Cowboys Prepare For Camp
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IRVING, Tex. — Although the Dallas Cowboys begin training camp practice July 24 in Oxnard, Calif., the Big D will be foremost in their mind. That’s D as in defense, of which they showed very little last season.
In fact, the Cowboys had the worst defense in the league last year, giving up more yards than any in team history.
But wait, there’s more …
There is a chance the defense could be even worse in 2014, considering the Cowboys lost proven stars in defensive end DeMarcus Ware and defensive tackle Jason Hatcher and then lost their best remaining defensive player and team leader in middle linebacker Sean Lee to a torn ACL.
The team will head to the River Ridge Playing Field in Oxnard devoid of proven playmakers and proven leaders. And the Cowboys still have no answers in the secondary at safety, which was an Achilles heel in 2013 as well. No defensive lineman on the roster has more than seven sacks in a season. The remaining members of the linebacker corps have 7.5 career sacks and two career interceptions combined. The safeties on the roster have one career interception combined.
Players are scheduled to show up in Oxnard on July 23, the day before the first practice. On Aug. 12-13, the Oakland Raiders will visit for what has, in the past, become spirited, two-team workouts.
Before camp ends on Aug. 15, the Cowboys especially hope to have
their situation settled at free safety, where J.J. Wilcox, Matt Johnson and Jeff Heath are battling for the starting job opposite strong safety Barry Church.
Wilcox, a third-round pick in 2013, will get the first shot, but remains a raw prospect who played only one year at the position in college after moving over from offense. His development was impacted as a rookie due to a death in the family and a mid-season injury.
Johnson has yet to play a game since being taken in the fourth round of the 2012 draft. He must get healthy and have a full camp so he finally can live up to his potential. He is the ideal cover free safety if he can find a way to stay on the field.
Heath started nine games last year because of injuries after joining the team as an undrafted free agent.
At cornerback Morris Claiborne has a lot to prove. The 2012 first-round pick has been a huge disappointment his first two years with the Cowboys. Billed as the best cornerback prospect since Deion Sanders, Claiborne has only two interceptions in 25 games. He has battled leg and shoulder injuries that cost him games, but his play was such a disappointment that the Cowboys benched him last year for Orlando Scandrick.
Claiborne is finally healthy, but he remains behind Scandrick on the depth chart. Claiborne made a point to get stronger and bigger in the offseason and is focused on proving to the Cowboys he was worth the sixth overall pick. He has a lot of work to do as the Cowboys must decide whether to exercise what is expected to be a $10 million fifth-year option on his contract after the season.
The team is closely watching rookie cornerback Terrance Mitchell, a seventh-round pick (254th overall) out of Oregon. Only two players were drafted later than Mitchell, on whom the Cowboys had a mid-round grade. So did NFLDraftScout.com, which rated him as a fourth-round prospect and listed him 127th overall.
He seems to be a natural at corner despite lack of great speed and has a shot at challenging Scandrick and Claiborne. His main competition comes from B.W. Webb, who was a disappointment as a fourth-round pick last year, and Sterling Moore.
Starting quarterback Tony Romo should be ready to go for training camp after being limited in the offseason due to December back surgery. It was his second back surgery in as many seasons. But unlike last year when he didn’t do anything in the offseason and came into camp out of shape, he is ahead of schedule and the Cowboys have actually held him back to be on the safe side.
The Cowboys remain committed to Romo, which is why they passed on Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel in the draft. They believe Romo has many more years left and can build off last season’s strong performance when he had 31 touchdown passes and just 10 interceptions thanks to an influx of new ideas from new offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.
“Obviously we believe Tony Romo is an elite quarterback and you put the supporting cast with him, that’s why we picked (offensive lineman) Zack Martin,” vice-president Stephen Jones said. “I think we’re better in the offensive line and you’d hope so if you spent the 16th pick in the draft on one of the better offensive linemen in the draft. You’d like to hope you’re better. And we were pretty good last year and I think we’ll move that up to where you say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance to have an elite offense.'”
The Cowboys averaged 27.4 points per game last year. But they averaged only 341.1 yards per game, which was 16th, while converting just 35 percent of their third-down chances. The Cowboys believe Linehan will make a difference as the new offensive play-caller, taking over for Bill Callahan.
“I think he brings a different look,” Jones said. “After a while when it’s been Jason’s offense and Bill ran Jason’s offense and called the plays in Jason’s offense but at the end of the day we’d been doing that for a while. I think now to add wrinkles and add things to it, I don’t think it’s going to be, when people get ready to play us, that they know exactly what to expect now.”
The training camp concern is the backup quarterback. The Cowboys have Brandon Weeden, whom they signed on March 17, five days after he was cut from the Cleveland Browns, who took him with the No. 22 overall pick in 2012.
Coaches liked what they saw from Weeden in OTAs and minicamp and believe he can handle the job. Weeden completed only 52.8 percent of his passes last season (473 snaps), but the Cowboys believe he may just need a fresh start in a new system.
Finally, there is reason to expect a big season out of wide receiver Dez Bryant because he is in the final year of his rookie deal, worth only $1.78 million in 2014.
Bryant is coming off his first Pro-Bowl season and is considered one of the elite receivers in the league. He is eyeing a new deal before or during the season.
Here is a snapshot of the Cowboys lineup going into training camp:
QUARTERBACKS: Starter – Tony Romo. Backup – Brandon Weeden.
RUNNING BACKS: Starters – DeMarco Murray, FB Tyler Clutts. Backups – Lance Dunbar, Ryan Williams, Joseph Randle, FB J.C. Copeland.
TIGHT ENDS: Starter- Jason Witten. Backups – Gavin Escobar, James Hanna, Jordan Najvar.
WIDE RECEIVERS: Starters – Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams. Backups – Cole Beasley, Dwayne Harris, Devin Street, Tim Benford, Chris Boyd, LaRon Byrd, Jamar Newsome, L’Danian Washington.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: Starters – LT Tyron Smith, LG Ron Leary, C Travis Frederick, RG Zack Martin, RT Doug Free. Backups – G Mackenzy Bernadeau, G Brian Clarke, G Andre Cureton, G Tyronne Green, G Ronald Patrick, G Uche Nwaneri, T Josh Aladenoye, T Darius Morris, T Jermey Parnell, T John Wetzel.
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: Starters – LE George Selvie, NT Nick Hayden, UT Henry Melton, RE DeMarcus Lawrence. Backups -T Terrell McClain, T Tyrone Crawford, T Ben Bass, T Ken Bishop, E Jeremy Mincey, E Anthony Spencer, E Ben Gardner, E Caesar Rayford, T Amobi Okoye, T Chris Whaley.
LINEBACKERS: Starters – WLB Bruce Carter, MLB Justin Durant, SLB Kyle Wilber. Backups – MLB Anthony Hitchens, OLB Devonte Holloman, OLB Cam Lawrence, MLB Orie Lemon, OLB Keith Smith, OLB Will Smith, OLB Joe Windsor, OLB Dontavis Sapp.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: Starters – CB Brandon Carr, CB Orlando Scandrick, S Barry Church, S J.J. Wilcox. Backups – CB Morris Claiborne, CB Terrance Mitchell, CB Sterling Moore, CB Tyler Patmon, CB Dashaun Phillips, S Matt Johnson, S Jeff Heath, S Jakar Hamilton, S Ahmad Dixon, CB Ryan Smith.
SPECIAL TEAMS: K Dan Bailey, LS L.P. Ladouceur, P Chris Jones, KR-PR Dwayne Harris
