Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer points to his staff during Organized Team Activities at The Star in Frisco, Texas, June 4, 2026.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
The Cowboys conducted their first organized team activity on June 1. They finished up the voluntary practice sessions on Tuesday. Now comes the mandatory three-day mini-camp scheduled for June 16. Before we get there, we tell you 10 things we learned from the Cowboys from their last OTA practice session.
Decobie/Cobie Durant and the slot
When you enter the Cowboys’ locker room and see the nameplate Decobie Durant on one of the lockers, you begin to ask questions. Cowboys cornerback Cobie Durant says his first name is pronounced De-cobie. Growing up, his parents called him Cobie, and that stuck into adulthood. Now when it comes to playing the game of football, Durant is one of several players being viewed for the slot position in the nickel defense. The Cowboys have been searching for a full-time slot corner since Jourdan Lewis left for Jacksonville in free agency.
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“It’s a challenge,” Durant said of playing the slot. “Each time you line up in the slot you got more field to worry about. But different types of defenses will put you in positions to win. Knowing your leverage, you can’t lose from your leverage. If you got help [or] don’t got help. It’s a lot that goes on that nickel and you also got to play in the run game.”
First-round pick on special teams
During an OTA practice on Tuesday, first-round safety Caleb Downs was getting work on special teams. He was fielding punts and was also a punt personal protector. All of this is just creating depth at those positions. KaVontae Turpin is the main punt returner, but after the departures of C.J. Goodwin and Juanyeh Thomas, players who’ve worked at personal protector over the years, that’s a position that needs filling.
Downs fielded punts at Ohio State but has never been a personal protector.
“It’s completely new, but shout out Nate Ebner,” said Downs, referring to the Ohio State quality control special teams coach, who played for two NFL teams on special teams. “He told me I was going to be doing that when I was at Ohio State. So that’s how he made his way in the league, playing special teams and he was a leader on punt, being the PP. So he gave me some nuggets when I was at O-State a couple months back, so it’s been good.”
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Dinners and relationships
Coach Brian Schottenheimer has spent the offseason having dinners with his players. The goal is to have dinner with everyone on the roster. It’s just another extension of Schottenheimer building relationships with players.
“My hope would be that these guys know I love them and care about them, and my door is always open,” he said. “I remember last year, at different points throughout the season, a guy or two would pop in and close the door. We’d sit down and talk about things outside of football, anything messy in their world that they need help with. I was humbled and honored that they trusted me enough to come and sit there. I am always upfront and honest with those guys about my story, my journey, my scars. I think that’s what gives you the ability to have them trust you, love you, care about you, you love and care about them back and then at the same time we’re able to have hard conversations and tell them things they don’t necessarily want to hear.”
More of a CEO
Schottenheimer was not only the head coach but the offensive play-caller last year. That’s not changing in 2026. However, he’s spending more time in defensive and special teams meetings. Both of those units struggled badly in 2025. Schottenheimer trusts the coordinators for those units, but plans on being around to lend his voice in meetings.
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But he’s also doing other things.
“Being really the head coach and in charge of all three phases and having a handle of that,” Schottenheimer said. “I think the personnel side of it has been good for me to dive back into the 3-4 world and then shoot, practice schedules, meetings. I’m a big guy on don’t rinse and repeat. Try to change things up. But we’ll make some adjustments to some of the practice schedule we do for training camp and things like that and some of our daily schedule and even the way we practice during the season. All those things have come from be doing after action reports on myself but also talking to some of my peers, asking them how they do it.”
Dak Prescott, George Pickens throwing sessions
A lot is made of the Dak Prescott-George Pickens throwing sessions away from The Star. Pickens hasn’t attended the offseason voluntary workouts for an undisclosed reason. Several players have missed some of the voluntary sessions for a variety of reasons. Yet Pickens missing time with Prescott at The Star is notable because a quarterback needs to continue building chemistry with his receivers. Pickens and Prescott have held throwing sessions. The question is just how many?
“A few,” Prescott said. “Two to three, something like that, yeah.”
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Prescott wasn’t clear on when those throwing session occurred, saying “probably March. Maybe even in April, maybe early April.”
It’s fair to say Pickens missing the voluntary portions of work isn’t a big deal. It also raises questions about Pickens being comfortable playing the 2026 season under the franchise tag. Next week, the Cowboys have a three-day mandatory minicamp, the last time the group will get together in an organized setting before training camp.
Schottenheimer said he hopes and expects Pickens to attend the mandatory practices. Prescott said he hasn’t talked to Pickens about his attendance.
The center position
The starting center is Cooper Beebe, but the backup is open for interpretation. Matt Hennessy suffered a neck injury during OTAs and will be out for an undetermined length of time. That’s pushed T.J. Bass to backup center. Bass took snaps with the first and second team offense during OTA practices. The Cowboys have 15 offensive linemen on the roster with an open roster spot available where adding another lineman is a possibility.
Turnover focus
Last season, the Cowboys finished tied for 30th in turnover ratio at -9. The team had just six interceptions and six recovered fumbles. During practices, the Cowboys have worked on creating turnovers, whether it’s from swiping the ball in drills to making sure defensive backs make plays on the ball. The Cowboys also lost nine fumbles, so ball security drills are also stressed, which isn’t anything new.
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“If you’re not going to let me say what I wanted to say, I’m going to start with: if you don’t give it up, then you’re not going to lose the turnover battle, right?” Schottenheimer said. “If you don’t turn the ball over, it’s going to be zeroes. I would say that, and again, we proved it last year that we could go four-straight games without a turnover. And there were too many multiple-turnover games on offense. We were sloppy and we were careless with the ball, mostly as ball carriers.”
Backup running backs
Javonte Williams is the starting running back. Williams’ status isn’t a concern, especially after signing a three-year deal in the offseason. The backups are the concern. The Cowboys will look at a combination of players to support Williams led by Phil Mafah and Jaydon Blue, and you could throw Malik Davis in there as well. Blue gets the most attention because of his struggles with consistency during his rookie season in 2025. Mafah enters Year 2 and Davis has been around the Cowboys since he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2022. The special teams component is always a factor in who makes this team from the running back position.
Chats between coach and coordinator
Schottenheimer said communication is the key to building a winning football program. He’s spent plenty of time with defensive coordinator Christan Parker this summer and at times they’re the last two people in the facility.
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“CP and I talk basically every day about different things,” he said. “Usually he and I are some of the later guys here, so when the day kind of unwinds and we’re finishing up here I’ll go and sit for 20, 30, 40 minutes and we’ll just talk about different things: how the day went, what were some of the changes maybe they made after practice film if I don’t get there for the practice film day. But yeah, we’ve talked about all that.”
Sam Howell systems
Backup quarterback Sam Howell has been on the rosters of Washington, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Seattle and now Dallas. He started 17 games for Washington but hasn’t seen extensive playing time since the 2023 season. Playing for different teams means Howell knows different offensive systems. With the Cowboys, it’s another new scheme to master.
“I definitely learned a lot of systems,” Howell said. “I think that’s helped me learn. I’ve been able to learn how to pick up things fast and that kind of helps me study. So I got a pretty good system on how I do things and definitely all that knowledge has helped me.”