Three standout players during the Cowboys OTA practices

Mauricio Rodriguez discusses the three biggest winners from the Dallas Cowboys OTA practices

Transcript

00:00So these are the three biggest winners from Cowboys OTAs including a former starter who

00:05is going from roster bubble player to coach's favorite. Hey what's up everyone it's Mauricio

00:14Rodriguez here at ADZ Sports Dallas. Cowboys OTAs are in the books and next week we will move on

00:21to mandatory minicamp but today we'll talk about players whose stocks are up and we're going to

00:26focus on three winners specifically leading us off. Let's get into quarterback Joe Milton. This is

00:34an obvious one and it's not going to be one that is very specific about what we've seen in the

00:39practice field so far which really is very limited. It's not like this is training camp where you're

00:44getting clips about every single play but this is rather about what you're hearing from coaches

00:49from players and from everyone who is there at practice. We went into OTAs not really knowing

00:56if he was the number two behind Act Prescott or how much of a competition this would be with Will

01:01Greer. Trade obviously suggested that Joe Milton would be the favorite for the job but as opposed

01:08to Trey Lance last year maybe Joe Milton was clearly getting the number two reps as opposed to Lance when

01:14Cooper Rush was ahead of him even in OTAs and we went into training camp last year kind of knowing

01:19that things weren't going very well for a developmental quarterback like Trey Lance. At the end of the day

01:25Joe Milton is in a very similar moment in his career and it is very encouraging to see that

01:31he is the number two and according to ESPN's Todd Arker he is clearly that guy behind Act Prescott so

01:38it's his job to lose. At number two I've got one of the biggest names of the offseason wide receiver

01:44George Pickens. Now we know about the athleticism we know about the wild catches none of that is why

01:51he is on the list. The reason he is on it though is again what we've heard about him. We've heard about

01:58him being engaged in the meeting room, in the locker room. We've heard about him developing an

02:03interesting relationship with CeeDee Lamb including the fact that hey when CeeDee dropped a pass in

02:09practice he dropped down to do some push-ups which is a very common practice around the NFL and around the

02:16world of football really but what stood out is that Pickens went down to the floor and did the push-ups

02:21with them kind of showing that bond between veteran and younger player to put it one way because he's

02:28not exactly a rookie right George Pickens is about to play his fourth year in the NFL so that George

02:34Pickens has to be on the list. At number three and this is the most important name on the list in my

02:39opinion because this is somebody whose needle is moving as far as roster chances. Give me linebacker

02:46Damond Clark. Before OTAs I had Clark projected as a roster cut in August. Now I am not so sure. He went

02:55from starting 17 games in 2023. Mike Zimmer benched him in 2024. Clark barely could get on the field even

03:03when the Cowboys were dealing with linebacker injuries but now he seems to be catching the attention

03:08of the staff. Brian Schottenheimer recently discussed him and talked about how he's developing a unique

03:14bond with linebackers coach Dave Bergonzi and Matt Eberfluss. They like him and he might be about to

03:21earn a big role on defense which is particularly important because the Marvin Overshawn won't be

03:27ready for the start of the season and I'll say one more thing. Clark you know the similar scheme maybe

03:32didn't fit him very well because it wasn't really a one-gap defense where he could play freely from the

03:37linebacker position but now with Eberfluss the Cowboys are likely going back to one back which should

03:43allow him to have to read quote-unquote less stuff and just fly around and be the athletic linebacker

03:49that he is. Let me know what you think in the comments and I'll see you next week. We're ready

03:54for mandatory minicamp man.