Two practices into training camp is far too early to crown breakout stars just yet, but it\u2019s enough time to identify who is setting the tone and raising eyebrows early. Through the opening two days in Oxnard, a handful of players have consistently flashed, while Brian Schottenheimer\u2019s staff has already shown clear ideas about how they plan to use several key pieces.<\/p>\n
Here are the three biggest winners so far.<\/p>\n
No player has generated more buzz before and during camp than George Pickens. He has consistently beaten defenders at every level of the field and already appears to have rekindled a strong chemistry with Dak Prescott that was evident last year. Perhaps even more encouraging has been his energy and competitiveness, bringing an edge to every team period.<\/p>\n
If these first two practices are any indication, Dallas continues to show they have a legitimate WR1B receiver capable of preventing defenses from focusing solely on WR1A CeeDee Lamb, and we all know what that looked like last year.<\/p>\n
The biggest takeaway has been Dak\u2019s command of the offense. There has been very little hesitation before the snap, getting the offense lined up quickly, making protection adjustments, and keeping the tempo high. Everyone has talked about the explosive start to camp for Pickens and Lamb, but someone is dealing out the passes.<\/p>\n
Prescott also hasn\u2019t been locked onto one receiver. While the Pickens connection has generated headlines, he\u2019s consistently spread the ball around to Lamb, Ryan Flournoy, Jonathan Mingo, and the tight ends. He\u2019s confidently working through progressions rather than forcing throws.<\/p>\n
Despite only having two NFL practices under his belt, the first-round rookie has appeared remarkably comfortable.<\/p>\n
Dallas has lined Downs up at deep safety, in the box, and in the slot, trusting him with multiple responsibilities against the starting offense. This alone demonstrates the coaching staff\u2019s high regard for his football intelligence.<\/p>\n
He backed up his impressive performance on Day 1 by recovering a forced fumble, and continued to impress on Day 2 with his communication, range, and versatility. The Cowboys drafted Downs with the belief that he could become the heart of their secondary. In just two practices, he has already demonstrated his ability to handle that responsibility. Just listen to Tyler Booker<\/a>, who played a season with Downs at Alabama.<\/p>\n \u201cSame guy. And that\u2019s not to say that he hasn\u2019t grown since I knew him as a freshman at Alabama,\u201d Booker said. \u201cIt just shows you how much of a grown man he was at Alabama. Not many guys start during spring ball, let alone in that secondary coached by Coach Saban. So first and foremost see him out there starting at that secondary during spring ball, and then to see how he played and raised the level of play to everybody else on that side of the ball at Alabama, I just knew he was special. I was very upset losing him after Coach Saban retired, but I\u2019m just very glad he\u2019s my teammate again here in Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian Schottenheimer deserves a mention here too. The pace, competitiveness, and overall energy around camp have been noticeably different, and his willingness to challenge players has been evident from the opening whistle.<\/p>\n Who is your top winner from camp so far?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two practices into training camp is far too early to crown breakout stars just yet, but it\u2019s enough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[30878,30877,349,99],"class_list":["post-799142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-dallas-cowboys-preseason","tag-dallas-cowboys-training-camp","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}