Dallas Cowboys Training Camp UPDATE: CeeDee Lamb Shines, O-Line Struggles, & Dak Looking Sharp! 🏈

Let’s take a trip to Oxnard, California, where the Dallas Cowboys have been holding training camp. And a joint practice yesterday between the Rams and the Cowboys didn’t feature one of the best defensive players in the game. Micah Parsons continues to be president camp, but has not practiced as he waits for a new deal. All the while, owner and GM Jerry Jones continues to fuel the feud between players, fans, and front office. It all culminated last week when Micah requested a trade. Jerry then told fans on Saturday, “Don’t lose sleep over it.” But changing his tune a bit yesterday, saying he’s unsure if the AllPro Edge will be available for game one against Philly. As the Cowboys fan in the room, I would like him to be available. Well, let’s get boots on the ground out in Oxnard, California, where we find our NFL reporter Garrett Podell joining us. I mean, Garrett, you know more than anybody how important Micah Parsons has been to this team. Obviously, watching him be president at camp has been important, but bring us up to speed here on these conversations that Jerry and Micah have apparently not been having. Good morning, Haley. And you’re absolutely right. That’s the key thing here is the conversations that Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones have not been having because that’s really why we’re at a stalemate here in these negotiations. Because when I spoke with Jerry Jones after practice yesterday, he was asked, “Have you spoken with Micah Parsons since his trade request on Friday?” The answer was, “No.” No. Okay. So, have you spoken to David Mulligetta, Micah Parson’s agent? No. No, I have not. Okay. So, how is this going to get done? The big sticking point, even though Jerry Jones told me there aren’t any sticking points, is they’re meeting back in March. And that’s when Micah Parsons went to Jerry Jones for what he thought was a talk about leadership, but really Jerry started throwing contract terms out at Micah Parsons. And Micah, you know, gave him a few responses, but Parsons assumed that was an informal chat. Jerry viewed that as formal because as he told me yesterday, that’s how I bought the Dallas Cowboys. He said back 1989, the deal was done with a handshake and eye contact. Well, in 2025 and player negotiations, you need it on paper. you need the agent involved to look it over. At least that’s Parson’s stance. And that’s why we’re at the stalemate here is because Jerry thought, “Okay, this is a done deal. We spoke some terms together verbally.” But Parsons wants it done in writing. Jerry has yet to reach out to Micah or his agent about this, even though Parson’s got these negotiations going in January by setting up a meeting at Jerry World for the College World Playoff semi-final game against Ohio State and Texas back on January 10th. So Micah has done everything in his power to get these talks going. He’s asked Mulligetta to call Jerry. Jerry’s got to reach out and pick up the phone. And if he doesn’t, we’re gonna stay exactly where we are here in a stalemate. It is so Jerry Jones of him to say, “Back in my day when I did this deal, it was just for a handshake.” And yet here we are and it is 2025. And to your point, Garrett, it does not work that way. You need to put pen to paper. Um, so obviously that has been the cloud over what I would say has been a really positive training camp for the team. You know, I was out there last week. I asked a lot of the guys, you know, is the vibe different? And Dak even told me, he said, “Yeah, it feels a lot different here.” So, from your perspective, you got to watch them practice against the Rams yesterday. What were your um what were your biggest takeaways there? What have we learned from that joint practice? I think there was definitely both some positive and negative to take away from the practice. We’re going to start with the glass half full positive. Dak Prescott looks great. That hamstring looks fully healed. He’s able to move around to the right and the left. and his connection with CD Lamb obviously and new Cowboy George Pickkins that’s humming. I mean whenever Lamb kind of went over the middle on some over routes that was money and and with Pickkins you can really see the trust developing in the red zone. They had a low red zone drill against the Rams defense yesterday and Dak threw up some fades to both the back left corner and back right corner. Pickins came down with both contested catches. Now both of them were called back for an illegal shift penalty. offensive pass interference, penalty, and those are things Brian Shenheimer told me they’re going to watch the film back on and correct. But it’s very clear that the connection with Lamb and Pickins can really drive this offense. I will say though on the negative side, we talked about Michael Parsons and his value, right? When he’s been on the field for Dallas since 2021 when he entered the league, the Cowboys have the highest or best defensive expected points added per play in the NFL. when he’s not on the field, they are dead last. And yesterday on the defensive side of the ball, it was very clear Parsons was gone because uh Jimmy Garopppolo was in there instead of an injured Matthew Stafford who has a back issue. But it looked like Stafford was out there. Devonte Adams, Puka Nakua, newly resigned running back Kyron Williams. They all got a lot of what they wanted yesterday against Dallas’s defense. There are some question marks on the defensive side of the ball. I will say my favorite thing that happened all day yesterday was the Joe Milton like hundredyard heave down the field to Jaylen Brooks with an incredible catch. Jaylen Brooks has always been a special player. So I’m excited uh for him to work into that offense you just talked about as well, Garrett. Uh so okay, so some good news on the offense, some questions on the defense. So let’s get into the biggest storyline on the field. We know Micah has dominated the headlines off the field, but what’s the biggest on the- field storyline, Garrett, that you’re looking at? To me, it’s the young offensive line. I mean, Dallas has invested a lot of high round picks in these guys. Left tackle Tyler Gayton, 2024 first round pick. He’s not out there because he’s got the knee bone bruise situation that he might be ready for week one, might not. Jerry Jones said, you know, he doesn’t feel like it’s all that serious when I spoke to him yesterday about Gayton. And then you have Cooper BB, second year as a full-time center at Kansas State in college. He was a guard and left tackle. You have right guard Tyler Booker, first run pick this year, learning a new position. He’s left guard, college, right guard. Now, I spoke with him after practice and he said, “We have to start faster in the run game because honestly, early on and through most of the practice, the offensive line kind of got stonewalled.” Brian Shotimer said his biggest issue was the Rams linebackers. too much color uh cuz the Cowboys wearing white jerseys, Rams, blue for defense. Too much color in the back field and he really wants the offensive line to be able to get to the second level and beat the aggressors. And more often than not, yesterday that was not the case for this young offensive line and Nate Thomas is now in there at left tack fulfilling. He was a 2024 seventh round pick. He has not played an NFL regular season game. And so I’m really interested to see how this team can improve and gel over these three preseason games because it’s going to be tough. Week one, Jaylen Carter, tough, ferocious Eagles, Super Bowl championship Dline, and Dexter Lawrence, the Giants in week two. It doesn’t get any easier for these guys. It just like I laugh only because I hear what’s on the schedule for this team and then I’m like, why is Micah not signed? But that’s a story for another day. Um, a big issue, we could talk about that for hours. Yes. Yes, we could. And we got to keep it rolling. Um Garrett, a big issue last year though of course was the run game and it’s really been an issue for the last few years. You saw Rico Dao kind of pop at the end of the season, but I believe the Cowboys had like six rushing touchdowns last year. So not good. Being out at practice, you know, you you saw the pops, right? Jaden Blue looks really good. Miles Sanders rebranding himself. Javvante Williams has been key, but the problem is that offensive line isn’t allowing them to thrive. Is that what you’re seeing out there in practice? That’s exactly what I’m seeing, Haley. I mean, honestly, in the joint practice yesterday against the Rams, I’d say maybe the best run of the day was one from the shotgun by taken by Javvante Williams, and that went maybe seven, eight yards if we’re being generous here. And so, yeah, I’ve seen Jaden Blue. He’s got some really nice wiggle. There was a run on Monday that he had in which it looked like he was stuck, but he was in a phone booth, hit a couple juke jump cuts, and he was gone for a nice run. Uh, I think the Cowboys have some talent in this running back room. blue Phil Mafa the seventh round pick out of Clemson is someone who Brian Shottenheimimer said and singled out unquestioned unprompted and said he’s somebody who’s really flashing with his vision since they’ve gotten to camp here in Oxnard but honestly the running back battle to me it’s going to be very hard to differentiate guys if the holes just aren’t there for from the offensive line so that’s something going back to what we were talking about a little earlier Haley we need to see that development there if Dallas is going to even be able to discern which running backs should be getting which touches. But Javvante Williams, who I spoke to on Monday, he’s kind of embraced being the vet leader while also competing with the young guys. And he’s the early RB1 here entering the first preseason game. I am hoping that we can get it together because that week one game is coming quick. I believe there’s 30 days until the Cowboys kickoff against the Eagles. Garrett, we know you will be on top of all the storylines and all the conversations coming out of Oxnard, California. We appreciate your time this morning. Of course, we know the Cowboys getting their preseason action underway this Saturday in Los Angeles. Going to take on Shawn McBay’s Rams there 7 o’clock Eastern. And then it only gets trickier going forward. The following week, they’ve then got the Ravens August 16th. They wrap up preseason play for the with the Falcons. But remember guys, the first two weeks of the season, Eagles in prime time to start the season, and then they play the Giants. And it only gets harder in the second half of the season. It all means that football is returning to CBS on Sundays. It all begins September 7th. Make sure you check your local listings and you can also stream on Paramount Plus.

Garrett Podell joins CBS Sports HQ with updates on Dallas Cowboys’ training camp.

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