{"id":68079,"date":"2025-05-21T17:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T17:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/68079\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T17:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T17:25:10","slug":"the-wr-race-playing-time-for-rookies-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/68079\/","title":{"rendered":"The WR race, playing time for rookies and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re entering Phase Three of the NFL\u2019s offseason program. NFL teams may conduct 10 days of organized team activities<\/a>. No contact allowed. <\/p>\n

The media watched the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>\u2019 second day of OTA practice on Tuesday and we had some observations:<\/p>\n

DaRon Bland\u2019s move<\/p>\n

DaRon Bland got some practice reps at slot corner during the only day the media was able to watch practice. <\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Cowboys fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

With Trevon Diggs out for an undetermined length of time<\/a>, Bland is the Cowboys\u2019 best cornerback and moving him inside seems more of a matchup thing than anything else. <\/p>\n

Bland said he\u2019d prefer to play outside and with good reason. He\u2019s got 14 interceptions over three seasons, spanning 41 games. <\/p>\n

Safety Juanyeh Thomas also got time in the slot. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys have to solve two problems this summer, another starter opposite Bland and slot corner. <\/p>\n

Bland is entering a contract year, and playing outside corner benefits him more financially than as a nickel corner. At this stage, the Cowboys have a ton of competition at cornerback with plenty of questions.<\/p>\n

The middle linebacker<\/p>\n

If you think the competition at corner is fierce, look at the middle linebacker spot. We have Jack Sanborn<\/a> and Kenneth Murray<\/a> as the co-leaders at that position. <\/p>\n

Sanborn, the free agent pickup, seems the favorite. Murray, acquired in a trade, might surprise in training camp to make this a close race. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys\u2019 coaches also love what Marist Liufau brings as he enters Year 2. Liufau has speed and is not afraid of contact, two things needed from that position. Liufau mainly played off ball linebacker last season but moved to MLB when Eric Kendricks was injured. <\/p>\n

With off ball linebacker DeMarvion Overshown out while recovering from knee surgery, the Cowboys might go deep at this position once the 53-man roster is finalized in September.<\/p>\n

Photos: It’s OTA time in North Texas! Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys take the field for practice at The Star in Frisco<\/p>\n

\"DallasView GalleryThe QB, the QB, the QB <\/p>\n

In years past, Cooper Rush, a veteran, was backing up Dak Prescott. You could also throw in another veteran such as Andy Dalton as QB2. In the last three seasons, the Cowboys went younger at the position in backing up Prescott with the trade for Trey Lance. <\/p>\n

Financially, Prescott takes up plenty of cap space, $50.5 million. The Cowboys invest $52.5 million in cap space to the position, No. 1 in the NFL. The Rams are second at $51.79 million with Matthew Stafford taking up $47.4 million. <\/p>\n

Now, enough with the money. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys have Will Grier and Joe Milton III as the backups for Prescott entering 2025. Milton is on his rookie contract while Grier, 30, is on a one-year deal. Milton displayed mobility during the OTA practice and wasn\u2019t afraid to show off his arm. The Cowboys will probably keep Milton and Grier on the roster this season, the question is which backs up Prescott?<\/p>\n

Rookie talk<\/p>\n

Linebacker Shemar James, the fifth-round pick from Florida<\/a>, picked off a Joe Milton pass. Cornerback Shavon Revel, a third-round pick from East Carolina<\/a>, is still recovering from a torn ACL. Revel was getting some individual work in practice on Tuesday, but wasn\u2019t in team drills. He\u2019s on target for training camp. <\/p>\n

There was no waiting for first-round pick Tyler Booker, the guard from Alabama<\/a>. Booker was getting first-team snaps in the practices. <\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s first-round pick, Tyler Guyton was behind Chuma Edoga in training camp. When Edoga suffered a foot injury, it pushed Guyton into a starting role before team officials believed he was ready. With Booker, the coaches and scouts are on the same page in thinking he\u2019s ready to play now. <\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s Stephen Jones or Brian Schottenheimer, discussions about fifth-round pick Jaydon Blue, the running back from Texas, and his potential remain high.<\/p>\n

The wide receiver room<\/p>\n

The top receivers on this team are as follows: CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Jalen Tolbert and KaVontae Turpin. It\u2019s difficult to determine who makes the roster from there. <\/p>\n

Turpin plays two positions, returner and receiver, so the question becomes: How many receivers make the roster? Will we see six or five on the 53 with two on the practice squad? <\/p>\n

Ryan Flournoy, Parris Campbell, Jonathan Mingo, Jalen Brooks and Kelvin Harmon are fighting for jobs. Flournoy and Mingo might get the final spots here.<\/p>\n

We did notice Jalen Cropper on Tuesday. He also fielded some punts along with Tolbert and Turpin.<\/p>\n

NFL owners vote down proposed tush push ban<\/a>Dallas Cowboys 2025 offseason central: Key dates, roster moves and more<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re entering Phase Three of the NFL\u2019s offseason program. NFL teams may conduct 10 days of organized team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[1121,230,1370,229,257,2461,7,467,6,20584],"class_list":{"0":"post-68079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-ceedee-lamb","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dak-prescott","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-dallascowboys","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-george-pickens","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-the-star-in-frisco"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114546994794838164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}