Category: 2024 training camp

Prospect Next? David Durden is Cowboys dark horse at WR

David Durden is a WR prospect Cowboys fans shouldn’t sleep on in 2024, says @ReidDHanson

David Durden isn’t a name most casual fans are familiar. The West Florida receiver signed on with Dallas a year ago after going undrafted in the 2023 NFL draft.

At the time of the signing, the hype was real. Durden was known by many as “Prospect X” prior to the draft. Initially identified anonymously by Kalyn Kahler at The Athletic, Durden embodied the dark horse candidate as a draft prospect. He was Kahler’s most overlooked prospect of the 2023 class.

He wasn’t invited to the Senior Bowl or the combine in Indianapolis. Not surprisingly he went undrafted, adding validity to his “overlooked” label bestowed on him by The Athletic. Despite the lack of acclaim, he quietly possessed all the tools and traits of a legit NFL receiver. The 6-foot-1 204-pound WR had size and 4.4 speed on his side.

Furthering his cause was his ability to play all three WR spots and his impact on special teams. Versatility and special teams play are paramount for a bottom of the roster WR and somewhere Durden holds a clear advantage over his competition on the Cowboys roster.

An ACL injury suffered late in training camp ended his bid to make the roster as a rookie. It indefinitely paused the hype train he was leading in 2023 and forced him into the shadows as he worked on his recovery.

Slated to be a full participant in the 2024 training camp, the hype is building for the young Durden once again. The Cowboys have opportunities there for the taking this season. Michael Gallup is no longer on the roster and his replacement has yet to be determined. Former third-round draft pick Jalen Tolbert has the inside track, but the issue is far from settled.

Players like Jalen Brooks (2023 seventh-round pick) and Kavontae Turpin (Pro Bowl return man) are going to plead their case for the WR3 role while Jalen Moreno-Cropper (2023 UDFA) and Ryan Flournoy (2024 sixth-round pick) all seemingly have an inside track on deep roster spots. Climbing into a top-six role won’t be easy for Durden, but it’s far from being out of reach.

A case can be made Durden is both a safe pick and simultaneously a high-reward pick. His measurables sell his ceiling but his maturity, versatility and experience give him a relatively solid floor. Assuming he’s recovered from his offseason knee surgery, Durden should be the mix for Dallas’ WR competition. He’s a dark horse no one should sleep on because he has all the quality of an ideal bottom-of-the-roster WR prospect.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Report suggests Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb may holdout of training camp

From @ToddBrock24f7: 2023’s receptions leader “is expected to miss training camp if he doesn’t get a new deal.” It would be the latest frustration in Dallas.

It wasn’t a big deal when Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb missed the team’s voluntary workouts waiting for a contract extension. And even though it earned him a five-figure fine, it wasn’t necessarily a problem that he skipped minicamp earlier this month in protest.

But the Cowboys are set to reconvene in Oxnard, Calif. in under a month for the beginning of a training camp that looks to be massively important to the immediate future of the franchise, and reports suggest that without a new agreement in place, Lamb is prepared to stay away from that, too.

According to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, the 25-year-old who led the league in receptions last year and set a single-season club record for receiving yards “is expected to miss training camp if he doesn’t get a new deal.”

Lamb is currently slated to play on the fifth-year option that the Cowboys placed on him and would be due $17.99 million for the 2024 season. The Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, the Eagles’ A.J. Brown, the Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle have all signed huge contracts in the past two months, each of them worth over $28.25 million average annual value.

It appears that Lamb is tired of coming in at a discount, and therefore may not be coming in at all until it’s rectified.

Seven-time first-team All-Pro guard Zack Martin employed a similar approach last year, holding out of camp for roughly three weeks before the club granted him a raise that amounted to an extra $8 million over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Martin later admitted that the holdout impacted his readiness for the 2023 season opener and affected his play for much of the season.

If Lamb is absent from camp, soon-to-be-31-year-old Brandin Cooks would serve as the offense’s top receiving threat. Behind him is a collection of young and mostly inexperienced wide receivers who- combined- accounted for all of 40 catches last season.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

The Cowboys say they’re not worried about Lamb not being ready to line up and go. He’s been working out on his own, and quarterback Dak Prescott explained that the two would log some time together over the summer, as has become tradition for Prescott and his pass-catchers.

But in an offseason when there are so many concerning details for Cowboys fans to read into about how their team is handling its business and its superstar players, a training camp no-show from Lamb would only ratchet up the angst a few more clicks.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[mm-video type=video id=01j1czfqjhgj3qgew5yy playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01j1czfqjhgj3qgew5yy/01j1czfqjhgj3qgew5yy-22a3341492c66419ea2068f52da9cfd6.jpg]

[lawrence-newsletter]

‘Didn’t work as hard as I could’: Cowboys LB Willie Harvey Jr. plans to capitalize on second NFL chance

From @ToddBrock24f7: Harvey admits he didn’t work as hard he could have during his 3 years with the Browns. He used 2 UFL seasons to get another shot.

UFL executive vice president of operations Daryl Johnston calls the organization “the league of opportunity,”

After a three-year stint with the Cleveland Browns ended , in August of 2022new Dallas linebacker Willie Harvey Jr. had to wonder if he had squandered his opportunity.

But after recommitting himself to two seasons of spring ball, Harvey has gotten a rare second chance at making his NFL dreams come true.

“I’m honest with myself,” the 28-year-old said. “I knew I probably didn’t work as hard as I should have and put in the work. So getting a chance in the spring league, I was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got another chance to perfect my craft and be a better linebacker, get smarter, get faster, get stronger. That’s kind of what I did my first year and I felt like it wasn’t enough, so I came back again and did it again.”

Harvey was drafted by the St. Louis Battlehawks (then of the XFL) in late 2022 and retained for the team when they migrated to the new merged league. This spring, his efforts landed him on the All-UFL team.

Johnston, the former Cowboys fullback, was among his biggest fans and says he could see the former Iowa State Cyclone deserved another chance at the NFL.

“He kind of jumps out to you,” Johnston said. “You think he’s undersized until you see him play. He was great in our league.”

Now the 5-foot-11-inch Harvey will have the chance to be great in the NFL, but he’ll have to complete the same long gauntlet of spring-to-summer-to-fall back-to-back football seasons that fellow Cowboys KaVontae Turpin and Brandon Aubrey endured in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

If Harvey is worried about the physical toll, he’s not letting on to his new squad.

“I’m slowly working myself back into the working out phase and the running phase,” he said in a recent interview on 105.3 The Fan. “But I’ll be fine; I’ve done this before. I’m a year-round guy.”

If Harvey will be coming into training camp hot after a 7-3 season that saw the BattleHawks suffer a crushing upset in the conference finals, maybe the extended warmup will help him compete in Oxnard with the likes of Cowboys defensive standouts Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, and All-Pro linebacker Eric Kendricks.

“They’ve got a lot of good guys, and they let them thrive,” he said of his new defensive teammates in Dallas. “That’s something I want to be a part of.”

The fact that they’ll all be starting from square one in a new defensive scheme under first-year coordinator Mike Zimmer will perhaps help. Harvey likens the system- at least as he understands it thus far- to what he ran in St. Louis under Donnie Abraham.

“It’s like a linebacker-driven defense,” he explained, “keeping the linebackers free, letting them be athletes and make plays.”

Harvey led the entire UFL in tackles and set the pace for linebackers with the most tackles for loss, passes defended, and forced fumbles.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

Linebacker play will be key to the Cowboys’ goal of stopping the run, something they struggled to do throughout the 2023 season. The defensive letdowns against Arizona, San Francisco, Buffalo, and Green Bay- all embarrassing losses- were compounded by personnel issues, with coordinator Dan Quinn opting to plug safeties into traditional linebacker slots and hoping they’d hold their own.

They largely did not, helping contribute to a growing notion held by many around the league that linebackers, like running backs on offense, simply don’t matter in today’s game the way they once did.

Don’t tell that to Harvey.

“We’re a very grimy, hard-nosed group of guys who really don’t get the respect we deserve,” he opined. “We play all special teams, we command the whole entire defense. I think that’s important. When you take us out of the picture, it can get a little cloudy.”

It got downright dark and stormy when the Cowboys’ de facto linebackers fell apart last year.

Harvey plans to help sweep those clouds over Dallas away and make the absolute most of his second chance in the NFL.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[mm-video type=video id=01j1arfzyp52xrrv2y0h playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01j1arfzyp52xrrv2y0h/01j1arfzyp52xrrv2y0h-67dccbfc3499753f6fff3749edbb8281.jpg]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Cowboys announce full schedule for Oxnard; 16 practices open to public

From @ToddBrock24f7: The team will return to Oxnard this summer for the 18th time and stay longer than usual, giving fans plenty of opportunities to see them.

The Cowboys are set for their longest Oxnard stay yet, and now fans know when they’ll be able to pay a visit and sit in on practice.

The team has released its full training camp schedule, offering well over a dozen open practice sessions at the River Ridge Playing Fields. Attending training camp practice is free but can reach capacity quickly each day, and there is a cash fee for parking.

This year, the Cowboys’ California stay will include a scrimmage against the visiting Rams and two preseason games- one at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and one at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

As is tradition, the Cowboys will hold the final leg of training camp back home in Frisco. Those dates and practice times have yet to be announced.

Here are the dates and times for all planed events during the Oxnard stay. Note that all times are local Pacific Time.

Tuesday, July 23 Players arrive
Thursday, July 25 Open practice 11:30 a.m.
Friday, July 26 Open practice 11:30 a.m.
Oxnard Fan Night 4 p.m.
Saturday, July 27 Opening Ceremony 10 a.m.
Open practice 10:30 a.m.
Sunday, July 28 Open practice 11:30 a.m.
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Dance Clinic 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, July 30 Open practice 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, July 31 Heroes Appreciation Day (open practice) 11 a.m.
Friday, Aug. 2 Open practice 11 a.m.
Saturday, Aug. 3 Open practice 11 a.m.
Monday, Aug. 5 Open practice 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 6 Open practice 11 a.m.
Thursday, Aug. 8 Scrimmage vs. Los Angeles Rams 2 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 9 Open practice 11 a.m.
Sunday, Aug. 11 Game 1 at Los Angeles Rams 1:25 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 13 Open practice 11 a.m.
Thursday, Aug. 15 Open practice 11 a.m.
Saturday, Aug. 17 Game 2 at Las Vegas Raiders 7 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 19 Open practice 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 20 Open practice 11 a.m.
Friday, Aug. 21 Open practice 11 a.m.
Team departs

This will mark the Cowboys’ 65th summer training camp and the 45th year it has been held in Southern California. This will be the 18th year in Oxnard.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[mm-video type=video id=01j1an2srge086czy8m2 playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01j1an2srge086czy8m2/01j1an2srge086czy8m2-fe042bb24c0919e0a8c06c8cf33d733a.jpg]

[lawrence-newsletter]