The Dallas Cowboys are done in Oxnard. They are back home ahead of their preseason game this Saturday with the Ravens and then conclude training camp in Frisco. The annual excursion to California is a time-honored tradition, but the change of scenery at this midpoint (more or less) of training camp also offers a perfect time for players to evaluate how they\u2019re doing. Here are the biggest winners and losers from Oxnard.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the biggest winner of training camp so far has been Zion Childress, the undrafted rookie out of Kentucky who primarily played safety in college. He\u2019s been getting work at cornerback in camp, both on the outside and in the slot, and has routinely turned heads.<\/p>\n
In the last two weeks, Childress was doing so well that he began to get frequent reps with the first team. The caveat here is that Childress likely wouldn\u2019t be seeing those reps if Trevon Diggs or Shavon Revel (or even Caelen Carson) were healthy, but nonetheless, Childress has done nothing but run with the opportunity he\u2019s been given. His performance against the Rams was especially good.<\/p>\n
As the Cowboys head home, Childress has done as much as he possibly could at this point to lock up a roster spot. Not only that, but he may even be on the field to start the regular season in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Another undrafted free agent who\u2019s well on his way to making the roster, Traeshon Holden was a bit of a surprise to fall out of the draft. The former Oregon receiver signed with Dallas not long after, reuniting with his college position coach, Junior Adams. That familiarity has seemingly paid off.<\/p>\n
Holden, who stands at 6\u20192\u201d, has made several big plays throughout camp and consistently stood out among some of the other receivers competing for a roster spot.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys don\u2019t have a ton of open spots at wide receiver right now, but Holden is making a pretty convincing argument to be included. He led the team in receiving against the Rams with just two catches. If he keeps it up, Holden can cement his status.<\/p>\n
When the Cowboys first traded for George Pickens, the general consensus around the league was that he had all the talent but it was unclear if the former Steelers receiver had the focus or drive to consistently play up to his talent level. The hope in Dallas was that Pickens would have a more stable locker room, led by Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, to keep him centered.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re obviously still very early in the year, but all signs from Oxnard point to a resounding yes. Pickens has quickly picked up the offense, and his chemistry with Prescott came on strong in the final two weeks. Pickens has created multiple highlight clips leaping over defensive backs to pull down 50\/50 balls.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also built a strong bond with Lamb, who could also be listed as a winner here. The two appear to be in sync, and that is more than the Cowboys ever could\u2019ve asked for. If this lasts, the Cowboys will have one of the most potent wide receiver duos in the league.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys acquired Jack Sanborn and Kenneth Murray in the offseason, with both seeming likely to start at linebacker until DeMarvion Overshown is able to reach full health. One (Sanborn) is a Matt Eberflus disciple while the other (Murray) is a former first-round pick with crazy athleticism.<\/p>\n
Yet the linebacker who\u2019s arguably showed up the most thus far is second-year pro Marist Liufau. The former Notre Dame thumper came on strong last year after Overshown\u2019s tragic injury, and he seems to have gotten even better. He also finished the Rams game with the third-highest defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, and the highest of any linebacker.<\/p>\n
Granted, Sanborn and Murray didn\u2019t play in that game, but Liufau showed more than enough to suggest he should be just as much in the mix as those two. Eberflus has a background as a linebacker coach himself, and that seems to have helped Liufau reach a new level.<\/p>\n
Another former first-round pick on another team who found his way to Dallas this offseason is Kaiir Elam. The former Florida cornerback struggled to live up to expectations in Buffalo, and he\u2019ll play the final year of his rookie deal with the Cowboys. After what we\u2019ve seen in Oxnard, Elam will do so as a starter, too.<\/p>\n
Coming into training camp, Elam had been turning heads already, but with so many injuries at cornerback he had ample reps with the first team. Day after day, Elam stacked highlight plays and quickly cemented himself as the most impressive defensive back in Oxnard, even ahead of DaRon Bland.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s huge for the Cowboys, too, given the increased likelihood that both Diggs and Revel will not be on the field in Week 1. Elam\u2019s emergence has guaranteed the team will have at least two reliable corners on hand, if not more.<\/p>\n
Anticipation was high for Joe Milton, and rightfully so. The former Tennessee star looked very impressive in his Week 18 start for the Patriots last year, leading an upset win over the Bills, and Brian Schottenheimer planned on giving Milton plenty of reps in the preseason games.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s become clear that Milton is still very much the developmental player he was regarded as in the draft last year. Nobody is questioning his arm strength, but Milton still has issues with touch and accuracy. Furthermore, he was shown up by Will Grier in that same game. The book isn\u2019t closed on Milton\u2019s QB2 campaign, but he has work to do going forward.<\/p>\n
It almost feels unfair to rag on Mazi Smith here. For the third time in as many years in Dallas, Smith has been asked to drastically alter his body. Once again, he\u2019s had to cut down his weight to be closer to 300 pounds, and once again he\u2019s being asked to play a variety of roles on the defensive interior.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t go well for Smith in his rookie year, and so far it doesn\u2019t appear to be going well this time around either. Smith was routinely pushed around in the Rams game, which has unfortunately become a common sight in practices as well. Of course, losing 30 pounds or so will do that. Either way, though, Smith isn\u2019t having the camp he needed to.<\/p>\n
The bad news for Trevon Diggs started when the Cowboys decided to dock him $500,000 for not working out in Dallas this offseason. Then, in the opening press conference in Oxnard, Jerry Jones all but said they did so because they feared Diggs wasn\u2019t taking his rehab seriously, and also seemed to admit regret over extending Diggs when he did.<\/p>\n
As if to hammer home that point, Diggs has not been able to get on the practice field to this point. After some short-lived optimism in the summer that Diggs would be ready to go by Week 1, it now seems like a near-lock that he\u2019ll miss at least the first couple of games. Combine that with the ascension of Kaiir Elam, Zion Childress, and even Israel Mukuamu, and it\u2019s hard to feel like things have gone well for the former interception king.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys seem to know their top four wideouts already – Jalen Tolbert and KaVontae Turpin will split that third receiver role alongside the two stars – which leaves one or two roster spots left for six guys to fight over. The one who\u2019s stood out the most is Traeshon Holden, but other guys – like Jonathan Mingo, Josh Kelly, and Ryan Flournoy – have had their moments.<\/p>\n
One name that\u2019s been eerily quiet, though, is Jalen Brooks. A bigger receiver, Brooks had carved out a role on special teams and as a reliable run blocker on offense in the last two years. However, he\u2019s struggled to stand out from the crowd in Oxnard, and in the Rams game he managed just two receptions for 26 yards. He\u2019ll need to show more than that to remain on the roster.<\/p>\n
Fan support for Luke Schoonmaker has never been particularly high, but it\u2019s waned even more this summer. The surprise extension of Jake Ferguson all but guaranteed Schoonmaker will never be more than TE2 in Dallas, and on top of it all, he appeared to have been passed by Brevyn Spann-Ford before the latter suffered an injury early in camp.<\/p>\n
Schoonmaker is entering his third year in the league, but he\u2019s yet to flash the talent that made him the 58th overall pick. He didn\u2019t do much to change that against the Rams, either. Even if his upward mobility on the depth chart is limited, Schoonmaker needs to show more than what he has been showing thus far in Oxnard.<\/p>\n