The Dallas Cowboys brought their rookie class into town this past weekend. Initially, they took care of front office business. The rookies, all but No. 23 pick Malachi Lawrence, all signed their deals, and that includes the UDFAs and their three-year pacts. The equipment managers had their new jersey numbers ready for them when they walked into the locker rooms at The Star in Frisco, again both for draft picks and for the UDFA class.
But then on Friday, head coach Brian Schottenheimer and his staff got their hands on the rookie class on the practice field. The team distributed playbooks following the draft last week, but this was the first chance to se what had been absorbed, and perhaps more importantly give the youngsters a taste of what life will be like at Cowboys practice once they get to working with the veterans.
Here are the major takeaways from the first real work of the rookie class while wearing the star.
Much different tone to rookie work for Schottenheimer
While most of the attention on the coaching staff has rightfully been focused on first-time defensive coordinator Christian Parker, Schottenheimer’s season is under a lot of scrutiny as well. For the first time since 2019, a healthy Dak Prescott didn’t lead his team to the playoffs. While the blame sits on the shoulders of the league-worst D, the head coach bears responsibility there, too.
Schottenheimer was in charge of it all for the first time, and it appears he’s approaching things differently, as his rookie camp is far more intense than it was last season. Players working so hard they’re throwing up? Okay, Taskmaster Schotty.
The vomiting conversation seemed to be associated with the tight end group, as Schottenheimer was speaking of Baylor’s Michael Trigg and TCU’s DJ Rogers when it came up.
“Green Dot” candidates include both linebacker and safety
Former scout and media member Bryan Broaddus uncovered that this version of the Cowboys defense isn’t necessary going to follow the status quo when it comes to their field general. Often, the middle linebacker is who receives the calls from the coaching staff in their helmet speaker, but that isn’t necessarily going to be the case for the Cowboys.
It’s opened up a lot of debate for who may be the mouthpiece for Parker’s wishes, and for the first time, a Cowboys coach weighed in on that. Schottenheimer gave several names who could be under consideration, mentioning safety Jalen Thompson among the candidates, along with linebackers DeMarvion Overshown and Dee Winters.
At the end of the day, the green dot is interesting because general fans don’t really know what that is… there was no green dot for defense up until a couple years ago. The biggest thing I would say is that we’re going to train so many people in the green dot that we’re going to find out who is comfortable doing it. It might be D-Mo. It might be Jalen Thompson. It might be Dee Winters. It might be whoever.
At the end of the day, communication comes down to not just the green dot, but the entire defense. If we were playing a game this week, I could not tell you who would be the green dot. But we’re not playinga game for a while so we got time, there will be trial and error.. there will be different pacakges of guys being together. I have my favorite, who I think will be our green dot, but I’m not gonna share it.”
Christian Parker isn’t installing a Fangio defense
Yes, he’s taking some elements from his former defensive coordinator, but he’s also taking pieces from others and then putting his own, unique spin on things. From The Mothership:
“I’ve had some really good examples to learn from — Mike Elko, Mike Pettine, Vance Joseph, and Vic [Fangio]. They did that, so I saw that in that style. So, really, what was comfortable for me, you know, meeting a lot together and kind of explaining the vision, getting that input, and us kind of having a collective shared vision on what we want, this defense to like.
“It’s our defense. I don’t want this to be called the Eagles defense or Vic’s defense. This is gonna be ours. We’ve been really intentional about going about that process … so it’s been real fun.”
Rookie positions determined
Third-round pick out of Michigan, Jaishawn Barham will play the Mike linebacker role. The team alerted the media they were moving him to the inside in their 30 front, but this is an important distinction. He’s not coming in as a potential replacement to DeMarvion Overshown, but Barham and Winters will moreso compete for snaps in the 30 front, and Barham will likely be the Sam in the rare occasion Dallas lines up in a Base 4-3.
Fourth-round pick Drew Shelton will play both tackle spots and get some work inside in an effort to have him available each week. He played left tackle at Penn State, but will train on both sides this summer, as well as on the interior. The team seems to love his mental capacity and aren’t afraid to throw everything at him as a rookie.
LT Overton is a defensive tackle in this defense; 3T, 4i, 5T.
It’s not going to take Caleb Downs long at all
The Cowboys’ top pick is going to attempt to do everything the staff asks of him, and he might just be able to pull it off. As difficult as it is to be a slot defender in today’s NFL, Downs is going to get that opportunity, per Parker via Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.
“I think a guy like Caleb is a natural football player,” Parker said. “He’s one of those first picks in the schoolyard, so he’s going to have natural versatility. It’s just a matter of what he can handle mentally and how we fit everything together.”
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: 5 Takeaways from Cowboys rookie minicamp: No to Fangio, Schotty moving different
Reporting by K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
