Rookie Caleb Downs dominates on the green while emerging as a defensive spark, as a depleted receiving corps and rotating backup quarterbacks define the latest action in Frisco.
FRISCO - Tuesday marked a Dallas Cowboys OTAs workout that allowed the media to watch practice here inside The Star … and we’ve collected some notes and quotes and observations from the day …
Fish’s Top 10 Takes on the Cowboys’ OTAs, which will lead to one more OTAs session next week before mandatory minicamp begins on June 16. …
1 - WHERE ARE THE WIDEOUTS? With CeeDee Lamb missing practice with an excused absence and with George Pickens not participating in voluntary OTAs - along with some slightly toned-down confidence regarding him showing up on June 16, I might add - the first-team receivers were Ryan Flournoy, KaVontae Turpin and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Flournoy continues to show why he figures as the runaway winner of the WR3 competition.
2 - GOLF DAY First-round pick Caleb Downs was recently invited into a Dak Prescott golf foursome.
And the rookie won?!
“I could talk about him all day,” Prescott said. “I got a chance to spend some time with him, golfed with him outside the facility. He’s wired the right way. I’m super-excited for him to be on that defense, to lead that defense.”
Yeah, yeah, but what about the golf?
Said Dak: “I was impressed there. He beat me.”
Added Downs: “I was out there to beat his (butt). … Yeah, it was a good game.”
What else can Downs do? On this day, he played around returning punts, on top of everything else.
3 - MORE MISSING The rest of the unavailable guys on Tuesday: DaRon Bland (foot), Donovan Ezeiruaku (personal), Jonathan Mingo (groin), Jalen Thompson (pec) and Matt Hennessy (neck surgery). … Oh, and maybe Javonte Williams (I’m checking on that one.)
Now, about Pickens …
“I’m thrilled when George comes walking through these doors, hopefully next week, and I expect to see him next week,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said about Pickens. “What he can do for this football team on the field is unmatched in a lot of regards. But I’m really excited to see the step he takes from a leadership and influence standpoint.”
Hmm. The insertion of the word “hopefully’‘ feels like a new and careful wrinkle.
4 BACK IN BUSINESS DeMarvion Overshown was back here inside The Star for OTAs after missing last week while getting married. … and in a warm note, it turns out that one of his wedding guests was Schottenheimer.
It’s being suggested, by the way, that maybe “Agent Zero’’ should end up wearing the “green dot’’ as the defensive organizer. I think he should be taking on responsibility in smaller bites … but I appreciate his ambition.
Said Overshown: “I got my wedding ring, now it’s time to get that Super Bowl ring. It’s ring season.”
5 - WHO’S QB2? We wondered going into this week if the fact that Joe Milton got QB2 work in the first OTAs meant anything significant, or …
“We’re rotating,’ clarified Schotty on Tuesday.
So …
This week Sam Howell will work as No. 2 QB at OTAs.
What we noticed? When it comes to the deep ball, Howell is just a guy … while “Bazooka Joe’’ was able to unleash a 50-yard bomb to a receiver even as the QB was rolling left.
This is the sort of stuff that forces a team to keep giving Milton a chance to win a job.
“It’s going to be a fun competition,’’ Schottenheimer said.
6 - COBIE’S CORNER Schottenheimer said positive things about new cornerback Cobie Durant in the media session before the workout … and then the Rams ex backed him up, with an interception of Dak Prescott in seven-on-seven work.
Durant - well-thought-of as a ballhawk - is getting work at corner and Nickel.
7 - D-LINE PENETRATION “It’s not real football.’’
Schotty said that a few times on Tuesday, meaning this is still just “The Underwear Olympics’’ (the phrase co-coined by Michael Irvin and yours truly 36 years ago).
But … You couldn’t help notice that interior lineman Kenny Clark was a load in working his way upfield to pressure the pocket.
Rashan Gary, Quinnen Williams and first-round pick Malachi Lawrence also recorded good days in the “sack” department.
8 - TANGLED UP IN BLUE I’ve made the point repeatedly: The Cowboys want Jaydon Blue to win the No. 2 running back job.
Still, obviously, he has to earn it. And on Tuesday? It looked like he mixed in with some first-team snaps.
Now, in fairness, so did Phil Mafah and Malik Davis (with Javonte Williams seemingly absent.)
But mark this down …
Schottenheimer said Blue is “night-and-day’’ from where he was a year ago, and it’s obvious the coach is talking about more than just the Longhorns ex’s physical work.
“Obviously you see (Blue’s) speed and explosiveness,” Schottenheimer said, adding that Blue is “football-brilliant. “He’s going to be a huge part of what we want to do, but he’s got to continue to do his part, which he’s doing great right now.”
9 TACKLE ON NOTICE Last week, the Cowboys announced that Tyler Guyton and Nate Thomas are engaged in a mano-a-mano battle to win the left tackle job. How is that playing out?
They’re taking weekly turns. … with Thomas this week spending all three days as the first-teamer. The idea remains to light a fire under the first-rounder Guyton.
The idea needs to work.
10 THE FINAL WORD It is part of new defensive coordinator Christian Parker’s plan: Be so multiple as to be unpredictable when it comes to what the offense thinks it sees,
How’s that going, Dak?
“They’ve already made it hard on me,’’ the QB said. “They’ve already made some of these practices very competitive. The trash-talking, the energy has been high. Iron sharpens iron already. I can tell you, it’s only going to get better, camp’s going to be fun and we’re going to make it tough on each other best we can.”
