There’s a growing sense from a large contingent of Cowboys Nation that the team desperately needs to bring in outside help at wide receiver, that last season’s top-ranked offense cannot possibly go into the 2022 season banking on its current stable of inexperienced pass-catchers to carry the load.
But the man dishing them the ball doesn’t seem worried at all.
“I do what I’m asked to do,” Dak Prescott told reporters after Thursday’s joint practice with the Chargers. “Being the quarterback of this team and any time you’re playing this position, you know your responsibilities: to get other guys to come with you, to get others guys to be locked in, be disciplined. There’s no difference whether the receiving corps is old or young: they look to me for answers; I look for them just to communicate and be on the same page. We’ll continue to do that and continue to grow.”
There’s plenty of growth happening in the Dallas WR room these days. CeeDee Lamb, the passing game’s primary weapon, has been sidelined the past two days with a cut on his foot. Michael Gallup and newly-signed James Washington, presumably the next two targets in the pecking order, are both rehabbing injuries; neither will be on the field for the start of the season.
That leaves seven other actual wide receivers on the roster. Six of them are in either their first or second year as a pro. Not a one has a single NFL reception on his resumé.
Only Noah Brown has actual receiving stats: 39 career catches in six years.
And he missed Thursday, too.
In other words, the door is wide open.
“Nothing but opportunity, honestly. And it was big for them,” Prescott said of his younger receivers. “I talked about it Monday, just them being able to step into an opportunity, make some plays, do something maybe that they haven’t done.”
Like snag a walk-off Hail Mary touchdown catch. Both Simi Fehoko and Dennis Houston were in the area when Prescott uncorked a bomb on the final snap of Thursday’s scrimmage.
Hail Mary, and Cowboys undrafted rookie WR Dennis Houston answers it to conclude final joint practice with Chargers. pic.twitter.com/dpk05SosfV
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) August 18, 2022
It was the sort of play that Prescott would like to have gotten off as time expired in January’s wild-card loss to San Francisco. Converting it now, seven months later in a practice session, doesn’t make last season’s disappointment easier to swallow, but it definitely offers a glimmer of hope moving forward.
“It was definitely good to end on that note: just being in that situation: end of game, having to go Hail Mary, with the clock running,” Prescott told media members in Costa Mesa. “The guys did a good job of protecting, giving me a lane, letting me buy some time. I jumped up in there, and I saw Simi and Dennis; I felt like they had a good shot at it. I put it up, and I feel like it was just them two fighting for it. I’m glad we came down with it.”
And just maybe, that one play makes it easier for the Cowboys to believe that they can get by without signing a free agent wide receiver in the three weeks leading up to the season opener.
Gallup ran routes and caught a few passes from Prescott after Thursday’s scrimmage, but he has said he won’t be ready for Week 1. Washington could miss the first month of action, if not more. The “clown stuff” that apparently led to Lamb getting stitches in his toe this week only highlighted how tenuous the situation is for Dallas at wide receiver.
But it also closely mimics a typical football season, where one moment can change everything and force an untested youngster into a starring role on the biggest of stages.
That’s a frustrating prospect for the average Cowboys fan who is sure he has a better grasp on how to spend the Joneses’ money than they do.
But, right or wrong, Prescott continues to simply work with what he’s got.
“I don’t necessarily get frustrated. That’s what this is about,” he concluded. “This is exactly about that time to work and make other guys step up, take advantage of their opportunity. Who knows- hopefully not, but there may be times that those [veteran] guys aren’t available, and we have to know what we’re working with. Those guys have to know what I expect from them, how they expect me to throw the ball. That’s all good things to be worked on.”
Prescott and his green receiving corps ended Thursday’s practice with a Hail Mary.
They may have to start the season with one, too.
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