Training Camp Live: Testing the Limits | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Training Camp Live: Testing the Limits | Dallas Cowboys 2025

[Music] Hope you enjoyed some extra training camp live on Tuesday. We are back for Thursday’s practice here in Oxnard, California, presented by American Airlines. He’s Tommy Yarish. I’m Kyle Yman’s. We’ve got some red zone drills coming up very, very soon. Let’s get to the field early on in practice. We’ve seen a lot of run offense getting that rushing game going early. Here are the ones going with Dak Prescott back behind center and they go right back to the ground. An opportunity for Javvante Williams. We’ve seen a lot of Jaden Blue, a lot of Phil Mafa. It’s been fun to watch the ground game and the physicality here in the early portions. Yeah, a chance for these younger guys to get some more reps with Miles Sanders still being sidelined. So, you know, you mentioned Jaden Blue and Phil Mafa, a guy that Brian Sottenheimer has had nothing but ausive praise for that time. Javvante Williams takes advantage just like Sanborn might have tripped over himself there the linebacker and that allowed Javvante Williams to get a little bit more than initially you probably would have thought but overall the Cowboys struggled yesterday on Tuesday I should say against the Rams to to establish the run and you know so far in these drills they’re they’re kind of having the same problem. You also get a chance to see this offensive line of Johnny Cornelius getting tangled up with a defensive tackle there. Jaden Blue is down behind the line of scrimmage. Still on his hind quarters and has yet to get up. Yeah, that’s the last thing you want to see. Jaden Blue has been playing so well. He’s a guy this team is counting on. He’s still down as the training staff is attending to him. They turn down the music for injuries like that where a guy remains on the field. They’ve turned down the music. They’ve moved the ball up a little bit to keep the drill going, but he is up and walking back behind. Yeah, obviously hope that Jaden’s okay and just something that they can shake off and get back onto the field pretty quickly, especially with a big week ahead. Here’s a roll out from Joe Milton. He’ll throw on the run. Ryan finds Ryan Fenoy and then it gets poked out almost immediately. Not sure if he made a football move to keep control or not. Either way, that ball jarred free. Good play from the beat defensive back and Mike Smith. Yeah, a hell of a play from the undrafted free agent Mike Smith. You know, we haven’t said his name a lot here at camp. That’s really the first time that that he’s come through and flashed. And so, you know, if you’re going to do that and leave an impression, uh, this is the week that you want to do it, right? This is the time that you want to do it and be able to make a name for yourself going into these preseason reps. It might have been Clark. I I actually couldn’t get a good look. They have the jersey rolled up. It’s either 38 or 39. I think that was Mike Smith. It was 39. It was Okay. I I’ll I’ll believe you. Both Clark and Smith, undrafted free agents, and both have flashed at times, but like you said, for the most part, they have uh they’ve been in the back end of the depth chart at the safety position. Now, there’s another offensive player down right at the line of scrimmage. That’s Dakota Shepley. Shepley, the 30-year-old out of Canada, spent a couple years here with the Cowboys on that offensive line, mostly with a practice squad, and now he’s down following this run drill. Yeah, this is uh that’s a position that the Cowboys have been banged up in is the offensive line. So, you know, th that position and cornerback really the two spots that you don’t want to you don’t want to lose a lot of bodies. It’s just because they’re already thin in that room and so you know with him and Jaden Blue obviously you hope that uh there’s not too much to be concerned about there. So Milton moving closer. They’re starting at the 15 yd line here motioning Jaylen Craropper behind the line as Craropper takes the hand off from Joe Milton. We talked about crossraining these players. Guys like Turpin, guys like Craropper now getting some decent reps at the running back spot. Yeah. And Jaylen Craropper is a guy who has done really well in training camp before. And so, you know, now it’s just all about getting into the season and doing the same things, right? When you get those onfield opportunities. Hasn’t had a lot of them, but nonetheless. All right. Now, we move into a little bit of red zone work here for the Dallas Cowboys in the first team offense. Dak Prescott, let’s go. Back behind center as they start actually just outside the red zone. And they started at the 30 yd line and then it was a quick completion to Javvante Williams that started the drill. And now it’s an opportunity from the 23 yd line, 24 yd line for Dak out of the shotgun. Quick completion in the flat to Jaylen Craropper. Craropper turns up field. They called him down after a first down right around that 15 yd line. Yeah, again, Jaylen Craropper, a guy who’s done so much in training camp for the Cowboys, but you got to put it together in the preseason so you get those onfield opportunities in the regular season. With how deep this Cowboys wide receiver room is, too, that that becomes all the more important. Did see an update. Jaden Blue was carded into the tent, has not gone back to the locker room quite yet, but we saw that injury to start training camp live. He is now in the tent still being attended to by the Cowboys training staff. Here’s Dak directing traffic. And they may have to reset here. It’s tough to communicate down here. This music is a little extra loud at this point in the practice field because you’ve got the speaker right at the end zone where they’re going into it. I’m sure that’s by design trying to keep the noise up at this point in practice. Here’s [Music] Blue with Lipkkey outside the line of scrimmage. Luke Scoo maker in there as well. Play action. Turn back. There’s CD Lamb. CD Lamb’s going to take off. He’s got blockers in front and Lamb. They’ll call him down inside the five. Not sure if that was designed that misdirection all the way through, but it worked out because nobody was on the left side of the field covering 88. Yeah. No, that’s uh never going to end very well for opposing defenses or in this case the Cowboys defense just because of how good CD Lamb is after the catch. All right, on we go. The second team now taking some snaps after CD Lamb had that big long touchdown grab early. Now it’s Joe Milton out there with a couple of guys that have been on the Cowboys recently. Turpin and Brooks, some veterans out of this Cowboys offense. They go to the ground with Phil Mafa. Yeah, Phil Mafa going to be a guy that in this practice is probably going to get some more run. We just saw Jaden Blue uh get carded to the injury tent initially and then walked off the field uh and into the Cowboys back area towards the locker room under his own power. So, that’s a good sign. But, nonetheless, you know, this is a team that’s playing two days from now. So, that’s going to be a player that they certainly wanted to get some snaps in game action and obviously hope that Jaden’s okay. Now a rotation of guys on the defensive side as well. Guys like Tyrus Wheat, Marshon Nean, Kean Hall as Hall covers Turpin here. That’ll be a fun rep. Milton lops it up back of the end zone looking for Jaylen Craropper who can’t get there. It was Israel Muamu who was covering. Yeah, that was from Joe Milton. That time it was just throw it up and hope that Craropper can get beat his man there. Not a terrible place to put that ball right along the back of the end zone so that only your receiver can get it. your corner is going to have to make a really tough play if they want to pick that off and uh you know more of a more of a kind of a throwaway there where it’s not really a high-risisk throw because of where that ball is placed and Cropper just couldn’t get under it. So they’ll reset the ball for the first teamers at the 19 or no 24 yd line. They move it back a little bit. First team offense out there. We’ll see how many of these guys actually play on Saturday. Brian Shottenheimimer, non-committal when it comes to starters playing in the preseason, said there’s an opportunity to maybe see some, but for the most part, you’ll see a lot of the young guys get those reps. So, these are quality quality reps for the guys at the top of the depth chart. Mingo’s in the formation out wide. Play action to Williams over the middle, wide open, Luke Skoo Maker. One man to beat. It’s Donovan Wilson. I think the power from Sko Maker may have pushed him into the end zone there. Yeah, if that’s a real game setting, that’s going to score, too. Uh he was wide open across the middle. Looks like uh the Cowboys defense got caught in their zone concept and somebody missed their assignment here on the near side of the field towards us that Skoon Maker was walked into the end zone. They just had nobody in front of him except for Wilson who closed late. And even that late closing, like you said, if the physicality is there from Sko Maker, he’s going to push toward the goal line. You want to see a big year from Luke Skoo Maker. Good to see him have some success with the first team. Williams remains in with Tolbert and Lamb. Ferguson to the near side. Low snap to Dak. Pressure off the edge from kneeling. Threw it in the ground and in. Jake Ferguson down. Oh man, that was a tough blindside hit from Kenneth Muran. He he knew it immediately. Yeah, the entire defense quickly over to check on Ferguson. He went down quick at the goal line. All right, so Jake Ferguson able to walk off on his own power. It looks like he’ll make his way behind the team drill. We’ll see how quickly he’s checked up on by the staff and if he’s able to return. Definitely a scary moment at the goal line for the new $52 million man. Similar formation here for the first team. Guys like CD Lamb and Cavante Turpin as they put Lamb in motion. They fake it to Lipkkey. Here’s Skoo Maker on the edge. Nice thud there from Maris Bell as he’s pushed out of bounds at the one. Yeah, and good job from Bell to keep him out of the end zone there and, you know, escort him to the sideline as quickly as he could. But good stuff here from the Cowboys offense, right? Every yard is going to matter in this area and you want to just set yourself up as close as possible. And now let’s see if they maybe try to lean on the run game a little bit here and try to punch this in that way. You got Lipkkey lined up to the right of Dak. The situation is third down and goal from the two. So they need to score here in order to continue the drill for the offense or at least the first team offense. Here goes Scoo Maker. Works in motion to the inside of CD Lamb. Dak left side. There’s Turpin open on the goal line. And that one would be six. Yep. Wide open that time again. And you know again in that zone concept guys just being caught off of their assignments looked like Thomas is playing a little bit too inside that time and that allowed Turpin to just go out quickly and you know when he’s got a little bit of space to work with it doesn’t take a lot to to get him the ball because he’s going to be able to separate. Second team back out Brock Hoffman Johnny Cornelius Jaylen Brooks John Stevens in the huddle with Joe Milton. Good to see Joe Milton back. He inj injured that thumb on Tuesday against the Rams. Was unable to finish practice but just as coach Shottenheimimer alluded to. You got to see him available for Saturday. There’s a catch though. Holden in the middle of the defense and he walks in. Yeah, Tan Holden this past week has really been his best so far here at Cowboys camp. I think that’s his fourth touchdown in the last couple of practices. You know, this is a guy as an undrafted free agent that didn’t get a big signing bonus necessarily and you know, sometimes that’s indicative, but he’s made some plays, man. He’s made some plays. He’s in a familiar spot with Junior Adams as collegiate wide receivers’s coach, and it seems like he is very comfortable in this offense right now. Originally walked up to the line of scrimmage with a play call, but they have to retreat back and clarify the call. Actually move the ball up a little bit here on the drill as well. How much are fans going to see of Joe Milton during this week of game play and practice now that he’s back and healthy? Oh, a lot of it. A lot of it. Because right now is your backup quarterback and he’s only in his second year in the NFL. He’s played one NFL game. And so you think about Cooper Rush and all the time that he spent in Dallas. He had so many games under his belt and now you’re getting the complete inverse of that in Joe Milton. So as many reps as he can get in the preseason and right now in practice, it’s going to be vital for his career. That’s a nice play there from Elijah Clark. Yeah, Clark over the top of Jaylen Brooks. That ball right at the ground. Brooks had to go down to the ground to have a shot at it. Taking a look at this second team defense. Some big names out there that are looking for starting spots like Mwamu, wheat, even Perry on Wimhrey in the defensive formation. As Milton checks at the line of scrimmage, he’s showing more confidence in his line calls prior to the snap. Phil Mafa now flips sides. And now they’re going to reset. Yeah, this is a couple of times that the Cowboys have had to reset at the line of scrimmage. which I know they’re not afraid to do it, but you know, at this point in camp, you know, it for it to happen as many times as it has, you know, you’re you’re going to want to see less of this as as time goes on. And sometimes it’s a check by the coaching staff. They want to check that the calls right, that that’s been relayed the right way, that Milton was able to portray that to the guys. It’s like a progress report. That one passes the progress report. Nice throw from Milton to Brooks in the back corner. And to clarify that, you know, those checks are necessary, right? And more of my point is in a game setting, you’re probably not going to be able to do that most times. So you want to be able to make those checks, have your quarterback be able to make those checks and then make plays like that. It’s a great ball from Joe Milton in the back of the end zone. Jaylen Brooks. So now flipping field, Dak Prescott and the Ones back out here for some extra team drills. Oh, he got somebody to jump offside. Osa Odigizua creating the free play. would have been a free play and Donovan Wilson got the could have, should have, would have been interception. But yeah, that’s just a let’s do that over. A lot of those they just want to blow dead because they don’t want to waste the play call. They want to get right back up to the line and either do it again or not. Also, Diggy Zua uh looks like his punishment was some push-ups after that and now he’s off on this rep. Just a quick update though, earlier in training camp live, we saw Jake Ferguson walk off to the side and take an injury timeout. He’s he went back into the drill. He was back in the formation following the injury timeout as this one’s completed the lamb, but then now has walked off to the injury tent and he is being evaluated by the Cowboys training staff. So, at least a good sign to see him back in the drill, but then he turns right back around and he’s now back being evaluated. And he just got taken back to the Cowboys locker room, too. So, that’s Jake Ferguson and Jaden Blue in the same practice. Obviously, two players that were are going to play vital roles for the Cowboys this season. So, you obviously hope that they’re okay. Ferguson looked like he popped back up and uh would have been good, but you know, his head kind of snapped back pretty quick. So, if it’s a concussion in the NFL, you know, I don’t want to theorize or anything like that, but they’re going to thoroughly look through that kind of stuff nowadays. Well, the good thing is is he doesn’t need to be ready for this weekend, whereas Jaden Blue may have needed to be ready for this weekend as this one’s complete underneath to Luke Skoo Maker. Marshon Nean did a good job there at collapsing the pocket and they blew that play dead. I think they would have given him the sack there. Nean’s had a really good day today. He had a couple of reps earlier that we saw where he was getting in the back field and collapsing the pocket a little bit on Dak Prescott. So, he’s a guy that kind of started out really strong here in Oxnard and somewhat quiet down a little bit, but now today uh back out there and just got a sack there. Brock Hoffman, second team offense back up there. Joe Milton goes under center. Defense showing some pressure. Play action bootleg and there goes Milton. He’ll throw on the run behind his target and this one incomplete. Good opportunity for Fairweather to make a grab, but man, he was hit immediately. Yeah. Shamar James, the rookie linebacker out of Florida. We’ve seen him get some run with the ones in the last couple of practices here with the twos. That’s a good job of punching that ball free and not giving Fairweather a chance to reel it in. The pass a little bit behind him and then that bobble is what ultimately caused James to close in and punch it free. Those two may have had a collision or two before. James coming from Florida as a rookie. Raldo Farweather coming from Auburn as a rookie. A little SEC action between the two firstear players. Once again, play action. Milton with plenty of time here looking for Ryan Fenoi. No, it falls incomplete. Fenoy actually kept it off the ground, but he was out of bounds. Yeah. Yeah. That rule of cool says that’s a catch, but unfortunately the NFL doesn’t abide by that. Good job from Fenoy, you know, just concentrating through the end of that play, right? Collapse into double coverage. Maris Leif was closing in in front of him pretty quickly and still able to find a way to hold on to that football, albeit out of bounds. So, not going to count, but nonetheless, you know, you’ll take that as a wide receiver. Well, and I like the throw from Joe Milton, too. That was double coverage and he dropped it in only the spot where his wide receiver could get it. Screen to Cavante Turpin. Turpin trying to turn up field. He’s met quickly. Yeah, that time Cavante Turpins put your foot in the ground and hit the spin move the other way. Didn’t work as well as it did in Washington last year, but it’s all right. It’s never it’s not going to work that way all the time. They just got him on the quick tunnel screen. Didn’t really have great blocking downfield. They got uh closed on pretty quickly there. A lot of fun play action. A lot of good looks in the passing game during this drill. Lots of reps for these twos as well. And again, Milton back in the shotgun. Pressure from Wheat goes underneath to Phil Mafa. Touched up by both Hall and Clark before he could get to the second level. Yeah, you know, we talked earlier about the injury to Jaden and Blue and obviously hoping that he’s okay. But Mafa’s got a shot here now to to show to prove himself in these snaps that you’re going to see not just in this practice, but throughout the preseason. And Brian Shanheimer really likes what he’s got in this kid from Clemson. you know, out of all the running backs in the room, he is certainly the stockiest just in terms of pure size. I mean, he’s a massive human being. So, you combine that with the fact that they’ve got some smaller guys around him and maybe he carves out a role for himself just because of how he’s built. Javvante Williams is the tailback straight behind Dak Prescott with Skoon Maker to the left. Pickins outside as well. CD is to the far side as the ones take over. Play action. Prescott good block from Cooper BB to keep Azaraku off his hip pocket and it allows for the completion to CD Lamb. Yeah, that’s why the Cowboys invested in their offensive line. When you give Dak Prescott that much time and he’s got the array of receivers that he’s got around him, he’s going to be able to make plays down the field for you. And there you see uh Cooper BB come pulling back to stop Ezrau who was closing in fast. That’s a good rep from Ezaraku, but better job by the secondyear center of keeping Prescott up, giving him a clean pocket, and allowing him to step into the throw. One of the elements Azaraku was missing in that joint practice with the Rams Tuesday were the extra moves, not just the bull rush. We’ve seen those extra pass rush moves today as he goes up against Nate Thomas here. Prescott to Williams in the flat. Look at the block out front from TJ Bass on Mazy Smith. He took Mazy for a ride all the way out to the 45. Yeah, that was a good rep there from Javvante Williams who had a pretty solid scrimmage at times in what was a very hard day for the Cowboys offense as a whole running the football. I think he had the best run of the day. You know, you only single out maybe three or four good runs from the Cowboys the other day against the Rams, but Williams certainly had the best one. Found the gap, hit it hard, and was able to turn upfield. And that time, you see what he can do in the receiving game. remember his rookie season in Denver. He’s a pretty solid receiver for the Broncos out of the back field. Now, if he gets the early reps in Dallas, let’s see if he can do the same. Beltie snap for Prescott. Protection broke down. Osa Odigi Zuo was quickly in the back field, but he does complete it to Lipkkey on the far side. Yeah, we just talked about how Cooper BB had a great rep a couple of plays ago. That time he kind of got thrown back by Oso Diggizua collapsed the pocket and got to Dak Prescott for a wouldbe sack. That’s a heck of a play, man. That’s why you That’s why they paid him the big bucks to to stick around in the middle of this defense. Couple more reps here as we wrap up training camp live presented by American Airlines. TJ Bass getting these left guard reps. No Tyler Smith in the fold for this drill. Smith has been in and out of the lineup throughout practice today. It’s off to the side currently. Yeah, that’s just to manage his workload and really just more maintenance. We asked Brian Shanheimer about that the other day. Shouldn’t be anything terribly concerning. Just making sure that he’s in uh in good shape because obviously they’re going to need him in week one against Philadelphia. Some new names on the defense. Pride Childris along with Rochelle out there along with the first team defense. Prescott quickly had to get rid of it. It’s tipped in the air by Turpin and he finds it right in front of Maris Bell. Thank you very much. Look what I found. Yeah, Maris Bell just didn’t turn to see that the ball was hanging in the air. He was worried about uh tackling Turpin and making sure that he got down and so didn’t see it hanging up there and then Turpin with the good concentration to be able to find it and reel it in. So, we’ll go ahead and wrap things up here on Training Camp Live presented by American Airlines. Once again, alongside Tommy Yarish, I’m Kyleman’s. Let me take these sunglasses off so I can look you in the face. So, lots of learning. I mean, lots of physicality today. We saw a couple guys go down due the injury. That’s going to happen in training camp, but that’s really the point that Brian Shottnimer is trying to make. Yeah, and I will say this, a positive thing on the injury fair. We just saw Jaden Blue walk back out onto the field. He’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt, not in his game uniform, so he won’t return today, but a good sign that he’s at least back out here and walking. He’s able to walk under his own power. But yeah, Brian Shot wants this to be a very physical camp. With that, you run the risk of things like what happened today happen, right, where your guys get banged up or hit pretty hard. So, it’s just something that if this is how Brian Shot wants to practice, he’s going to have to live with the risk of that. And obviously, you just hope that everybody’s okay. And that’s part of the 11 on 111 nature of this camp, too. There’s more guys to trip over, more guys to get caught up with, and it’s going to continue as camp continues throughout these next couple of weeks. Remember, Saturday, Cowboys, Rams, preseason football. It’ll be a 6 pm start time central on CBS 11 and the Dallas Cowboys Television Network. Tommy Yarish will be on Countdown to Kickoff with us for a segment going into kickoff. Of course, that’ll start at 3 Pacific and 5 central. For Alex Lillly, Tommy Yarish, I’m Kyleman. We’ll see you next time with more training camp live. [Music]

Thursday’s practice in Oxnard was one that featured a substantial amount of contact, and a few injuries because of it. Both redzone and passing portions of practice were loaded with star-power, but also some stoppage. Kyle Youmans and Tommy Yarrish navigate through the tough practice in SoCal.

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