Two Cowboys WRs are among many who have done all they could do in training camp and preseason; now they wait to see if it was enough. | From @ToddBrock24f7
And now, the wait.
With training camp and the preseason schedule behind them, the Cowboys coaching staff embarks on two days of long meetings and difficult decisions about who they’ll take with them into the regular season. Some players will launch or extend their dream of an NFL career. Some players will miss the 53-man roster but find a spot on the practice squad, where they’ll keep one foot in the door. For some, Tuesday’s cuts will be the end of the road.
Wide receivers Malik Turner and Simi Fehoko are two of the Cowboys who don’t yet know where they’ll land. Both played well during camp, but both find themselves trying to break in to a position group already bursting with talent. Four-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper is a lock, as are second-year phenom CeeDee Lamb and still-rising star Michael Gallup. Cedrick Wilson and Noah Brown are proven Dallas veterans. There’s no guarantee the Cowboys will even take a sixth receiver into the season.
For players like Fehoko and Turner, Monday and Tuesday could prove to be the longest wait of their lives.
Fehoko is 23 years old, but it’s his first time with this unique brand of football uncertainty. A four-star recruit coming out of high school who went on to become one of the leading receivers in the history of Stanford’s storied program, the 6-foot-3-inch rookie has never experienced the possibility of not making a football team.
A fifth-round pick by the Cowboys in the spring, Fehoko finds himself on the proverbial bubble. So while the rest of the world viewed Sunday’s preseason finale against Jacksonville as a meaningless exhibition, for Fehoko, it was his last best chance to make an impression.
“For me, I try to make the best out of every opportunity that I get, and today was one of those days where I could just give everything I had,” the Utah native said after the loss. “I felt like I gave my 100 every single time, every time I was out there. The opportunities that I did get, I feel like I made the most of them.”
Fehoko caught just nine balls over the course of four preseason games. He was targeted four times on Sunday, logging three receptions for 21 yards. In-game opportunities are exceedingly rare; Fehoko knows his next chapter will likely be decided by something else. It’s how he looked in every practice, how hard he competed on every snap, how well he did all the unglamorous jobs he was asked to do.
“I had a couple more targets than I normally get, so for me, that’s huge as a receiver. Also, I got to play a little bit more on special teams, and that was awesome as well. Again, made the most of it.”
Turner, an undrafted free agent who’s on his third team and entering his fourth year in the league, knows that all too well. At this level, making it as a wide receiver often means fewer go routes and more grunt work.
“In college, you never expect to play special teams,” the Illinois product said Sunday. “But I kind of learned that if you’re on the bubble, this is what you’ve got to do.”
Turner caught his lone touchdown pass as a pro in 2019 when he started three games for the Seahawks at wide receiver. He was signed by Dallas last season and played in six contests, all on special teams. He snared three balls on Sunday out of five targets, giving him a total of ten catches on the 2021 preseason.
Like every other player on the bubble, he has no way of knowing if it was enough to earn a roster spot.
“I feel like if you ask any football player, they’re going to tell you no. There’s always more to be done,” Turner admitted. “But all I can say is I did the best I could do today and this entire training camp. Hopefully, in the eyes of the staff, it was enough for them.”
So for now, Fehoko and Smith wait, along with Brandon Smith, Aaron Parker, Osirus Mitchell, Johnnie Dixon, T.J. Vasher, and Stephen Guidry. Those wide receivers- and many other Cowboys players across nearly every position group- will learn their football fate by Tuesday afternoon.
“You never know what can happen,” Turner explained. “I’ve been in this situation a couple times. You don’t get too high, [or] too low. Whatever happens happens.”
Such is life on the NFL bubble.
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