FRISCO, TX – The Dallas Cowboys kicked off rookie mini camp on Friday morning and there were a lot of new faces as well as some vets that we have seen in previous years.
Camp featured the nine new draft picks that the Dallas Cowboys drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft along with 20 undrafted rookies and six rookies that were there on “tryout” basis. The faces that we have seen before were the seven practice squad players that have never played in a regular season game. Those guys were Alarcon (OG), Coyle (S), Faoliun (DE), Jones(C), Nagger(Kicker), Vasher and Smith (WR’s).
Two of the six tryouts were quarterbacks Nick Starkel and Terry Wilson. Starkel had a six year college career. He started off at Texas A&M then went to Arkansas before finishing his career at San Jose State. He played his final two years at San Jose State where he had 3,819 passing yards and 26 touchdown’s in 15 games.
Wilson played the majority of his career at Kentucky before finishing at New Mexico. Wilson had great ability to pass the ball as well as run the ball. He finished at Kentucky with 3,436 passing yards and 1,015 rushing yards. He Played six games for New Mexico where he had 1,058 passing yards.
A lot of attention today was obviously on first round draft pick Tyler Smith. Offensive Line Coach Joe Philbin told us today that it’s still very early but due to Smith playing left tackle in college he will play both left tackle and left guard for the Cowboys. At this time they are critiquing a few things in his game to make him more effective at left guard. This will be a change for Smith from going to one position in college to multiple in the NFL.
Philbin said, “The biggest change for the guys from college to the NFL is the pace of the game. The NFL plays at a way faster pace and the guys will have to get used to that.”
Tyler Smith told us after mini camp today that he’s super excited for next week. OTA’s start next week and he will have the opportunity to hit the field with the vets. He told us he’s excited to get to be able to play with them and that he’s ready to go.
Another player that was on the radar today was the third round pick in the NFL Draft Jalen Tolbert the wide receiver. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore told us after today’s mini camp that they plan on having Tolbert try out multiple positions. It’s still very early to determine but they are going to try him out at different spots to see what fits well.
Tolbert told us in the locker room, “I’m ready and willing to play any position.”
After camp was over for the day we had the opportunity to speak with Head Coach Mike McCarthy and he said, ” This group is clearly significantly further than the last two classes.”
McCarthy told us that the last two classes had a different experience due to everything being virtual due to COVID-19 protocols. Most of the last two classes athletes didn’t get to see the actual field until practice kicked off weeks prior to the season starting. This new class has all the luxuries that players had previous to COVID-19.
McCarthy said that the first half of the day is mini camp and the second half of the day is for transitioning. The players get to learn how it is to be a Dallas Cowboy. They learn where they are living, their transportation, their bank accounts. Everything is set up for them so they can have a smooth transition.
McCarthy said there are a lot of players who are excited, nervous and anxious for the big transition and they try to make it as easy as possible for them.
Back in the day McCarthy said they used to go hard for rookie mini camp so they could get a feel for the players. The issue with that is the rookies would then go into OTA’s which was a week later and by the end of the week there would be concern of injury due to the rookies running their body’s down. McCarthy has since then changed his approach to have a lighter workout during rookie mini camp to avoid injury.
Rookie mini camp will continue for the next two days and then the Cowboys will start OTA’s on May 24-25. June 1-2, and June 9-10.
