Joseph returned this week after being out 10 days with an illness. The rookie corner looked a little rusty as he worked his way back into the mix.
Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch got the majority of the first-team work at middle and weakside linebacker. Veteran Keanu Neal worked into that group as well. Rookies Micah Parsons and Jabril Cox were often playing alongside each other in drills. Don’t read too much into that. It seemed like the staff wanted the rookies to watch the veterans before jumping in during certain portions of practice. Parsons is expected to see the field often, being used in a variety of ways. I wrote more about Parsons and how he’s being used here.
There was a lot of mixing and matching going on along the defensive line. In terms of projecting reps during the season, Lawrence, Gregory and Tarell Basham seem to be lining themselves up to get the most snaps rushing off the edge. Throw in Parsons and there’s a good chance that those four will end up being among the team leaders in sacks and quarterback pressures, if all are healthy. In regards to the veteran defensive tackles, Neville Gallimore, Brent Urban and Carlos Watkins were getting first-team reps at different times. Trysten Hill worked off to the side throughout OTAs and minicamp as he recovers from his season-ending knee injury.
7. First-team offense. Judging by how players were lining up this offseason, if everyone is healthy, the starters should go as follows: QB Prescott, RB Elliott, WR Amari Cooper, WR CeeDee Lamb, WR Michael Gallup, TE Blake Jarwin, LT Tyron Smith, LG Connor Williams, C Tyler Biadasz, RG Zack Martin, RT La’el Collins.
“Clearly, the biggest change offensively is really the health of our players,” McCarthy said. “I think if you looked at what we tried to accomplish last year, a lot of the concepts, a lot of the things that we set out to do in the installation phase, we really never got to because of injury.
“I think our depth is better on offense, clearly, than it was last year. But just the health of that unit to me is going to be the biggest upgrade.”
With Cooper still working his way back from a January foot surgery, Cedrick Wilson saw more snaps with the first-team offense. Same with Dalton Schultz at tight end as Jarwin (knee) mostly worked off to the side. Connor McGovern was getting the first-team right guard snaps in place of Martin. Ty Nsekhe was working at left tackle when Smith was out. Brandon Knight was at right tackle when Collins was out.
8. McCarthy on Dak. The Cowboys head coach was asked Wednesday about having Prescott rehabbing over the last several months in the team facility and the impact he had on his teammates who are also working their way back from injuries.
“I’ll just say this, Dak Prescott’s leadership exudes through the whole football operation,” McCarthy said. “I’m sure it goes far beyond that. The everyday interaction with him is so consistent, so steady. He’s just real. He’s as real as a person as I’ve been fortunate enough to work with, and I’ve worked with a lot of great ones. He’s the same in the training room. He’s the same in the locker room, the weight room, the equipment room. And everybody has such a strong relationship with him.
“It just speaks volumes about the way he goes about his personal and his professional life. I believe this. He reflects exactly, I know what I’m looking for, and he definitely reflects what the Dallas Cowboys are looking for in their players, in the people that represent this organization. In my view, this is his team. He is the face of the locker room and he’s the guy that I’m going to lean on the most.”
CeeDee Lamb (Tim Heitman / USA Today)
9. CeeDee Lamb. Much like Elliott, Lamb has looked to be in excellent condition and ready for a big year. Whether it’s playing in the slot or getting down the field and making contested catches, he really doesn’t look to have any weaknesses in his game. And now he will have a more normal offseason under his belt to get better prepared for his second NFL season.
“My expectations are super high,” Prescott said of Lamb. “I’m so excited for CeeDee. So excited for just his growth from our five games together to just getting back out there in OTAs and throwing it to him and watching him get off the line, run routes, go up and get contested balls time and time again. It’s exciting. It’s exciting what he’s going to offer and it’s exciting what he brings to this whole receiving corps and this offense. He’s a special playmaker that we’re privileged to have and he’ll be big time and definitely have a breakout season.”
10. Lamb in the return game. He continued to get the type of work during OTAs and minicamp that would make you think he will remain the team’s primary punt returner. Lamb had 24 of the team’s 29 punt returns last season. Any reason for concern having one of your top offensive playmakers potentially in a position to increase his chances of getting injured?
“We made it clear when I hired John Fassel that special teams were going to be a priority here,” McCarthy said. “I don’t view players graduating from special teams. … You like to be able to see your players do more than one thing. It’s something that we talk about a lot in player acquisition. What are the two things he can do? Obviously, his offensive and defensive role, but what part of special teams can he contribute? And hey, you need more than one returner, too. We understand that. It’s a long season. It’s a longer season.
“I’ve gone through it before, Randall Cobb would probably be the last player that I went through it where he started out primarily as the returner and then as he grew and his numbers grew, you start looking at pitch count and things like that. I don’t see us there with CeeDee. But at the end of the day, we’ll have more than one returner.”
Wilson is expected to be the No. 2 punt returner. Pollard is expected to continue at the Cowboys’ primary kickoff returner.
11. Dan Quinn behind the scenes. Urban made it pretty clear that Quinn being the new defensive coordinator was one of the biggest reasons he signed with the Cowboys in March.
“He’s the man,” Urban said. “He’s a very high-energy guy, I guess you can put it. He’s just one of the guys as well. He’s a great players’ coach and he’s cool, man. He’s young, cool, he played D-line, so a lot of us D-linemen gravitate toward that. He’s just a fun guy to be around. He keeps it interesting. We’ll switch up meetings certain ways or he’ll let players lead stuff. He keeps things fresh, which allows us to have more fun with it than the daily grind that we often get used to.”
Urban said Quinn has already held a walk-through where the defensive coaches lined up on offense against the rookie defenders while the veteran defenders coached the rookies.
“We were kind of running things and making sure the rookies were doing it right,” Urban said. “And the coaches were selling out on their routes and catching balls against guys. It was a lot of fun.”
Cowboys special teams standout and defensive back C.J. Goodwin, who played for Quinn in Atlanta during the 2016 and 2017 seasons: “Dan Quinn is a fresh face to have around here, man. He’s such a great coach, X’s and O’s coach, and he’s such a players’ coach.”
12. Tyron Smith. The 11-year veteran smiled more during his 11-minute interview session this week than maybe all of his other interview sessions over the previous 10 years. It’s clear that Smith is feeling better after having neck surgery in October. So how much longer does he think he can play?
“For me, it’s always been till the wheels fall off, until I can’t no more,” Smith said. “I can’t give you a time estimate or anything like that, but I’m going to go as long as I can. Whether it’s 4-5 years or whatever.”
Smith particularly got a big laugh when asked about entering in his 11th season and being the veteran among the offensive line group at age 30.
“I can’t think too much about it,” he said. “You got to think as if you’re still a young guy. If the team thinks you’re an old guy, you’re going to be an old guy. I try to keep a young mentality. That’s why I come around laughing and joking. And it’s kind of that I don’t want to be thinking I’m old or almost done or anything like that.”
13. Rookie class. With the signings this week of Parsons and Joseph, the Cowboys now have eight of their 11 draft picks under contract. The three left to be signed are third-round picks DT Osa Odighizuwa, DE Chauncey Golston and CB Nahshon Wright. Nothing to be concerned about there. All are expected to be signed by the start of training camp.
The Cowboys didn’t have their entire class signed until July 25 last year.
14. The plan going forward. The Cowboys were originally scheduled to have three days of minicamp this week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), but Thursday’s final day was changed to a “group dynamic event.” It was a pretty good indicator on Wednesday when Biadasz was kicking field goals that it would be their final practice until training camp.
Speaking of training camp, the plan continues to be for the team to return to Oxnard, Calif., next month.
“I’m planning for Oxnard,” McCarthy said this week. “That is what the plan is. We’ve been meeting with the city officials. Everything is lined up. So I don’t have the official stamp to put on it. … I’m ready to go wherever the heck it is this year. We’re definitely planning to go to California.”
The veterans are officially done until training camp. The rookies will still be at The Star next week for a rookie school.
15. Why have rookie school? McCarthy said the idea came from his previous coaching experience working with quarterbacks. It gives the younger players the opportunity to ask questions that they might not want to ask in front of the entire team. He then shared a story of working with Matt Hasselbeck on something he didn’t understand early in his career while McCarthy was the Packers’ QB coach.
“We were going through this same type of setting,” McCarthy recalled, “and he goes, ‘Can you tell me what this two jet protection means? … I’m in a room with Brett Favre and Doug Pederson. I never wanted to ask, like, what does the two mean? What does the No. 3 mean? What’s the word, jet mean?’
“The point I’m making is it gives you that opportunity, whether it’s schematics, whether it’s mental conditioning, the emotional IQ enhancement that was an emphasis in some of our early meetings. It gives us a chance to go back to the rookies and say, ‘OK, let’s just talk this through.’
“As I’m sitting here, I know there will be some really good questions and dialogue next week with those rookies because it will give them a chance to just kind of go back and ask questions that maybe they wanted to ask earlier in this offseason program.”
