FRISCO, TX – The Dallas Cowboys kicked off OTA’s on Wednesday morning at the Star. We got to see a lot of action out on the field today from the rookies and the vets. It’s the first time the rookies had the opportunity to see the field with the vets since being drafted.
It’s standard for Dallas to ease the rookies into play with the vets. McCarthy doesn’t like to push the rookies too hard in efforts to avoid early injuries. With that, Jalen Tolbert, the rookie wide receiver, worked on the side today with trainers. Tyler Smith also worked with the second team at left guard behind Connor McGovern.
There were a couple players out today with injuries at wide receiver. James Washington was at OTA’s but he was on the sidelines. He was in a walking boot and was not participating. Michael Gallup is also currently unavailable as he is recovering from a torn ACL. With Gallup, Washington, and Tolbert not taking reps, that led to a lot of the workload left to Noah Brown and Ceedee Lamb.
Lamb is facing a lot of pressure to produce this year as Gallup’s return date is still up in the air. When asked after OTA’s in the locker room if he was ready to become the Cowboy’s no.1 receiver he said, “I’ve been ready. That’s just me and my competitiveness. That’s in my nature. I’m always ready for my name to be called.”
Dak Prescott told us today that he moved Lamb’s locker next to his in the off season. He said, “He’s the guy. Hopefully he’s my receiver until I’m done playing. Just being able to bring him closer for more conversations and to just communicate.”
Prescott also told us that this is the healthiest that he has been in a long time. He told us that it feels great.
There was speculation that Tony Pollard would be moved around a little bit with the lack of wide receivers that the Cowboy’s currently have. That looks to be true from what we saw at OTA’s today. Pollard was on the field with Ezekiel Elliott and lined up at the slot position.
Some players that we did not see out there today was Tyron Smith. He was experiencing lower back tightness and did not participate in today’s OTA.
Linebacker Devante Bond participated in OTA’s today but left midway through with an apparent knee injury. The severity of the injury has not yet been announced.
We also had the opportunity to talk to Dalton Schultz in the locker room. He told us, “I think that in order to succeed in this league you have to have that work ethic. In the off season go back and correct those things. One of those things is the weight room. I’ve been a gym rat this entire off season. So I’m excited about the progress that hopefully you will see at training camp.”
OTA’s will continue for the next three weeks before they go into mini camp.
