Training Camp Live: Kicking Things Off | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Training Camp Live: Kicking Things Off | Dallas Cowboys 2025

[Music] Welcome in to Training Camp Live, the first episode of the 2025 edition of the season. We’re back in Oxnard, California. Tommy Arsh alongside Nick Eatman. Nick, it’s that time of year again. It finally feels real. And the team drill that’s going on behind us makes it feel even more right after it. Yeah. No, absolutely. I love how you said we’re back. This is this is the first time for you, but first time for me. But hey, we got to act like I’ve been here for 20 years. Javvante Williams on that first play. Now, just to clarify, these first couple of practices until the pads get on are going to be pretty similar to what we saw in OTAAS. Non-cont, you’re going to see them saying the coaching staff saying stay up, stay up, stay up, and everybody’s going to run through the back of the end zone. Now you see Miles Sanders, the other veteran the Cowboys signed in free agency take it up the middle. Juan Thomas looked like he was there on the stop for the defense as my Sanders gets to check in. And those first two guys that we mentioned there, Nick, Javvante Williams, Miles Sanders. I think that’s kind of where we start at least looking at this running back picture for the Cowboys. Yeah, I think when you talk about the practice and how you can evaluate what to evaluate with a running back, you know, and to me, they’re obviously not going to get tackled. They’re not supposed to be. And then like you said, they’re going to try to take everyone to the house, but what are they seeing? How quick is the is the cut? What’s their vision look like? Those are the things we could be looking for. First play action from Dak Prescott. First couple of reads wasn’t there, so he gets the check down to Javvante Williams. Maris Leaf foul was there on the tackle ready for him. That’s good coverage on the back end, too. I think he was looking for George Pickkins on the post, but Pickkins wasn’t free. Yeah. So, that just goes to the checkown. Not not to be a producer here, but our our star uh videographer, Alex Lily, he knows, you know, he he’s he’s got the whole thing cover, but we’re focus on the guys on the field. This obviously the headlines are the guys not on the field, but what’s Micah Parson somewhere in between? I know we’re going to get to him in a second, but we could see him pretty much from here as far as at least he’s out here. At least he’s watching. At least he’s observing and not participating. And my Sanders this time, Jack Sandborn in on the play there. Sam Williams is back out on the practice field after we saw him usually off to the side with the rehab group. He was not on the PUP list at all there in in terms of the release that was released yesterday. You can look at cowboys.com, Dallas Cowboys.com to read up on that. But he makes the play there and it’s good to see him back out on the field, especially considering that Micah Parsons is off to the side. This will be some valuable reps for a guy who’s going into a big season. There’s no doubt about it. Anytime you see a player not practicing for whatever the reason, it opens the door for someone else. And those pass rushers, like you said, uh they’re the ones that we’re going to get a lot of reps here cuz we know what Micah can do. We we know exactly what he’s going to be able to do. We’d like to see what these other guys have got. Deuce Vaughn’s first carry and the first snap for Joe Milton, who the Cowboys acquired via trade with the New England Patriots this off season. He serves right now as the backup quarterback to Dak Prescott. just one year under his belt, one NFL start under his belt. And in that one start, albe it against the Bills second team defense essentially. He looked pretty good, Nick. He can throw it, can’t he? I I hear he can throw the ball or a tennis ball or an orange or whatever, like the whole field. I I look forward to seeing something like that here at camp. But yeah, the big thing is how does he process on the field? How does he how does he command the team? And he’s going to get a lot of reps. Dak hasn’t had a preseason snap since 2019. It won’t happen this year. So, he’s going to play a lot in preseason. There’s Jaden Blue, the fifth round pick out of Texas. Where? Right there. No. Where did he go to school? Texas. Oh, okay. Yeah. Just just in case you forgot. Uh, where’d you go to school? Texas. Oh, okay. I see where guy that a lot of people are excited about because of his speed and the what he can do in the receiving game. You saw him take the carry there. A lot of runs early in this period that we’re seeing here. So, a lot of reps for these running backs. I know Brian Shanheimer said, “Hey, we’re going to have to wait until these guys get into pads till we really start to see some movement in the running back room.” But you’re seeing it early here now. Jaylen Brooks right towards us on the sideline. Makes the grab. Nice. And albeit out of bounds, he still brought it in and message to us. It was It was easy from what he said. He goes, “This is it was easy. There was a couple of words there that we can’t say on a live broadcast.” But Brooks made the catch that would not have been I hate to be the party pooper here, but he had a foot out of bounds. So that would not have been a catching nonetheless. Amazing to you to see the feet. I was kind of looking at Jaylen Brooks to make sure I didn’t get get run over. Well, I had you in front of me as my cushion, so I knew I was going to be good either way. I got hit by Jaylen Tolbert last year and Jaylen Brooks the next day. And I would pay to see that again. All right. So, after the the deep out route there from Brooks, looks like they’ll go back on the ground and Jaden Blue bottled up in the back field there. So, early on, we’re seeing a couple of good reps from the Cowboys defense against the run. This is the second unit, but still seeing uh some positive movements there. And now it looks like the first team is coming back on the field. And Nick, you had kind of touched on it earlier, but Micah Parson’s noticeably not with this first group. He’s kind of off back to the side behind everybody, but I think you put it well. He’s out here. I I love that. Last night when when we did our ourh show when we talked about camping out and where do we want to see Micah Parsons? Obviously, you want to see him practice, but if not, at least he’s here. He’s doing it. He’s listening. He’ll be able to talk to the guys. I mean, there’s no good if you’re not out here and learning some of this defense. I love it. Another running play. This time looks like that was Javvante Will. I beg your pardon. It’s Miles Sanders. And again, you see the coaching staff emphasizing stay up. Stay up. Stay up. Trying to make sure that if you had to guess right now who’s going to be the starter. If you had to make a put your your paycheck on the line, who’s it going to be? I think it’s Javvante Williams week one just because, you know, I think Mickey put it well last night. You follow the money, you see how much they gave him and from the agency and I think that, you know, now that he’s over a year and a half recovered from his major knee injury, he might, he said he’s fully healthy, if he is, you know, maybe he can show some signs of being his rookie self a little bit where he was nearly a thousand yard rusher, over a thousand yards in scrimmage play. As you see, Cavante Turpin getting a rep at running back. Brian Shanheimer’s talking about how they’re going to move guys around and Turpin’s a guy that when he gets into the open field, nobody can really catch him. Rumor has it last season about the last what, five or six games of the year, they let Brian Shottenheimimer have a little bit more input in and some of the offensive plays. That’s when we started to see Turpin running the ball up the middle. If he gets hit, it could be a problem, but I don’t know if you can catch him. Turpin gets a carry there. Good job by Andrew Booth on the outside corner spot to kind of limit how much room he had to work with. I love this because three years ago or two years whenever he got here, we were kind of saying why you had such a weapon. Why aren’t they using him more? And I really I love the fact that they are going to use Cavante Turpin. There’s no doubt about it. He’s got a speed that you just can’t coach. You can’t and it’s hard to match. Mingo on the outside. Yeah, it looks like they’ve switched out the receiver group. So Lamb Pickins are out. Jonathan Mingo lined up to the outside isolated against Ka Elum. Prescott on play action. Flips it out. That’s Luke Skoon Maker the second round pick. The two tight ends on the field that time he and Jake Ferguson. So Dak just goes to the second round pick out of Michigan from a few years ago. And Scoon Maker who I mean we saw from Brevin Span forward early on in OTAAS and just kind of looking at the physical stature he’s got. That might be a guy that pushes Mmaker a little bit. Although he certainly had the best year of his career, I think last season and and who’s to say that he’s not going to be pushing Jake Ferguson. You know, when Jake Ferguson was out, Skoon Maker actually stepped in and did a really nice job. So, I think they’ve got great problems to have with some talented tight ends here. Joe Milton back under center. There’s Jaden Blue. The rookie Mazy Smith would have got him there on that play pretty early. That’s a good rep from Mazy Smith, who Brian Shanheimimer talked a little bit about today earlier on said that he’s right around 300 lb. So, he’s lost some weight and that he’s still a one tech, but in this defense, they’re maybe thinking about being flexible with him and really the entire group moving him back out to three sick techniques sounded like a possibility. And just more important than anything is Mazy Smith getting up the field. Right. I I want to ask you a little bit more about Jaylen Blue on the next after this play. You’ll see Joe Milton on the move here. You see the legs from Joe Milton. Couldn’t find anything and lost the football there. That was punched out. Looks like Denzel Daxon might have gotten the fist on that one. The big defensive tackle. Not sure on that. But ask you back on on Jay on Jaylen Blue. Um, you know, obviously a guy that can catch the ball out of the back field and has speed, but when it’s third and one, third and two, was did Texas ever ask him to get pick up some short yardage plays? I think last year you maybe saw a little bit more than you would have thought just because they lost their starter and Cedric Baxter for the year, but Quentvon Weisner really was their kind of uh their short yardage back and if it wasn’t him, it was a freshman, true freshman, Jerick Gibson uh that they brought out in those kinds of packages. Here’s another rookie running back in Phil Mafa out of Clemson picked up in the seventh round and he runs high, doesn’t he? He does run high and he was the bellcow for Davos Swinny and the Tigers last year when they went to the college football playoff. long career at Clemson. But going back to Jaden Blue, not really a short yardage guy much, if at all. If they do, they’re going to get him involved in the passing game on the wheel routes. Wheel routes with Jaden Blue were his specialty really. Well, he was a Texas. You look at the Ohio State game where he scores two touchdowns off of that. And then just getting him to the outside where he can try and get into as much space as possible. That’s the name of the game for Jaden Blue. And that’s where he’s going to find success at the NFL level if they get him in those spots. There’s Duce Vaughn coming at Duce Vaughn with the third group. Will Greer at quarterback. Looks like Duce got hit in the back field, but you’ll see him like we have King Bote. Yeah, Tommy King, seventh yard pick out of seventh round pick, excuse me, out of Maryland all the way down the field at defensive tackle. That’s a guy who given the number of bodies right now at defensive tackle might be able to make some noise. That right there is is the epitome of a training camp because I I’m pretty sure Deuce would have been tackled for a three-y loss in the back field. But you just keep it going. Keep running. See, you know, absolutely. It happens all the time. That’s why it’s a little bit hard to evaluate some of these positions. But you know what you the coaches know what they’re asking these guy to do these guys to do and how quickly they’re doing it. So it looks like we got the first unit back out here. So Oso Diggizua, another guy that we didn’t see too much of in OTAAS. He was kind of off to the side, still recovering a little bit, but he’s he’s in there in the middle now here at training camp. And that’s certainly a good sign for Cowboys fans. There’s a corner left corner, right corner, bland, left corner, Elum, right? Yep. No slot corner. There’s a quick throw to CD Lamb on the outside. Ker Elum with the quick tap. And it’ll be a training camp rep. So Lamb will take off with everybody. But that’s that’s the kind of play where where CD I think you know it it’s it’s how quickly you can get up the field and actually shed that tackle. I don’t think that’s a given just cuz Elum is there like you said, tapped him. I think it’s one of those that’s where CD is going to take those six, seven yard catches and make it 15 or 20. Absolutely. Those yards after the catch where he’s been really good in his career so far. Now, Cavonte Turpin and Jaylen Tolbert out at wide receiver as spinning away from a tackler there in the back field was Javvante Williams. And Dante Fowler got in the back field pretty quickly. You pointed that out, Nick. Yeah, he he certainly did. You know, I was looking at Tyler Gayton at left tackle before that and I know I I just said, “Hey, I’m fine with Micah not really practicing being out here. It’s fine, but at some point he he does need to practice and when he does, it helps these tackles knowing they’re going up against arguably the best of the game.” Now, Kaylin Carson here on the near side at cornerback. Looks like Don Bland is line up like he’s going to come on a blitz. So, Dak Prescott changing the protection up front. Brock Hoffman at center with this group and he’ll go outside. That’s Miles Sanders who gets a gap up the middle. Did I Did I tell you I my pick I if I if I had to pick I would say him. Miles Sanders. I don’t know why. It’s really one of the two I think. Yeah. I I I think he’s he you know he’s had a thousandy yard season before too um with a good offensive line in Philly and I think that he’s going to have a good offensive line here. I I just keep leaning toward him a little bit but it’s not a bad pick whatsoever. This is a guy it might be both of them just didn’t have the year this years that he wanted while he was in in Carolina the last two seasons. But in Philadelphia he turned out to be a really good back for him and he’s got the speed aspect to his game. Now it’s just a matter of can he find it again? Dak will throw here quickly and he was looking for George Pickkins who wasn’t looking for the ball. They were not on the same page and that’s the kind of reps that you want to get out of the way now so that it doesn’t happen during the season and now Brian Shenheimimer comes over immediately as does Dak Prescott to get on the same page with Pickings and you saw Prescott kind of tap his chest there and say, “Hey, that’s my bad.” That’s surprising. I was gonna I was going to go for the new guy on that one that to me that up. But sometimes that’s just a check with me at the line of scrimmage. It’s just the look. Maybe, you know, Pickkins didn’t get it. But you’re right. That’s exactly why you have training camp. That’s what it’s what you that’s what you’re out here for. Day one, you want these mistakes to get out of the way now as opposed to later as Joe Milton comes back in with the second team offense and a give to Jaden Blue. And you see some of the ability that he can do in the back field, just making guys miss. He doesn’t need a lot of room to do it. Got great got great feet and he’s able to just put his foot in the ground and for a guy his size is just so quick that he can get away from everybody. Yeah, that was a really nice play. You know, we talked about what can you evaluate with running backs out here? Stuff like that, the cuts, you know, maybe that wouldn’t have been a 15 yard gain in a real game, but it probably wasn’t going to be a three- yard loss. Exactly. Now, Deuce Vaughn in at running back. Send Raldo Farweather, the undrafted tight end out of Auburn in motion. [Music] And that one is incomplete. [Music] So, so far we’ve seen some pretty good reps from the defense here, Nick. Both against the run and through the air. The Cowboys offense hasn’t gotten too much going in the passing game. They haven’t taken as many reps there compared to runs, but nonetheless, it looks like the defense is holding up pretty well. Very active and and up the field. And that’s what that’s what an Iber Flu defense has always kind of been. It’s what Rod Marinelli’s defense were up the field. Be very active. Some with Dan Quinn, it was more hold your hold your blocks there at the line of scrimmage. With with Ilfluence, it’s more getting up the field. And so in practice, you’re going to see this a lot. But play action is also going to get them burned when you can do that. And we have seen some play action so far. There was play action from Joe Milton who tried to fire it down the sideline to Jaylen Brooks. Couldn’t get him. Looked like it sailed out of bounds. Troy Pride in on the coverage and he had pretty good coverage over there. The corner the Cowboys picked up last year from Notre Dame. He was a Yeah. was he he’s a mid-season edition I his inse pride I think was late in the season played late against Philly I know he got into a fight and got kicked out of the game um but yeah they they’ve kept him here and what a great opportunity for all cornerbacks if you’re healthy and you’re a quarterback you got a great chance here another carry for Deuce Vaughn who runs into some traffic up the middle there again Denzel Daxon making another play defensive tackle there for Dallas is looks like the first team offense that’s coming back up. And another guy that we haven’t talked too much about now on that offensive line is Tyler Booker, the first round pick out of Alabama who slots right in at right guard replacing Zack Martin. Yeah. Well, that’s that’s exactly what the plan was when when they were talking about do we take him, is he the right pick, it’s it’s it’s not when will he be ready, it’s how ready is he right now. And that’s that’s why you draft guys in the first round is really and that and that’s why the last two years Gen and Mazy, it’s been disappointing because they weren’t as ready. But usually you draft these guys in the first round, they’re ready to roll. Sam Williams lined up off the edge. Dak Prescott in the shotgun. And they look to go quick this time. He and George Pickkins are on the same page as Pickkins gets away from everybody and turns up field. And you saw a little bit of Oh, and now at the end, Don Bland punches it out. Donovan Wilson picks it up and he’s headed the other way with it. CD Lamb and Javvante Williams were ready for it. That’s going to get your defense fired up. That’s about three times we’ve seen that now where that and that’s why they they teach it, you know, ball security all the way down the field. But yeah, he was not looking that way and and that was a great play by Pickkins as far as you could see. He he takes up a lot of space quickly with his with his stride, but man, he didn’t see Don the ball hawk. Prescott now back under center play action again. Good pocket and he just dumps it short to Brevin Span four. That pass is a little bit low, but Stan Ford goes down and gets it. I mean, this is not a small guy by any means. He’s got to go a good ways to go down and pick that ball up. That’s That’s my guy. That’s the one that I think is going to be he’s going to have a a great season. Uh yeah, everybody wants to be on the show, Tommy. So, Tad Carper there, our executive vice president of communications, getting his half a second of fame. We appreciate all the hard work Tad and his team. He gets a lot more than that, you know. Oh, yeah. Every press conference, he’s the man. Now span forward though, that’s the guys I I’d say keep an eye on. I just think he’s about to have a really really good year. Prescott looked like he was initially lined up under center there and now goes back to the shotgun. This is going to be a free play. Flag comes in and looking for Ferguson in the seam and that pass is broken up by Kenneth Murray, the linebacker that the Cowboys traded for from the Tennessee Titans. He was a guy who was first round pick out of Oklahoma, I think about five years ago. spent the first four years of his career with the Los Angeles Chargers. He was the team leader in tackles this season there and last season in Tennessee. We might have seen a flag down the field, too. They would have thrown another one there. So, it was a free play, but I like that matchup for Ferguson. Ferguson on Kenneth Murray and Ferguson in the seam, too. That’s something that with Dak Prescott back under center, you’ll probably see a lot more of given how good that connection was in 2023. Prescott on the roll out. Fires it into the ground for intended for Luke Scooon Maker. And that was the second round pick. Donovan Ezrau getting in Prescott’s face. Just signed his rookie contract after a little bit of a hold up with second round picks across the league. But now you see why he was considered one of the more pro ready prospects coming out of the draft class this year at the edge rushing position. Tommy, I keep seeing the play action and and it all looks great, but if this team can’t run the football effectively, then it won’t matter. You know, the play action won’t really matter. They are going to have to run the football with how much play action they’re using. And that’s a nice run right there. Is that kind of elusive there? I just didn’t realize how tall he was. It’s the second time that I’ve noticed. I just feel like it’s not that he’s running too high. He’s just tall. He’s just a he’s just a kind of a big guy, which is a big target sometimes for defenders, but you know, Eric Dickerson was tall and and he he wasn’t bad and he and now heard of him. I think so. I think he was pretty okay, but he is the largest running back in the room pretty noticeably, I think. You know, you just kind of see him standing over there next to his teammates and he’s got a a clear size advantage now. Just does this can the speed match up enough to where it’ll make enough of a difference for him to be on this roster as you see Duce Vaughn getting the carry there. Perry and Winfrey 99 wasn’t one of the wasn’t having it. one of the defensive tackles that the Cowboys signed before training camp began. Formerly played at Oklahoma and certainly see his size and statue there standing next to Tommy King Bot, the rookie from Maryland. [Music] It’s Joe Milton in at quarterback again under center this time off of play action all day to throw can’t find anything and now we’ll take off running and so you mentioned it earlier Nick the processing portion of you see Molton a little bit frustrated with himself after that seeing things downfield getting through his reads and identifying which read is the right read that’s going to be the next step in his evolution in what is a very young career he’s only in year too. Yeah. I mean, there’s no doubt about it when you’re looking at quarterbacks, you all right, are you tall enough? Yes. Do you have the arm strength? Of course. Now, after that, can you process it? And are you understand what defenses are trying to do? And that’s like, you know, that’s something we’re seeing. But if not, can you take off and do you have the ability to to move? And he’s done that a couple times. That pass is deflected at the line of scrimmage. Winfrey, I believe. And that was Perion Winfrey. And I have to mention before we get out of here, the play before that getting out and getting Joe Milton was James Houston. The Cowboys literally just signed him after a successful try out. And so he makes a big play there. And I mean, you know, one of the plays towards the end game, he makes a play in what’s his first day with the team. That’s something worth at least monitoring forward. Of course, and I it’s one of those things where this is opportunities. You see, you have some players that aren’t going to get a ton of reps. Micah Parsons didn’t take any. That’s great for others down the line. and and you know there there’s opportunities and there’s there’s chances for some of these young guys to really uh grab a roster spot. Training Camp Live, that’s episode one. We’ll have these for you continually throughout the team’s time here in Oxnard. For Nick Eatman, I’m Tommy Y. Thanks for hanging out with us and we’ll see you soon. [Music]

Training Camp Live is back in Oxnard! Tommy Yarrish and Nick Eatman take you through some of the team portions from the Cowboys opening practice at training camp.

Subscribe to the Dallas Cowboys YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/2L07gMO
For more Cowboys content: https://www.dallascowboys.com/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dallascowboys/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dallascowboys?lang=en
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dallascowboys
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DallasCowboys/
Get the App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dallas-cowboys/id548528027