Randy Gregory has his best practice so far as Dak Prescott works on chemistry with his new receivers
By Calvin Watkins Aug 16, 2018 1
OXNARD, Calif. — Wednesday afternoon was the day defensive end Randy Gregory emerged and center Travis Frederick went to see the doctor. We also might be getting a clearer understanding of the defensive linemen who could make the 53-man roster.
The Cowboys held their 15th training camp practice of the summer, the 12th in pads, and we have our last practice report before the team breaks camp Friday morning.
1. Gregory emerged with his best effort in practice this summer with a pair of sacks and a crushing move against an offensive lineman in a pass rush/compete drill. From the moment Gregory was reinstated by the NFL after violating the substance abuse policy, the Cowboys have brought him along slowly. He got limited reps with the third team and he did individual drills with defensive line coach Leon Lett.
Gregory got work with the first team, lining up at right defensive end, recording a blindside sack on Dak Prescott by beating La’el Collins, in at left tackle for Tyron Smith. One play later, Gregory had another sack, forcing Prescott to scoot out of the pocket. After the play was over, Gregory ran toward the sideline and raised two fingers in the air.
Before his two sacks, in an extensive pass rush/compete drill, Gregory faced third-team tackle Jacob Campos. No contest. None. Gregory charged him with a bull rush, knocking Campos onto his back for the sack. Gregory also beat tackle Cameron Fleming in the drill.
This is the Gregory the Cowboys will be looking for once the regular season starts Sept. 9 at Carolina.
Gregory isn’t expected to play in Saturday’s second preseason game against the Bengals, but if he continues at his current pace, he should get some reps in the third preseason game Aug. 26 against the Cardinals.
2. Frederick, the starting center, missed Wednesday’s practice because he was getting his neck and shoulder checked out by Dr. Robert Watkins in the Los Angeles area. Frederick, who’s had some stingers, said he’s fine and that he’ll be off for a few days. An MRI confirmed the nerve irritation and no one involved believes the injury to be serious.
Frederick, who has never missed a game as he enters his sixth NFL season, just wanted Dr. Watkins, an expert on these issues, to check out his MRI results.
“It’s good, my coach said I just caught a couple stingers the last couple of days,” he said. “It’s something when you’re working with your neck. It’s something you want to be careful of. I want it to be there was nothing else involved with it so I went to a specialist down in LA, one of the top guys, and he assured me it’s stingers.”
Joe Looney replaced Frederick on the first team and Dustin Stanton moved to the third team.
3. One of Prescott’s biggest goals for this camp was building chemistry with a new receiving corps. Last season, Prescott completed 308 passes to 13 different players. As he enters a new season, seven of those players are gone, including Dez Bryant and Jason Witten, who combined for 169 catches.
Prescott has to break in five new receivers.
Of the returning receivers, only Terrance Williams (53 catches) and Cole Beasley (36) provide some comfortability with Prescott. Williams, however, missed a majority of the offseason workouts recovering from a broken toe. When he practiced in the first two weeks of camp it was mainly with the second team as the Cowboys brought him along slowly.
And with this team entering the late stages of training camp, Prescott says the chemistry is progressing.
“We really click. We’re starting to get it,” Prescott said. “As I said, when we have the changeover that we had and had a lot of new guys come in at receiver and play different positions. With a bunch of different guys, each of which has something different to offer to our receiving corps, it’s all been good. We’re starting to click, starting to hit the deep ball a lot more in some of these last practices than we did early on. But we knew that would be part of it, working out the kinks. We’re all getting comfortable with each other. It’s fun to do it.”
Prescott spoke glowingly of Tavon Austin, who is being asked to play more on the outside. Austin’s speed and quickness allow the Cowboys to place him in different spots in the formation, creating matchup issues. The Cowboys have used Austin and Beasley in bunch formations with a big receiver, or split one wide and put the other in the slot.
“I’d say Tavon for the simple fact, in the other place he was (Rams), I didn’t know he was as good of a receiver as he was and could run routes as well as he does, and catch the ball every single time,” Prescott said. “For me, from that standpoint, he’s not just a gadget guy. … He’s a guy you can put out there, inside, outside and trust he’s going to get open.”
4. The Cowboys’ defensive line starters are developing. Defensive tackle Maliek Collins, who missed the start of training camp recovering from foot surgery, got some reps with the first-team defense during the Wednesday walkthrough. Collins was lined up at the three-technique spot, and Antwaun Woods to zero-technique with the first team. The Cowboys like Woods’ physicality. Jason Garrett said he “jumps out the tape.”
The first-team ends remain DeMarcus Lawrence (left) and Tyrone Crawford (right). The Cowboys moved defensive end Dorance Armstrong to the left side and had Taco Charlton on the right side with a mixture of first-team players such as Sean Lee and Jaylon Smith.
The emergence of Armstrong and Woods is forcing the Cowboys to possibly move away from ends Kony Ealy and Charles Tapper. Ealy signed with the Cowboys as a free agent with a $200,000 signing bonus and a $100,000 roster bonus. He’s scheduled to make a base salary of $800,000.
Tapper, a 2014 fourth-round pick, is signed through 2019. Cutting either or both players won’t hurt the team cap-wise. If anything, it would reward other players who have stepped up.
Armstrong, a fourth-round pick from Kansas, displayed some skills during pass rush/compete drills. In three attempts, he beat Tyron Smith once, and even tried a spin move against the talented left tackle but couldn’t get a sack. But Armstrong showed some finesse and power during his three attempts against Smith. Most defensive ends beating perhaps the league’s best left tackle one out every three snaps would be very pleased with the outcome.
The Cowboys could have 10 defensive linemen on the roster and that doesn’t include David Irving, who is serving a four-game suspension (substance-abuse policy). Defensive tackles Datone Jones and Jihad Ward were getting first-team reps during camp. Barring a sudden decline in play Saturday, both should make the team.
5. The Cowboys got a scare during the middle of practice when first-round pick Leighton Vander Esch suffered a minor groin injury diving for a pass near the sideline. Vander Esch took his time getting up before he left the practice field.
Before Vander Esch went down, Austin slowed up with tightness in his hamstring. It was so concerning that Austin stopped and talked to Jerry Jones before leaving the field. Team officials, like with Vander Esch, don’t believe the injury to be serious.
Beasley said he expects to be out another week with a sore groin. He said he would like to play in the third preseason game.
Safety Jeff Heath was limited in practice with a left ankle sprain.
6. Sean Lee used to have one-on-one battles with former running back DeMarco Murray. The two would bump heads in practices. Now Lee has turned his attention to Ezekiel Elliott. When Elliott gets the ball, Lee is somewhere near to either knock him down or try to strip him. In red-zone drills, Lee lines up opposite of Elliott and sometimes the linebacker is put on skates by a juke move. After one run play where Elliott picked up a good chunk of yards, Lee came up from behind and knocked him down trying to take the ball away. While Elliott isn’t playing in the first two preseason games, he’s getting a bit of contact in practices.
7. The Cowboys might keep six or seven wide receivers. If they keep seven, Lance Lenoir Jr. might be that guy, but he did muff a punt return Wednesday. Lenoir runs good routes, but consistency is the key with him. Fellow receivers Noah Brown and Deonte Thompson are on the bubble as they’re trying to overcome injuries. The Cowboys might cut Brown, a 2017 seventh-round selection, and see if he slips him through waivers so they can sign him to the practice squad. Time is running out on Brown and Thompson to make this squad with two weeks of practices left before the Sept. 1 cuts.
If you have any doubts about rookie receiver Michael Gallup, look no further than the deep pass he caught down the sideline from Cooper Rush for a touchdown. Gallup looks smooth running routes and is improving as a route-runner.
