The Cowboys rookie minicamp starts Friday, and they’ve signed their first rookie to a deal. Michigan tight end Luke Schoonmaker, who Dallas selected with the No. 58 pick, inked his four-year deal according to his agency, JL Sports.
Thanks to the rookie wage scale, which automates the majority of each rookie’s first contract, the expected value of Schoonmaker’s deal is already known. It should come in very close to $6.3 million in total value including a $1.55 million signing bonus.
Schoonmaker was a surprise selection to some, but it filled a position of need for the Cowboys who are banking on his upside. While his stats from 2022 don’t pop off the page with 418 yards and three touchdowns, his athleticism is what drew the Cowboys to him.
Luke Schoonmaker was drafted with pick 58 of round 2 in the 2023 draft class. He scored a 9.86 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 16 out of 1105 TE from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/Ml2B0eOGKSpic.twitter.com/ItzfUA2Sa2
With the trio of Jake Ferguson, Peyton Hendershot and Sean McKeon already on roster, Schoonmaker should fit right into the group with ease and provide another option for quarterback Dak Prescott. Ferguson and Hendershot are the same age as Schoonmaker at 24, emphasizing the youth that Dallas has at the position to build over the coming years.
For now, Schoonmaker’s true journey begins in a day at rookie minicamp, where he’ll learn the ropes at The Star and look to build the trust of the Cowboys coaches as he joins a competitive tight end room..
Five interesting things to know about TE Luke Musgrave, the Packers’ second-round pick in 2023.
The Green Bay Packers used the 42nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft on Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave, an athletic pass-catcher who hauled in 11 passes in just two games in 2022 before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Like he did at Oregon State, Musgrave will wear No. 88Â for the Packers. He will have a chance at being a rookie starter at tight end in Green Bay’s new-look offense in 2023.
Here are five interesting things to know about Musgrave, the Packers’ second-round pick:
From @ToddBrock24f7: One was a 4th-round pick; one wasn’t drafted at all. But both Viliami Fehoko and Durrell Johnson do one thing better than almost everybody.
Creating havoc up front is the name of the game for defensive linemen- blowing up the plans of the opposing offense and not just holding the line of scrimmage but pushing it backward.
The Cowboys were tied for third in the league last year with 93 tackles for loss, just four behind the top-ranked Eagles. But Dallas may make even further improvements in that particular category in 2023 if two members of the incoming rookie class stay on the trajectories that have brought them to the Cowboys.
Fourth-round pick Viliami Fehoko finished last season with 19 tackles for loss with San Jose State. That was the fifth-highest total in college football; more than Will Anderson Jr., more than Tyree Wilson, more than Calijah Kancey- all of whom were Top-20 selections in this year’s draft.
But the Cowboys believe the 23-year-old Fehoko is capable of performing well beyond his selection slot.
“We’ve got a definition that fits that fourth round,” Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay said over draft weekend. “It’s a guy that can come in and play and potentially start. And if they achieve that, then we’re hitting a home run. When you go in the first three rounds, people are looking for the prototype, but when the prototype runs out, you continue to go and look for football players that have the traits to play the position that you want them to play.”
And the Cowboys like what they saw in Fehoko’s play for the Spartans in the Mountain West Conference.
#Cowboys 4th round pick Viliami "Junior" Fehoko is a high effort dude, violent at P.O.A, can do some 2 gaping, played at 1, 3, 4i, and 9. kinda raw and inconsistent. Great traits to work with pic.twitter.com/aBkn3KsLZ1
“You look at his stats, you look at his production, you look at the tape,” McClay said of the East Palo Alto native. “He does some unique things in getting edges, winning, attacking the football when he goes after the quarterback. He’s got a mission when he gets off on the snap. He gets off on the ball, and he makes big plays.”
Sharrif Floyd, the Cowboys’ new assistant defensive line coach, predicts that Fehoko will step in and contribute immediately at defensive end, but he hinted that the team may have a bigger plan for him in the future.
“I think this guy can can easily get into our rotation this year,” Floyd told The Draft Show, “and then within the next year or so, I see him moving inside to be a true 3-tenchnique. He’s got the quickness and the get-off and the power to do so, so we’ll probably get a little more weight on him and let him play inside and be disruptive for us.”
Along with Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Sam Williams, and Osa Odighizuwa- all of whom registered double-digit TFLs last season, Fehoko will look to end up in the opposing backfield as often as possible.
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But they might all be able to pick up a thing or two from one of the Cowboys’ undrafted free agents.
Durrell Johnson went unselected over the draft’s seven rounds. But Dallas still managed to land the Liberty defensive end who led the entire FBS in 2022 in total tackles for loss. His 27.5 mark was 5.5 TFLs higher than the second-place guy, USC’s Tuli Tuipulotu, who played one more game than Johnson and was a Friday-night draft pick.
Durrell Johnson out of Liberty is PURE CHAOS … i got his film on a late night and was like WTF IS THIS?? him and Isiah Land is gonna be preseason favorites too watch pic.twitter.com/XY87MM0DSu
But Johnson’s not just a one-year wonder. He was Top-30 in the nation in 2020 in sacks and made the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik watchlists, before a knee a knee injury slowed his 2021 production and caused him to miss four games for the Flames.
Dane Brugler of The Athletic said the 250-pound Johnson “needs to continue getting stronger, but he has developmental traits in a 3-4 scheme with closing burst for a superpower.”
Sounds like he and Fehoko are custom-built for coaching up within the Dallas system as coordinator Dan Quinn continues to tinker with the Cowboys defense.
Add in fellow newcomers Mazi Smith and DeMarvion Overshown, continued excellence from Johnathan Hankins and Dorance Armstong and the veterans named above, and increased usage for youngsters Damone Clark and Jabril Cox, and it all points to the Dallas defense doubling down on their current standing as agents of chaos up front.
From @ToddBrock24f7: When a quad injury spoiled his pro day, the Southern Miss prospect put his talents on tape. The Cowboys fell in love with what they saw.
The Cowboys saw something in Eric Scott Jr., something that spurred them to trade up to the first selection of the sixth round on Saturday to make sure they got the Southern Mississippi cornerback.
Maybe it was his 6-foot size and his wingspan of over 80 inches. Or his nearly 40-inch vertical or his 11-foot-plus broad jump at the school’s pro day. Maybe it was his lights-out performance (five tackles, one pick-six) in an upset win over Tulane last September. Perhaps it was the way he impressed coaches and scouts at the Shrine Bowl, going up against Power Five receivers and shutting them down. By all accounts, his 30 visit to The Star certainly didn’t hurt.
Or maybe it was the video he posted to YouTube and then sent to Dan Quinn.
The 24-year-old corner is thankful for the opportunity Dallas has given him, even if he had to go to extreme measures to get it.
After a college career that took him from Illinois State to Butler Community College to Southern Miss, Scott wasn’t invited to either the Senior Bowl or the NFL scouting combine. Things had started to click for him with the Golden Eagles, but following his super-senior season in Hattiesburg, he wasn’t exactly a hot commodity in pre-draft rankings and projections. Dane Brugler of The Athletic spotlighted 46 college corners in his exhaustive draft guide with full-blown profiles; Scott came in 60th and got a one-line entry.
And then during his pro day, he pulled a quad muscle, spoiling his 40 time and taking him out of DB drills.
So after he recovered, he and his agent took matters into their own hands. They hired a videographer, hit Scott’s high school field in the Kansas City area for a full slate of defensive back workouts and drills, and put the video on YouTube.
They also sent it to Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn shortly before draft weekend.
Scott had gotten a good feeling about the Cowboys during his 30 visit, saying he had “fallen in love” as he toured the facility and met with coaches and staff.
“It was amazing. I was able to meet Mr. [Jerry] Jones and go all the way from the top to the bottom and learn about the culture that Dallas has, the one I’m about to buy into and contribute to. It was just all so surreal. I had ideas [about Dallas], but I never knew it’s as great as it is,” he told reporters during his introductory conference call.
“When I was out there for my visits, I was paying attention to how people interacted with each other and when I was at Dallas the interactions even just between the support staff and the coaches and the players, it’s all a family environment. Everybody loves everybody, and I want to be a part of that.”
Scott apparently made a similar impression on the coaching staff. Defensive backs coach Al Harris came away from that visit a big fan of the Kansas native.
“Everybody I talked to,” Harris said, “I’d tell them, ‘I want to coach this guy.'”
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There’s plenty to like, including that aforementioned height and massive wingspan. But Scott’s film also shows a very physical style of play to go along with ballhawking skills that call to mind a current Cowboys corner with a nose for the football.
“I’ve had coaches that coached me for a long time tell me,” Scott explained, “if the ball was in the air, it’s not a 50/50 ball, it’s our ball.”
That’s the same mentality that Trevon Diggs plays with, and when Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay saw Scott’s YouTube video, it confirmed for him what the scouting department already suspected: Scott might make an excellent complement to Diggs in the back end of the Dallas defense.
Now Scott will have a chance to actually learn behind Diggs, as well as five-time Pro Bowler Stephon Gilmore. Along with Jourdan Lewis, DaRon Bland, Nahshon Wright, and Kelvin Joseph, he’ll look to put those skills to work as part of a Cowboys secondary that’s tied for the league lead in interceptions over the past two seasons.
“You’ve been through the fire,” Quinn told Scott during the phone call to tell him he was about to be drafted, “and you’ve come out the other way as a strong, tough-ass competitor, man. We can’t wait to coach you, bro.”
And so the Cowboys didn’t wait to draft him, dealing a 2024 fifth-round pick to move to No. 178 to get him, possibly before one of the other teams he had visited- Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Minnesota, and New Orleans- did.
Now Scott plans on making that trade worthwhile for the Cowboys.
“I’m just extremely blessed to be in this position,” Scott told 105.3 The Fan shortly after talking with the war room. “I’ve got tears rolling down my face at the moment. I’m just thankful that God has even allowed me to make it this far.”
Just a little farther, and Eric Scott Jr. will have turned being a YouTube star into wearing the Cowboys star.
Breaking down what second-round pick Jayden Reed can do, where he needs work and what he brings to the Packers.
The Green Bay Packers entered the 2023 draft needing to add a dynamic receiver to their offense, and they may have accomplished the task with their second-round selection of Jayden Reed.
Reed’s college career began at Western Michigan, where he hauled in 56 receptions for 797 yards and 8 touchdowns as a true freshman. He then transferred a little over an hour away to Michigan State. Unfortunately, the NCAA’s transfer rules forced Reed to sit out a year, but he eventually picked up where he left off against tougher competition in the Big Ten. In three seasons with the Spartans, Reed finished with 147 catches for 2,069 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns.
Despite being undersized and falling below some of their athletic thresholds, Reed’s skill set and production were too impressive for the Packers to pass up.
After trading back twice in the second round, Green Bay took Reed with the 50th overall pick. Standing at 5-11 and 187 pounds, you would think he is an ideal fit for the Packers’ slot vacancy. However, the team’s Director of Player Personnel, Jon-Eric Sullivan, described a player who is much more versatile.
“He’s strong, and he’s fast,” Sullivan said following the selection. “To simplify it, he’s got exceptional strength for a smaller framed player, and he can run. He’s got good tempo, and the clock showed it. I believe we had him at 4.37. But more importantly, he plays fast. He’s got good tempo, and he’s quick. He can get in and out of breaks. Obviously, outside the numbers, the speed comes into play, but on the inside, he’s strong and can get in and out of breaks to create separation.”
Green Bay was much higher on Reed than the NFL Consensus Board, which ranked him 89th out of 587 players. Why? Sullivan’s explanation does offer some insight, but it would be much more telling to see it visually. So, we are doing a deep dive into Reed’s game by examining the tape. For this breakdown, we will be looking at film from four performances over the last two seasons:
2021 vs Michigan: 6 receptions, 80 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns
Reed was a standout in Mobile, while Musgrave returned from injury and was one of the fastest players on the field. Brooks said the Senior Bowl helped him, especially in terms of showing teams he can play inside.
Reed and Wicks were both voted the receivers of the week by defensive backs at the event.
Packers coaches Ryan Maffehy and Quinshon Odom were both coaches along the offensive line for the American team, although Green Bay did not select an offensive linemen in the 2023 draft.
Last year, the Packers selected five players from the event (Devonte Wyatt, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Kingsley Enagbare and Tariq Carpenter) and later signed Bo Melton.
Overall, the Packers have drafted or signed 33 players who participated in the Senior Bowl since Brian Gutekunst took over in 2018.
Teams that do better job evaluating WR position, like #Steelers & #49ers, will have MSU’s Jayden Reed higher than majority.
Getting mostly third round feedback on Reed but could see him sneaking into second.@JaydenReed5 will out-perform many WRs projected to go earlier as pro. pic.twitter.com/2Yio0HSfRm
Top size/speed combo at @seniorbowl? It was Oregon State TE Luke Musgrave, who had 16th fastest max speed (20.05 mph) of any player…AT 255 lbs! Next heaviest who ran faster was Cincy LB Ivan Pace Jr (20.58 at 231 lbs). Trusted sources think Musgrave could run 4.4 at Combine.👀 pic.twitter.com/qa3xtXm3WA
From @ToddBrock24f7: David Durden might have been a Top-100 pick out of a bigger school; the Cowboys hope The Athletic’s “Prospect X” will play like one anyway.
David Durden’s agent believes that if he’d played at an SEC school, he would have been a Top-100 draft pick.
But he didn’t. So he wasn’t.
The 24-year-old receiver from the University of West Florida had to wait until after Mr. Irrelevant got his moment of glory to become a Dallas Cowboy, when the team invited him to sign as an undrafted free agent.
Head coach Mike McCarthy himself made the sales pitch, a job normally handled by staffers.
“We’ve had a lot of love for this guy,” Cowboys director of college scouting Mitch LaPoint said, per The Athletic. “We’ve been on David for a long time.”
That the Cowboys knew who Durden was at all could be considered a mild surprise; just a few days before selections began in Kansas City, The Athletic named him “the most overlooked player in the draft.”
In an Apr. 25 piece, Kalyn Kahler painted a vivid 2,500-word picture of Durden without ever identifying him by name. It’s an annual exercise she undertakes- polling pro scouts, tracking pro day workouts, and crunching the tape of NFL hopefuls across the country- to find what she calls “the draft’s best-kept secret.”
The mysterious 6-foot-1-inch 204-pounder had an appropriately circuitous route to the Cowboys. The native of a Georgia town of fewer than 400 people played his college ball at tiny Mercer College before a coaching change led him to transfer down to the even lesser-known University of West Florida.
And all of that came after he spent 2017 in the Gulf Coast League, playing baseball for the Boston Red Sox farm team.
“Every time he hit a ball, he ran it out,” his manager said of Durden. “It doesn’t sound like it’s a big thing. But in the Gulf Coast rookie league where it’s 105 heat index every day, it’s like, pace yourself a little bit more.”
But he was bored by baseball. Football offered Durden a much faster-paced game. He was good enough- as a receiver, returner, and even a gunner on special teams- that his UWF coordinator was “scared to death” he would transfer for his senior year after getting calls from SEC schools.
Durden stayed put because he liked his small-school campus near the ocean. The first line written in his character report was: Likes to sit on the beach and drink beer.
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But despite noteworthy speed and size and three school football records set in two seasons of play, Durden was not invited to the scouting combine. He was on the Senior Bowl watchlist but didn’t get selected. He worked out on his own, believing he was good enough to go pro and trusting someone would notice.
NFL scouts agreed, with most seeming eager to keep their interest in Durden a secret. He had 22 teams at his pro day. He took meetings, had lunches and dinners, underwent physical exams, and visited three NFL cities. Several teams kept in touch. He got a pre-draft recruiting gift package from one club. The Titans called on Day 3 of the draft, hinting at using a late-round pick on him.
When McCarthy called Durden late on Saturday, he wasn’t the only head coach working the phones. Sean Payton called Durden, too. It was down to Dallas or Denver.
For the Cowboys, their seventh-round pick had come down to Durden or South Carolina’s Jalen Brooks. They felt Brooks had a higher likelihood of being drafted elsewhere; they hoped they could woo Durden after the fact with a priority free agent contract.
Dallas won Durden over; he thinks he has more of a chance to see the field.
“We gave David some good money,” LaPoint says. “But I think the pitch really was this guy’s ability to play inside and outside and then the return value and special teams value. You’re gonna have a chance to compete there.”
Dallas “came out of nowhere” to get him. There hadn’t been much pre-draft communication with Durden, though Cowboys assistant tight ends coach Chase Haslett had been a position coach at Mercer.
The Cowboys know a little about what they’re getting in the most overlooked player in the 2023 draft. Durden similarly knows little about the Cowboys. He doesn’t fancy himself an NFL fan, and he’d never even heard about the team’s massive complex at The Star in Frisco until after he’d agreed to sign.
And now it’s where he goes to work.
“I’ve never really needed a lot of motivation to want to play the game of football. But this just will make it that much more fun to go out there and prove it: ‘Hey, you didn’t pick me,'” Durden said. “I’m ready to run into somebody.”
From @ToddBrock24f7: Two new Cowboys will recycle their college numbers, while a RB settles for something new, given his preferred jersey’s history in Dallas.
Eight college prospects got to hear their name called as the newest members of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys, in turn, have issued them the numbers with which they’ll start their NFL journeys.
The team has announced jersey numbers for the incoming draft class. As always with a franchise as rich in history as Dallas, there are a few digit combinations that will catch the eye of longtime fans.
Jersey numbers can (and often) change once the roster is cut down at the end of training camp, meaning not all of these numbers will stick. But for now, here are the numbers the team’s eight draft selections will wear.
Mazi Smith, DT: 58
Luke Schoonmaker, TE: 86
DeMarvion Overshown, LB: 35
Viliami Fehoko, DE: 93
Asim Richards, OT: 76
Eric Scott Jr., CB: 37
Deuce Vaughn, RB: 42
Jalen Brooks, WR: 83
Perhaps the first number to attract attention is the one issued to Vaughn. The shifty running back wore No. 22 at Kansas State (double deuce; get it?), but he readily admitted in his first conference call with the Dallas media that the chances of him taking over Emmitt Smith’s jersey were non-existent.
“I know that No. 22 is 100 percent off the table,” Vaughn said Saturday after being taken in the sixth round, “so we’re going to have to go and make something shake. But regardless of what number I get, I’m super excited right now, so it doesn’t even really matter.”
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Smith’s No. 58 was worn by defensive tackle Austin Faoliu in camp last year, but he was waived in August and played most recently for the XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons. Prior to Faoliu, No. 58 belonged to Aldon Smith and Robert Quinn. Smith wore the same jersey number at Michigan.
Schoonmaker will also recycle his college digits in the pros. In Dallas, it will allow quarterback Dak Prescott to still look for No. 86- Dalton Schultz’s old number- on a regular basis. Other notable 86s for Dallas include Eric Bjornson, Butch Johnson, and current Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
Overshown’s No. 35 has been worn recently by Damontae Kazee and Kavon Frazier.
Fehoko takes over the No. 93 from Tarell Basham. Benson Mayowa, Anthony Spencer, and Peppi Zellner have worn it in the past.
The No. 76 jersey that now belongs to Richards has history on both sides of the ball. Flozell Adams famously wore it as a legendary Cowboys offensive lineman, but so did defensive players Larry Bethea and Greg Hardy.
Scott will wear No. 24, a jersey that belonged to both Trayvon Mullen and JaQuan Hardy recently as they tried to break into the Cowboys backfield.
Brooks will be the latest Dallas receiver to wear No. 83, like James Washington last year, and Terrance Williams, Terry Glenn, Kelvin Martin, and Golden Richards before him.
The Green Bay Packers selected Charlotte receiver Grant DuBose in the seventh round (No. 256 overall) of the 2023 NFL draft.
The Green Bay Packers selected Charlotte receiver Grant DuBose in the seventh round (No. 256 overall) of the 2023 NFL draft.
Height: 6-2 Weight: 201 Age: 21 From: Montgomery, AL
Breakdown:Â Well-built, smooth-moving receiver who caught 126 passes and 16 touchdowns over two seasons at Charlotte. Checks all the boxes for the Packers in terms of size, athleticism and collegiate production. Inspiring story to the NFL (DII, lost COVID season, try-out player at Charlotte). Senior Bowl participant. Long arms who makes plays away from his frame. Can return punts and cover punts on special teams. Likely X receiver in the NFL.
Brugler’s scouting report: “A two-year starter at Charlotte, DuBose was a perimeter receiver in former offensive coordinator Mark Carney’s balanced scheme. After his career was in limbo during the pandemic, he found a home in Charlotte and led the 49ers in receiving both of his seasons with the program (only the fourth player in school history to surpass 1,500 career receiving yards). DuBose owns a good-sized frame and plays even bigger with his natural ball skills and mid-air adjustments, regardless of the coverage. But even with hesitation routes or double moves, he will struggle to create early or vertical spacing against NFL-level cornerbacks. Overall, DuBose plays with the body fluidity and catch point talent that increase his chances of finding a permanent home in the NFL, although he has work to do to be considered more than just a jump-ball weapon or zone beater. He has rotational value as an NFL rookie.”
Zierlein’s scouting report: “Raw receiving prospect with just two years of major college experience under his belt. DuBose possesses NFL size with an expansive catch radius. He’s talented at winning fade routes and jump balls, but he struggles to win in the early stages of the route against press and tight man coverage. DuBose is still in the learning stages but already displays some route talent. A lack of separation quickness could make his battle for a roster spot more challenging.”
They said it: “I like Davante Adams, our 40 times our pretty similar. I’ve taken things from his game. I like the big guys, like A.J. Brown and DK (Metcalf).” – Grant Dubose
