Tag: cowboys wide receivers

‘Brick by brick’: Cowboys WR Jalen Brooks building foundation for ’24 roster spot

From @ToddBrock24f7: The second-year WR has performed well in camp and would seem to be one of the team’s top 6 at the position, but he’s not content to coast.

Jalen Brooks may be building something special.

By all accounts, the second-year wide receiver has been a strong performer for the Cowboys during training camp. Most major projections have the seventh-round draft pick from last year making the 53-man roster, no small feat considering the expanse of talent in the team’s WR room this summer.

Brooks admits that he didn’t have a perfect camp, but the 24-year-old says he’s focused on simply improving with every new opportunity.

“It’s been solid,” Brooks said of his camp before leaving Oxnard with the team. “It hasn’t been what I wanted it to [be], but … I’m big on ‘brick-by-brick.’ Just keep on stacking each and every day, trying to get better each and every day. I definitely left some plays out there this camp, but as long as I’m able to see what I need to learn from and everything, and come back and be better than what I was yesterday, then I’m okay with that.”

His work in practice has certainly helped with the construction of that foundation. Lining up against 2022’s league interceptions leader- day after day, rep after rep, drill after drill- will do that.

Brooks has found himself going one-on-one with All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs… and holding his own more often than not. One series from Wednesday’s final padded practice saw Diggs jawing loudly at Brooks mid-route, only to later have the South Carolina product get revenge by beating Diggs for a touchdown catch that ended with Brooks spinning the ball at the two-time Pro Bowler’s feet.

“It felt good, but that’s why we’re out here: just to compete,” Brooks said of the back-and-forth with Diggs. “We’ll be talking trash all the time and everything, so I think it’s healthy competition, but obviously, it feels good to end up on top, for sure.”

Brooks is getting those regular reps versus the Cowboys’ CB1 largely because superstar receiver CeeDee Lamb has been absent for all of camp. And with Brandin Cooks skipping out on the final two Oxnard practices for personal reasons, it’s put Brooks against DBs that are often far better than the ones he might draw during a real game, as the third or fourth option in the Dallas passing attack.

Even against top-tier competition, he’s been delivering.

Brooks says it speaks to the overall strength of the receiving corps the team has assembled.

“The depth that we have, being able to not miss a beat. It’s always a next-guy-up type of thing, and just showing that even if somebody’s not here, we’re able to step up and compete and fill those roles.”

That will only pay dividends when Lamb and Cooks are back in the lineup, and Brooks- who has all of six career catches for 64 yards- knows it.

“It just builds confidence,” he said. “Going into any game during the season, when you’re going against the best and you’re able to compete against the best, I think that talks for itself. I’m blessed that I have him as a teammate and I’m able to go against him.”

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Brooks isn’t guaranteed a roster spot, though, even if he’s shown out well in practices. He hasn’t gotten a ton of looks in the team’s two preseason games, but that could be because the Cowboys coaches already have a good idea of what they have in him.

Case in point: Brooks got just one target in last weekend’s win in Vegas.

His snap count in this Saturday’s game against the Chargers may provide a clue. Brooks would certainly seem- on paper- to be one of the Cowboys’ top six choices at the position. If Brooks is used again only sparingly in the preseason finale, it may be because the team is wrestling harder with a decision about Racey McMath or Kelvin Harmon or Jalen Cropper.

Maybe Brooks has already stacked enough bricks by now to have built himself a solid roster spot.

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Bye, 19: Amari Cooper unlikely to return to Cowboys

The vaunted WR trio of Cooper, Gallup, and Lamb got a grand total of just 11 games together in Dallas with QB Dak Prescott. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The lawfirm of Cooper, Gallup, and Lamb will likely be dissolved in Dallas in the coming days. If that happens, as is widely expected, Cowboys fans will be left to always wonder what might have been for a trio of supremely talented receivers who combined for not nearly enough snaps in a high-potential offense that was fully operational for just a fraction of their time together.

Eleven games. That’s how many games Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb started together for the Cowboys with their franchise quarterback under center. Less than a season.

All indications are that’s all they’ll ever get.

According to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, a change is imminent. Reporting from Indianapolis, Gehlken wrote Thurday night: “the shared opinion from several sources at the NFL combine is it would be an upset if Cooper returns.”

NFL insider Adam Schefter reported the same in a tweet Friday morning.

Cooper’s $20 million salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s still on the roster March 20 at 3 p.m. Dallas time.

Gallup is set to become a free agent March 16 and can begin talks with other clubs two days prior. Or the Cowboys can negotiate a new deal with him to retain his services. That seemed unlikely just a few months ago, as Gallup was seen as the one of the three most likely to be let go. But with eight games missed due to injury in 2021 and an offseason surgery that will have him rehabbing well into the summer and already iffy for opening day 2022, Gallup probably won’t attract the bidding war that was once anticipated.

Gallup’s injuries were just part of the series of unfortunate events that kept the Cowboys offense from realizing the full potential of their trio of pass-catchers over the two years they shared a locker room in Dallas.

The three started every game in 2020. They also started Week 1 this past season. But Gallup’s calf injury, suffered against Tampa on opening night, kept him out of the next seven contests. The week he was able to return to action, Cooper landed on the COVID list, forcing him out of Weeks 10 and 11. He was back in Week 12, but Lamb sat that one out while in concussion protocol.

It wasn’t until Week 13 at New Orleans that the threesome was once again on the field at the same time. It lasted just five more contests. During Week 17’s Arizona match, Gallup tore an ACL on a touchdown grab versus the Cardinals. He would miss the season finale and the wild card loss to San Francisco.

That’s 22 games started- not even finished- together. But wait… they were without quarterback Dak Prescott, the engine that makes the whole offense go, for 11 games in 2020 after his season-ending ankle injury. It’s hard to make the case that anybody could accurately gauge the Cooper-Gallup-Lamb unit with the likes of Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci, and Garrett Gilbert throwing them the ball.

The Lawfirm should have gotten 33 regular-season games as a full three-piece with QB1. Instead, they got 11.

And now it seems practically a given that’s all they’ll get.

For what it’s worth, here’s a look at how each of them fared on a per-game basis, postseason included and using stats from Pro Football Reference, in the various starting-lineup configurations.

Amari Cooper Tgts Recs Yds
Full WR trio w/Dak (11 gms) 9.45 6.45 69.63
Full WR trio w/o Dak (11 gms) 6.81 4.81 62.72
Less than full WR trio (10 gms) 6.50 4.20 58.70

Cooper’s numbers dipped without Prescott. That’s no surprise. What is a bit odd is that they dropped even further in games when he didn’t have both Gallup and Lamb demanding at least some of the opposing defense’s attention.

Michael Gallup Tgts Recs Yds
Full WR trio w/Dak (11 gms) 6.09 3.54 51.36
Full WR trio w/o Dak (11 gms) 7.00 3.81 45.00
Less than full WR trio (3 gms) 7.66 4.33 64.00

Gallup perhaps gained a little more of the backups’ trust, as his stats stayed in the same neighborhood during Prescott’s absence. It’s a very small sample size, but things got better for him in the three-game stretch when he wasn’t competing with both Cooper and Lamb for looks.

CeeDee Lamb Tgts Recs Yds
Full WR trio w/Dak (11 gms) 8.72 5.72 77.63
Full WR trio w/o Dak (11 gms) 6.45 4.09 45.63
Less than full WR trio (11 gms) 6.27 4.18 63.81

Lamb was at his best with the full complement of receivers around him and Prescott lobbing passes. But he suffered more from not having his quarterback than from missing one of his receiver teammates. That’s hopeful news for Cowboys fans as the team seems ready to part ways with one of them.

All indications are it will be Cooper wearing a new uniform in 2022.

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In uncertain WR room, Simi Fehoko eyes bigger role in Cowboys offense in 2022

The second-year Stanford star hopes to pack on a few pounds and work a hybridized role in what could be a very different Cowboys WR room. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Simi Fehoko took a bit of an extended path just to get to the NFL. And while some first-year players like Micah Parsons fast-track their way to superstardom right out of the gate in their rookie season, the fifth-rounder is taking the same kind of slow and steady learning curve that made him a first-team All Pac-12 receiver at Stanford.

Fehoko was on the field for just under a third of the Cowboys’ special teams plays in 2021. He saw a grand total of seven offensive snaps. He logged no official stats.

But doing his job as a piece of a larger machine instead of being “the guy” is all part of the learning process for the 6-foot-3-inch Utah native.

“At Stanford, we had a fairly complex playbook. But coming here, it’s more concept-driven,” Fehoko said last week in a sit-down interview with 105.3 The Fan’s Nosebleed Seats Podcast. “Like, for me in college, they were going to call, ‘You’re going deep. This is your play.’ Here, it’s more like, ‘Okay, this is the whole concept and if you happen to get the read that we’re looking for, then that’s where we’re going.’ So it was more conceptual learning rather than specific player-oriented calls.”

Fehoko got an early wake-up call that life as an NFL receiver would require a different set of tools.

“First day or second day in camp, I lined up one-on-one against Tre[von] Diggs,” Fehoko explained. “Ran a fade. He just full-on, OBJ-one-hand-intercepted. And then I was like, ‘Wow. He’s the man. Welcome to the NFL.'”

But he also got a warm welcome from someone who’s been there. Four-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper took it upon himself to show Fehoko the ropes of life catching balls at the pro level.

“Coop is my guy. He was the first one, sort of, as the top guy, to take me under his wing. Us being a little bigger- he’s 220, normally, and I came in at 225, 227- he was one of those guys that took me under his wing and helped me out with one-on-one routes, or any routes in general. He was like, ‘Okay, sink your hips here,’ or, ‘As a DB, I see this and you would do this.’ I was like, ‘Okay, whatever you say, you’re right. I got you. I’ll just follow you any way you tell me to do.’ Obviously, it was awesome for me to have him as a mentor, and obviously, I’ll continue, hopefully, to have him as a mentor.”

Fehoko, like the rest of Cowboys Nation, can’t be sure that Cooper will be in Dallas next season. His high-dollar contract makes him a potential cut or trade target as the team looks to balance the budget. And with fellow receivers Michael Gallup, Cedrick Wilson, Noah Brown, and Malik Turner also set to become free agents, Fehoko could theoretically be catapulted up the depth chart in very short order.

It’s something Fehoko hopes happens anyway, simply by virtue of having a full season under his belt. He’s already more mature than most returning rookies. Fehoko will turn 25 years old in just his second pro season, the result of him taking a two-year LDS mission trip to Korea before college.

“I’ll have a bigger role, I’d say, in the offense and in special teams. Talking with head coach McCarthy, he was saying, ‘Potentially, this year, you gain a little bit more weight and we can use you as more like a hybrid tight end-receiver-type body,’ which I have no problem doing. I played at a lot heavier weight in college. They made me lose weight here, so obviously gaining weight and playing at a higher weight isn’t a problem.”

An offseason in Texas could certainly help on that front. The self-professed steak fan has already paid visits to several well-known barbecue joints in the Metroplex. And while he admits to loving a good burger, the California college kid was too smart to get tricked into publicly declaring a favorite between cult rivals Whataburger and In-N-Out.

Packing on a few pounds before training camp may serve Fehoko well as he hopes to show off more of what many felt was his best trait coming out of Stanford: a knack for wrestling away balls in the air from more modestly-sized cornerbacks.

“That’s something that I’ve sort of loved, being a bigger frame, a bigger-body receiver, it sort of came a little more naturally,” he said. “DBs are not normally like Tre: a little taller, can jump out of the gym; they’re a little smaller, and obviously something that bigger bodies thrive on is contested catches.”

Fehoko and the Cowboys are hoping he’ll have more of a chance to thrive in 2022.

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‘Just got to step up:’ Cowboys WRs under pressure with Cooper out, Lamb unlikely for Thursday

With Amari Cooper already out and CeeDee Lamb in concussion protocol on short turnaround, Michael Gallup & Co. know the pressure is on them. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys went into Week 11’s meeting with the defending AFC champion Chiefs knowing they’d be without wide receiver Amari Cooper, who tested positive on Friday for COVID-19. Given Cooper’s unvaccinated status and the team’s short turnaround before their Week 12 game, they also already know they’ll be without the four-time Pro Bowler on Thursday.

The team did not, however, plan on losing fellow wideout CeeDee Lamb at halftime of the 19-9 loss. Lamb suffered a head injury on an end-zone jump ball and was diagnosed with a concussion. With the Cowboys’ annual Thanksgiving Day game less than four days away, it appears unlikely that Lamb will clear the league’s concussion protocol in time to play.

That means quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense will be looking to Michael Gallup and a host of depth receivers to carry the load against the Raiders… and hoping they do a better job than they did Sunday in Kansas City.

Prescott was not sharp versus the Chiefs, going 28-of-43 for 216 yards and a pair of interceptions. But his receiving corps did him no favors, either. The Cowboys pass-catchers unofficially tallied four drops on the day as they tried to make up for the absence of Cooper and the in-game loss of Lamb.

“I talked to him. He said he was fine, said he’ll be okay,” Prescott said of the team’s leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. “You’ve got to continue to move on, trust the guys we’ve got out there, and that’s what I did. He’ll be fine, so we’ll be okay.”

But with just a couple days before the Thanksgiving matchup, Lamb may not be fine in time for Thursday’s kickoff.

As NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday morning, “There’s been nothing firm and final, but four days is incredibly quick for someone to get through the concussion protocol. It sure seems right now” that Dallas will be without Lamb for Week 12.

“Folks have just got to step up,” said Gallup, who caught just five of his 10 targets versus the Chiefs. “That’s all on us. We’ve got to make those plays when they come to us. We just didn’t make the plays today. That’s on us. We’ll take that.”

“Whatever the coaches call,” Cedrick Wilson said after catching four of seven. “I’m ready whenever those guys can’t go. Sad to see CeeDee go down like that, and then obviously, the shock with Coop, but I’ve got to get in there for my team. Whatever they roll, I’m going in there, and I’ve got to execute.”

Wilson dropped a reverse, saying afterward he thought the play call was to be a handoff instead of a toss.

“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in them,” Gallup said of depth-chart receivers Wilson, Noah Brown, and Malik Turner. “I’ve been saying it since Day One. Those are my boys. If they need to step in, they have [done that] the whole season. That’s what we need to go do, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Cowboys had precious little time to tweak their game plan for Kansas City after the announcement late Friday that Cooper had tested positive for COVID. But head coach Mike McCarthy thought the offense would be able to adapt.

Cooper will also miss the Week 12 game since his decision to go unvaccinated mandates a 10-day quarantine.

But his teammates and coaches refuse to treat Cooper’s vaccination status as an issue, despite how the team played without him… and now will have to again.

“It’s unfortunate not having him,” Prescott admitted. “To say ‘the decision he made,’ I mean, being vaccinated, I could get it and be out two games. Let’s try not to knock the guy or put the guy down for a personal decision.”

“Frankly, those decisions are all part of this quest that we’re under,” McCarthy added in his postgame remarks. “Those things are dealt with on an individual basis.”

Missing a top threat because he turned an ankle or pulled a hamstring is one thing. Having him sit at home because he opted not to get a vaccine that nearly two-thirds of Americans have received as a matter of course does rub many, though, as being very different.

It may be a “personal decision,” but being without their top two receivers on Thanksgiving as they head into the home stretch of the regular season and try to earn the NFC’s top playoff seed is something the Cowboys will now have to deal with collectively.

“That’s my teammate, that’s my brother, we’re going to support him. That’s his decision,” Prescott said of Cooper. “Unfortunate we’re not having him, but I know he’ll come back and be beneficial for us in the late part of the season.”

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