The Most IMPORTANT Position Battles To Watch During Cowboys Training Camp...

AtoZ Sports

Mauricio Rodriguez and Joe Hoyt preview Dallas Cowboys training camp, diving into some of the biggest position battles to watch out for, and more.

Transcript

00:00so cowboys training camp is this very month and we get ready with one of the best insiders

00:06in the game joe hoyt from the dallas morning news let's go

00:10a training camp is almost here oxner california from what you've seen so far uh what are some of

00:21the top training camp battles that you're excited to watch i'll i'll start with one here very quickly

00:27and see what you've got man i'm excited about the edge rushers like i know micah is going to be on

00:32one side i really don't know who's going to be on the other because you've got donovan is iraq who

00:36the rookie you've got marshawn neiland who might be the better run defender in the group there's also

00:41sam williams there's you know it's it's an exciting group and then obviously dance fowler jr who might

00:47be in line to start i don't even know i think he was my projected starter the other day when i did

00:53a lineup for a to z sports but it's an exciting group what are you looking forward the most when

00:58we get to training camp yeah i love that that's the first one you went off with because i think it

01:02is a really good one um i think truly that it's going to be a rotation opposite of micah parsons

01:07but here's kind of the key factor i think it's going to happen i think you're going to see micah

01:10parsons line up in the a gap and off ball maybe a little bit more than what he did like that's kind

01:16of one thing i'm theorizing so in that case you might have a donovan isiraku on one side

01:21a dante foul on the other and then a micah parsons in the a game right playing off folks

01:26or diggy zua you know or mozzie smith like that's something i can see happening um i don't know how

01:31frequent that will happen but i can see that kind of lineup i i foresee a rotation um the guy i do think

01:37donovan isiraku is a guy that is kind of ready to go soon like i think i wouldn't be surprised to

01:42see him play a good amount um curious about marshawn neiland and sam williams is the wild card contract

01:47year big year for him i'm very curious to see what happens with him uh i think the biggest

01:53position battle potentially and i don't know if i call it a battle it's just more of a question

01:57mark is just cornerback is just what what is going to happen with corner you know i savon rebel is a

02:03guy that i think is extremely talented i think whenever he is healthy and ready to go like this

02:08is a guy that could be a starting corner for the dallas cowboys this year the big caveat being when is

02:13he going to be fully ready to go both physically and mentally um you know i think that that's

02:17something we see it all the time right marisa where it's like oh corn acl step right back in you're

02:21good right you'll you'll you'll take off running immediately and i i think that you know his

02:26possible with him i think one thing if you have ever heard savon rebel talk like this is a guy that's

02:31very you know confident he's already withstood so much in terms of his adversity um you know he takes

02:36adversity in stride and i think it's very fascinating he's got to work for everything he's gotten

02:40i don't think that in terms of the mental kind of get back is going to be that big of a hurdle for

02:46him but it's something just to monitor with anyone torn acls uh obviously trayvon diggs not expected to

02:51be ready for the start of the season so i mean are you going to have kairi elam and then savon

02:57rebel outside is he going to be ready to go week one with deron bland the slot or do you go deron bland

03:02in the slot or outside with kairi elam and maybe a guy like keaman hall in the slot or israel

03:09mcquambe like you know i think these are some of the questions we're gonna have to see in terms of

03:13how ready another corner is going to be ready to go the other guy too i talked to taylor carson

03:18a little bit he was really banged up last year after the baltimore game you know that that derrick

03:23henry stiff arm um i think he was really banged up last year kind of more than what people really knew

03:29um had surgery in december he's a guy that you know was kind of creeping into team drills at the end

03:35of minicamp he's someone that should be ready to go for training camp i'm curious to see how

03:38can bounce back you know after i thought he had a strong start against cleveland and then you know

03:44obviously things got kind of a little haywire after the saints and baltimore game last year

03:48so that's something i'm curious to watch especially with kairi elam who has become the constant the

03:52consistent in the secondary all of a sudden like this is a guy that i think maybe a change of pace

03:57change of scenery could do really well for his confidence i talked to some people in buffalo that

04:01cover the team and kind of one of their things was hey man he was just never put in the right system

04:06and then you know he had all these kind of high expectations and then he was then asked to be

04:11thrown in and spot of the moment kind of moments if you kind of look at that afc championship game

04:15last year he didn't start that game and yeah patrick mahomes and then the chiefs kind of torched him

04:20but you know he wasn't expecting to start stepped in it just didn't go well i think confidence is huge

04:25for kairi elam and so far i think the cowboys have given a lot of reason and confident last thing i'll kind

04:29leave you with is the tight end um you know i i i know that there was some chatter in minicamp like

04:36jake ferguson's jobs and trouble i i don't believe that um i think jake ferguson especially if you

04:42look at the last uh team minicamp practice he was targeted often and he you know i think that that's

04:47a relationship in terms of his chemistry with dad frescott that's unique obviously you know he's not

04:52the most elite blocker but that's why i think that breven span forward is actually taking another step i

04:57think this is the guy in terms of blocking was ready to go day one last year in terms of being

05:01a blocker um i think that he's someone that you know the cowboys are confident that with his frame

05:07he could take another step in terms of being a pass catcher um i'm curious to see how the tight end

05:11room shakes out okay will there be a lot of two tight end personnel um will breven span forwards to

05:17plant luke schoonmaker which kind of feels like a battle that's gonna gonna happen um i think that's

05:23where my eyes are really going and i think interestingly enough mariso you know where

05:27our eyes are not going is whether or not the first round pick is gonna play because tyler booker

05:31is is that is solidified uh that is the day one starter you know uh he he he's i i think you know

05:41he is someone i'm really excited just to watch because they have all the confidence in the world

05:45in tyler booker and um i think it's gonna be fascinating to see him play the night that they

05:49drafted him they were like oh yeah he's an immediate starter they did the stephen jones said it brian

05:54schottenheimer said it they didn't sugarcoat it it was like brock hoffman thank you for

05:59participating my guy and that kind of ended there uh now could there could there be a shakeup in the

06:04offensive line long term we'll see i guess in training camp but you mentioned the tight ends

06:09another reason why i'm excited about the tight ends is robin spanford made it as a non-drafted free

06:14agent in 2024 john stephen jr doesn't suffer a season-ending injury in 2023 he would have made it

06:20according to the cowboys right that's what they told us back then now you have two udfa guys

06:25rivaldo fairweather from auburn uh tyler neville from virginia is participating in tight end university

06:31and everything like that part is also exciting to me but not only them justin baron over with the

06:38udfa facing the defensive side of the ball you got elijah clark do you envision one of these

06:44undrafted free agents uh having a legitimate shot at the 53 man roster because i always go by

06:50guaranteed money right i always look at the guaranteed money first when it comes to udfas

06:54and elijah clark is the guy that they paid the most but that's also a very hard nut to crack right you

07:01got a loaded group of safeties with the backups panjay thomas marquise bell receiving deals this off

07:08season what do you envision out of the udfas this year yeah i think you hit the nail on the head in

07:13terms of usually history would tell us marisa that one of these undrafted free agents is going to make

07:17it and usually it's someone that has a lot of guarantee money we saw what breven span formed last

07:21year right um i think that they in terms of guarantee money they have two guys that are high up there and

07:25that's justin baron from syracuse and elijah clark from syracuse and elijah played a lot during this

07:32this mini camp and otas um you know with the students he was mostly there but he rotated with the ones too

07:37frankly just because malik hooker was dealing with injuries we're still waiting on donovan wilson

07:43to come back he didn't participate in any team drills um and then you know wanya thomas marquise

07:48bell um so i think if elijah clark is going to make the scene you got to ask yourself are they

07:53carrying five safeties or is he supplanting and he's gonna be a special teams guy too or is he

07:58supplanting one of those four i think it'd be a hard to supplant one of the four um that's out there

08:03barring injury um you know unless he ball unless elijah balls out and maybe marquise takes a step back

08:08for example right um but that's gonna be that's gonna be something to watch you know whether they

08:14could afford to take five safeties i'm not sure they could considering cj goodwin too you know and

08:19that's a guy that always you know you never know um justin baron uh and is another one where it's

08:25like okay if he's gonna make the team does that mean buddy johnson doesn't make the team does that

08:30mean demone clark gets cut does that mean jamar james starts out on pop or something you know and

08:34because he missed minicamp that was just you know i'm not saying he's going to that's just you know

08:38saying hypothetically if he gets injured or something so i think those two are tough um i

08:44you know i didn't i'm curious to see more about the tight ends i didn't really see a lot out of them

08:48too much during minicamp and otas um you know princeton fam was more of a guy involved than those two

08:55another former udfa so we'll see i think it could be tough uh for udfa to make this team um you know

09:03before the pick and straight you know you thought maybe what if trayshaun holden comes out or josh

09:07kelly plays really well i'd expect both those guys to contend for practice squad spots so we'll see

09:12i think udfa might be might be tougher than normal than years past to make this team for more cowboys

09:17content check out adzsports.com slash dallas and also check out joe hoyt over at dallas morning news

09:24bye

09:24you

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