Tag: 2024 training camp

NFL Roster Cuts: Cowboys nix promising WR, 3 former draft picks in first wave

From @ToddBrock24f7: Tyron Billy-Johnson, Eric Scott Jr., and Viliami Fehoko were among the 15 players trimmed from the Cowboys roster on Monday.

NFL teams aren’t required to have their rosters down to 53 players until Tuesday afternoon, but the Cowboys are among the clubs getting a head start on the trimming process.

Fifteen hopefuls were cut by the Cowboys on Monday, including a few who had shown flashes of strong play during training camp and the preseason.

The following players- each of whom has fewer than four NFL seasons accrued- have been waived. Any of the other 31 teams may make a claim on any of them. Players who go unclaimed after 24 hours become free agents and are eligible to be signed by Dallas again, perhaps as members of the 17-man practice squad.

  • WR Deontay Burnett
  • OL Cohl Cabral
  • DB Josh DeBerry
  • LB Willie Harvey Jr.
  • TE Alec Holler
  • WR Cam Johnson
  • LB Jason Johnson
  • RB Nathaniel Peat
  • DB Eric Scott Jr.

Perhaps the biggest surprise on this list is Scott, who was a sixth-round draft pick by the club last season. The club traded a fifth-round selection in the 2024 draft to acquire him out of Southern Mississippi last spring. He did not see the field as a rookie.

Harvey and Burnett were UFL pickups, each of whom made a handful of notable plays in the preseason.

Three players were waived with an injury designation. These individuals can still be picked up by another team, but if they go unclaimed, they technically revert back to the Cowboys on injured reserve. The player then either remains with the team or is released with an injury settlement.

  • WR David Durden
  • DE Viliami Fehoko
  • DE Durrell Johnson

Fehoko was a fourth-round pick last year but did not play as a rookie. David Durden was notably featured as 2023’s “Prospect X,” labeled by The Athletic as the most overlooked player in his draft class.

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Additionally, three players had their contracts terminated outright. Because they each have more than four NFL seasons accrued, these players were released rather than waived. As “vested veterans,” they become free agents immediately and can bypass the waiver wire to sign with any interested team.

  • DT Albert Huggins
  • WR Tyron Billy-Johnson
  • LB Damien Wilson

The speedy Billy-Johnson was frequently mentioned by Cowboys coaches and teammates as a solid contributor, both as a pass-catcher and on special teams. Wilson was originally a fourth-round draft pick by the Cowboys in 2015. He returned to Dallas in 2023 after two Super Bowl appearances (including one win) with the Chiefs and short stints with both Jacksonville and Carolina.

More roster moves will be coming in order to get the Cowboys’ regular-season roster down to 53 names by 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday.

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Report: Multiple Cowboys players displaced by Tuesday’s training camp fire

From @ToddBrock24f7: The fire was put out quickly and without injury, but “a couple” of players reportedly had to change rooms for the final two nights of camp.

In all of Mike McCarthy’s training camps, he said, he’d never seen anything quite like this.

Sixteen fire trucks and 35 firefighters responded to a fire Tuesday afternoon in one of the guest rooms at the River Ridge Residence Inn, where the Cowboys train during their annual summer stay. The team was conducting a walkthrough several hundred yards away at the time of the incident.

“When you think you’ve seen it all…” Coach McCarthy commented to reporters Wednesday. “Sometimes things like this happen; thankful no one was hurt,”

The room in question was thankfully empty, and the fire was put out quickly.

“The Oxnard Fire Department was outstanding,” McCarthy said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, and although the team’s practice schedule was not affected, ESPN’s Todd Archer is reporting that a couple of Cowboys players had to move to new rooms for the final two nights of camp.

“It was a very unfortunate situation,” McCarthy continued. “No one was injured, but it’s definitely something we can learn from.”

It’s not known which players were displaced or whether any of their personal items were lost or damaged.

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“Fire, it’s scary, the damage it can do and has done. Some individuals have been affected by it, no doubt about it.”

McCarthy did not go into any further detail about the incident, but he did suggest that team staffers were among the first to respond, even using fire extinguishers, presumably before firefighters arrived on the scene.

“Thankful that we had people that jumped right in there and were on top of it,” he said.

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Cowboys waive former 4th-round defensive back

From @ToddBrock24f7: Sheldrick Redwine had been dealing with a hamstring injury in camp as he tried to separate himself from a group of talented safeties.

The crowded Cowboys defensive secondary has been thinned by one.

The team waived safety Sheldrick Redwine on Tuesday, as first reported by Nicole Hutchison of dallascowboys.com. The Cowboys confirmed the move Tuesday afternoon.

The 27-year-old is a former fourth-round draft pick, taken by Cleveland in 2019 out of Miami. After two seasons with the Browns, Redwine bounced around from the Jets to the Panthers to the Dolphins and finally the Colts before signing with Dallas in January 2023.

In that time, the 6-foot safety saw action in 36 games (playoffs included), recording one interception and 77 tackles. His only appearance for the Cowboys came on Thanksgiving Day last season, during a 45-10 blowout win over Washington.

Per Nick Harris of the team website, Redwine “had been battling a hamstring injury” during this summer’s training camp. He signed a futures contract with the club back in January, but was unable to carve out a role in a position group that includes Malik Hooker, Donovan Wilson, Markquese Bell, Juanyeh Thomas, Israel Mukuamu, Julius Wood, and Emany Johnson.

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All clubs must get their 90-man rosters down to 53 by the end of business next Tuesday, Aug. 27. The latest roster projections from Cowboys Wire forecast four safeties making the final team, with one more being signed to the practice squad. Redwine was not on that list.

The Cowboys will return to Frisco this week after a long stay in Oxnard, Calif. and play their final preseason game this Saturday at AT&T Stadium against the visiting Chargers before concluding training camp.

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McCarthy: Ryan Flournoy ‘gets better with every opportunity’ as Cowboys WRs battle for roster spots

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys HC talked about several of the 13 wide receivers who have two more practices in Oxnard and a preseason game to land a locker.

For the 13 men vying for a spot in the Cowboys’ wide receivers room this season, the chances to make a good final impression are dwindling fast.

The team will have two more padded practices and then a walkthrough before leaving Oxnard. Then it’s back to The Star to prepare for the preseason finale on Saturday. And by the end of business next Tuesday, roster cuts will have been made and several of the hopefuls will be looking for new jobs.

Only three receivers would seem to be bona fide locks to make the squad, but head coach Mike McCarthy may have dropped some hints about the remaining frontrunners in his latest press conference.

Nothing has changed with CeeDee Lamb, of course. He is still absent from training camp as he awaits a lucrative contract extension. And while he has yet to officially work with the team this offseason, he is a regular topic of conversation as the Dallas coaches redistribute his lost reps.

“You have to have a plan,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday morning. “It’s something that we reconvene [about] every single night- for us as a staff, and more so myself and the coordinators- and we have a plan to work each and every day, and we make those adjustments accordingly. And when CeeDee does come back, we’ll adjust and make sure that we’re ready to go, but right now we’re preparing the other guys.”

Brandin Cooks is not one of them, though, at least not for the next two days. McCarthy explained that the veteran will miss work Tuesday and Wednesday for personal reasons, but the coach was quick to point out, “Everything’s good; it’s a good thing.” Cooks had some knee soreness last week, but this absence is apparently unrelated.

Return specialist KaVontae Turpin is the only other Cowboys wide receiver not to see any action this preseason. His roster slot is secured, however, as the club is no doubt eager to deploy the speedster under the new dynamic kickoff rules.

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That leaves 10 “other guys.” One of the most promising would appear to be rookie Ryan Flournoy. The sixth-round draft pick out of Southeast Missouri State was dealing with a knee issue early in camp, but he has been perhaps the most consistent of the team’s wideouts since. Flournoy currently leads the Cowboys receiving corps in both targets and catches over two preseason contests, including a touchdown grab last week versus the Raiders.

“He’s a young man that gets better with every opportunity,” McCarthy said of Flournoy, who earned the nickname “Super” while in college. “Obviously, he had the injury and missed some time; I just love the way he bounced back. You can see the confidence from Week 1 to Week 2; he took a huge step. I love his physicality: run blocking and finish was exceptional, but obviously he had the big play there. He has shown the ability to do some nice things on special teams. I thought he had a good night out there in Vegas.”

McCarthy also had positive reviews for 2022 third-round pick Jalen Tolbert and 2023 seventh-rounder Jalen Brooks.

“They’re doing exactly what you’re looking for,” said the coach. “Both those guys have grown immensely throughout the offseason program, put in the extra time with Dak. I don’t know of too many external throwing sessions where those two weren’t involved, and that’s what it takes in today’s climate of the NFL. … Those two guys have performed at a pretty consistent basis. I’m very confident in both J.T. and J.B.”

While we don’t have the full breadth of training camp reps to include in our evaluation as the Cowboys coaches do, here’s a look at how the Dallas receivers (who aren’t presumptive roster locks) have fared over the two preseason games thus far.

Player Wk 1 (Rec/Tgt/Yds) Wk 2 (Rec-Tgt/Yds) Total (Rec/Tgt/Yds)
Kelvin Harmon 2-2, 38 2-2, 18 4-4, 56
Racey McMath 0-3, 0 3-3, 54 3-6, 54
Jalen Brooks 2-2, 49 0-1, 0 2-3, 49
Ryan Flournoy 2-3, 18 4-6, 23 6-9, 31
Jalen Cropper 4-6, 26 0-1, 0 4-7, 26
Deontay Burnett 2-5, 23 0-0, 0 2-5, 23
David Durden 1-2, 16 0-0, 0 1-2, 16
Cam Johnson 2-3, 10 0-0, 0 2-3, 10
Jalen Tolbert 0-0, 0 1-1, 6 1-1, 6
Tyron Billy-Johnson 0-0, 0 0-1, 0 0-1, 0

It’s worth noting that Jalen Cropper got additional work as a punt returner in the Raiders game, as did Tyron Billy-Johnson. (Cropper, unfortunately, fumbled away one of his two return attempts.) Billy-Johnson also made the stat sheet as a kick returner in both preseason outings.

In Cowboys Wire’s latest 53-man projections, the team keeps six wide receivers on the roster and reserves two more for the practice squad. Assuming three of those spots are already spoken for, it leaves five more lockers up for grabs, with these 10 receivers going at it and seven days to decide things.

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‘Good conversations’ going on around Cowboys QB contract, per Prescott

From @ToddBrock24f7: Dak Prescott offered encouraging words regarding the state of his contract negotiations, saying “good things are going on there.”

There’s been a sudden flurry of activity from the Cowboys front office this week, with a veteran trade going down on Wednesday and a free agent acquisition being announced on Thursday morning. And now Dak Prescott has offered a glimmer of hope regarding his own contract negotiation, which had seemingly been dead in the water all offseason long.

The Cowboys quarterback characterized things as moving in a positive direction with less than a month to go before both the regular-season opener… and the official start of the final contract year for the league’s reigning passing touchdowns leader.

“Good conversations are going on,” Prescott told reporters at a Thursday afternoon press conference, per a post on X from Patrik Walker of the team website. “Lots of good things are going on there. I’ve got a lot of confidence in my guys and these guys in getting things done.”

Of course, everyone involved has been saying some version of that exact thing for several months. Prescott has been widely projected to be in line for new deal that could top $60 million a year and make him the highest-paid player in NFL history.

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The team has called securing Prescott for the long term a priority ever since the Cowboys were dispatched from the postseason in January. But despite Jerry and Stephen Jones taking every opportunity to drop a soundbite about how we think the world of Dak and how- at the end of the day– Dak can absolutely lead the team to a Super Bowl, here we are in mid-August with no movement toward locking him down and every single day that passes bringing Cowboys Nation 24 hours closer to a scenario that sees a frustrated and unappreciated Prescott ride into the sunset, enter the free agent market, and leave the team to start over from square one.

The Joneses love to explain how and why such agreements are laboriously long and slow processes. While Prescott’s comments Thursday gave no concrete details (or even a strong hint) that a new deal is imminent, it does offer hope.

And in a week where the front office has ditched its typical nonchalant ways and actually conducted some promising player business, a little hope- especially regarding the face of the franchise- could go a long way.

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Cowboys current WR1 leaves practice for knee evaluation

Brandin Cooks left practice with a knee injury, causing a scare as the Cowboys are already without CeeDee Lamb. | From @cdburnett7

The contract-related absence of wideout CeeDee Lamb has left another in the top spot of Dallas’ depth chart. Veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks has handled WR1 duties while Lamb continues to work with the club in negotiations.

He’s provided a key veteran voice as the majority of the remaining receivers have only a handful of years of experience amongst the group. Hopefully he will be able to continue delivering his knowledge both in words and examples but that is now in question as during practice Thursday, Cooks left the field with a knee injury.

In his first season as a Cowboy, Cooks had a quiet start before building a strong red-zone connection with quarterback Dak Prescott. He finished the season with 54 catches for 657 yards and eight touchdowns. Given the drama around Lamb’s holdout, having a veteran receiver like Cooks in the room has calmed the situation.

Cooks’ injury Thursday likely sent chills down the spines of coaches and the front office, but DallasCowboys.com Patrik Walker indicates it may not be a long-term injury situation.

Beyond the pair of Lamb and Cooks, the wide receiver room would be led by Jalen Tolbert, with Jalen Brooks and KaVontae Turpin strongly in the mix for snaps and several other players looking to convince the front office in their upside. Cooks missing any practice time highlights those battles even more.

Cowboys announce open practices at The Star in Frisco

From @ToddBrock24f7: Fans are invited to watch two practices at the Ford Center, the first coming just hours after final roster cuts are due on Aug. 27.

The Cowboys have been practicing in front of live fans for the past several weeks at their temporary home in Oxnard, Calif. But with their summer residency quickly drawing to a close, the faithful back in DFW will soon get their chance to watch the team work up close and personal, too.

The Star in Frisco will host two open practices at the Ford Center, the Cowboys announced Thursday. Both practices are scheduled for later in the month, following the team’s preseason finale at AT&T Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 24. The first session will take place just hours after roster cuts are due and will mark the debut appearance of the Cowboys’ official 53-man roster for this season.

Cowboys Night will take place Tuesday, Aug. 27 and kick off at 4:00 p.m. CDT with festivities and live entertainment taking place on Tostitos Championship Plaza. Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. for an open-session practice that will take place from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

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The second practice, set for the same time the following night- Wednesday, Aug. 28- will be preceded by a Season Kickoff Ceremony including remarks from team owner Jerry Jones at 5:40 p.m.

Both practice sessions are free and open to the public and figure to draw a sizable crowd, with the Cowboys’ 2024 regular-season opener slated to take place less than two weeks later in Cleveland.

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Report: Cowboys to host Rams for second joint practice on Wednesday

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Rams are set to visit Oxnard again following the two teams’ meeting in the preseason opener, which the Rams won, 13-12.

The Cowboys and Rams have made plans to get together for the third time in a week.

The two teams, who held a joint practice in Oxnard last Thursday and then met at SoFi Stadium for the 2024 preseason opener on Sunday, will have another tandem work session on Wednesday. The report comes from Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, citing sources.

The Rams beat the Cowboys by a 13-12 score on a last-minute touchdown throw from Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett, after the Dallas defense had intercepted Bennett four previous times throughout the game.

Most of the Cowboys’ veteran playmakers sat out Sunday’s exhibition contest, including Dak Prescott. The quarterback did take part in last Thursday’s joint practice but then missed Friday’s regular session with what was described as “ankle soreness.” His absence was billed as just precautionary, though, and Prescott himself said he would be able to play in a real game if he had to.

That should put him on the practice field as scheduled this week, including for Wednesday’s scrimmage with the now-very-familiar Rams.

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Last week’s visit managed to steer clear of any major fisticuffs, the kind often seen at NFL joint practices. Head coach Mike McCarthy had tried to preemptively curtail any fights ahead of time, and the two teams —for the most part — followed through. Center Brock Hoffman was said to have gotten into a brief “skirmish” with several Rams defenders at one point, but nothing like the ugly melee that caused a 2015 joint session between the two teams to be halted early.

And it obviously wasn’t enough to keep the Rams from making plans to travel to Oxnard for the second week in a row for a little extra work, even after getting the better of the Cowboys on Sunday.

The Cowboys will travel to Las Vegas for their second preseason contest, against the Raiders, on Saturday night.

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Best photos of Dak Prescott, Matt Stafford, others at Cowboys-Rams scrimmage

Photo collection from Thursday’s practice and scrimmage between the Cowboys and Rams.

When Cowboys fans are looking for reasons to believe that Dak Prescott can escape his club’s post-season history and finally bring Dallas a championship as he enters the back half of his career, there’s normally one name brought up as evidence. That of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matt Stafford.

Stafford, a Texas native, had to move on from the Detroit Lions, but found ultimate success in Year 13 once he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Cowboys fans hope only the latter-years part of the equation will be duplicated and Prescott doesn’t have to leave the organization to see that success. Meanwhile, the two veterans got to spend some time together on Thursday, as the Rams and Cowboys held a joint practice and scrimmage in Oxnard, CA.

The two teams will face off in the first exhibition game for both clubs on Sunday. Here’s a look at some of the photos from Thursday’s practice featuring both teams’ squads.

Dak signing? No, sitting. Cowboys fans go on quick rollercoaster ride with Prescott news Friday

From @ToddBrock24f7: Cowboys fans thought news of a Prescott extension was imminent when he didn’t show up on the practice field. The reality was disappointing.

Cowboys fans watching Oxnard were taken on a rollercoaster Friday that lasted all of 15 minutes, but provided quite a ride nevertheless.

It started with reports from media on the ground at training camp that quarterback Dak Prescott was not on the field with the rest of the team for its scheduled practice session. That news was accompanied by the revelation that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, team executive vice president Stephen Jones, VP of player personnel Will McClay, head coach Mike McCarthy, and VP of football operations and administration Todd Williams were also notably missing.

Predictably, Cowboys Nation lost its collective mind, wondering if it meant that the group was holed up in a meeting room, perhaps literally signing the paperwork on what has been largely expected to be a record-setting extension that would bind the quarterback to the team beyond the upcoming season.

 

The buzz on social media reached a fever pitch, with many observers convinced that an announcement was imminent, ensuring that the Cowboys and their $60 million man would be the talk of the league for the preseason’s opening weekend.

 

 

 

 

The excitement was very short-lived, though, with word spreading of why Prescott would be sitting out the day’s practice. He was not inking a new deal but instead experiencing ankle soreness, his surprise rest day being called “precautionary.”

Cowboys fans had a similar freak-out back in early July when a photo surfaced of Prescott wearing a protective boot while on vacation. After a few hours of nail-biting over whether it was evidence of some new injury or a troubling flare-up of a previous malady, the quarterback himself explained it away as basic maintenance after a couple hard days of practice.

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Prescott is already expected to sit out all three of the Cowboys’ preseason games. But after some solid work on Thursday in a joint practice with the Rams, his surgically-repaired ankle from 2020 might understandably be a little tender on Friday.

Prescott told reporters after the Rams scrimmage, “I could play a game right now.”

Maybe not, as it turned out. And he’ll take the day off instead to rest his ankle.

But his signing hand was free. And for a few glorious, hope-filled minutes to close out the week, that’s what Cowboys fans were far more focused on.

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