FRISCO, Texas – Time to grind.
Time to get back to serious work.
Time to start finding out about these 2025 Dallas Cowboys, the 66th iteration of a franchise first playing professional football way back in 1960, considered the first expansion franchise in NFL history.
Nothing seems to change, though, and this will be the 40th time spending at least one week in training camp with the Cowboys starting in 1985, only since missing the 1988 camp(covering summer Olympics) in Thousand Oaks, California, up the 101 from the Cowboys' current location in Oxnard, but five miles as the crow flies from the Pacific Ocean, just south of the Ventura Highway.
Why, this 26th consecutive camp with DallasCowboys.com, starting back in 2000 at Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, then a split camp the 2001 summer, starting in The Falls and then on to Oxnard. Then SanAntonio at the Alamodome, totaling six seasons and back to Oxnard on a near-permanent basis, this being the 18th camp, only interrupted by COVID in 2020 when the Cowboys were sequestered here at home.
But nevertheless, no matter if coming off those three Super Bowl winning seasons in four years from 1992-95 or that 2016 season coming off the harrowing 4-12 nearly Romo-less season of 2015 – third worst in the franchise's 16-game season history to only the 3-13 season of 1988 (head coach Tom Landry's 29th and last) and the 1-15 of 1989 (Jimmy Johnson's first) – as always, the Cowboys arrive for a training camp in Oxnard on July 20 with a cloud of questions needing clarity before returning home on Aug. 14 to continue camp here at The Star/Ford Center leading into their Thursday night, Sept. 4, NFL opener in Philadelphia.
Then there also is always this: Reminded yearly by Cowboys longtime voice and longtime camp roomie Brad Sham, maybe the only person in camp this year who has been to more training camps in his long history with the Cowboys than moi, when he says, "We go to camp to find out who is going to get hurt." Please Sam Williams, John Stephens and DeMarvion Overshown, please don't read this paragraph, not trying to throw any more jinx shade on you guys having battled injuries now over the past three seasons.
But here come the Cowboys with a lot of wondering going on.
New head coach and first timer Brian Schottenheimer.
Basically brand spanking new coaching staff, save five assistants who were on the last of former head coach Mike McCarthy's five coaching staffs. The newbies include all three coordinators, offensive, defensive and special teams, although the defensive one, Matt Eberflus, is on his second tour of duty in Dallas, having previously been the Cowboys' former linebacker coach, as is assistant special teams coach Carlos Polk and linebacker coach Dave Borgonzi.
Almost an entirely new running backs room, save third-year fullback Hunter Luepke and third-year back Deuce Vaughn.
Mighty young offensive line room, three of the projected five starters in no more than their second seasons. And of the 15-man room heading to Oxnard, only three have spent more than three seasons with the Cowboys.
Of the nine linebackers, only two returning from last year, totaling 10 starts, will be ready for the beginning of training camp. The Cowboys have to wait at least until Thanksgiving for Overshown (ACL) to potentially return after he started 12 of the 13 games he played last year.
This is just a sample of the building that must take place in training camp, and to think, by the projected schedule count, the Cowboys will potentially spend only 12 of the 26 camp days in pads after the initial week consumed by those four required ramp-up mini-camp-like workouts. So extending training camp that week at The Star once they return will be vitally important before moving into the NFL opening-game prep that last week in August.
That's a lot to consider.
Now on the bright side?
Well, this roster does have Pro Bowl players: Dak Prescott healthy once again; CeeDee Lamb healthy once again; Tyler Smith; Jake Ferguson healthy once again; Brandon Aubrey; Bryan Anger; Micah Parsons once he resolves his contract situation; DaRon Bland; Trevon Diggs once he is cleared to resume playing.
Then there is Schottenheimer, having been a respected offensive coordinator taking over the offense, too. Eberflus a highly respected defensive coordinator. Aaron Whitecloud a stalwart of a defensive line coach. And doubling up on the offensive line will be former offensive line coach Klayton Adams, claiming the offensive coordinator title, and noted collegiate offensive line coach Conor Riley after having served as the K-State offensive coordinator.
So the cupboard isn't bare.
Biggest issues to sort through, though?
Start with cornerback. Four guys being counted on to contribute did not take part in any of the OTAs or three minicamp practices while still rehabbing from last year's season-ending surgeries. Most concerning is when will Diggs be ready to return from his knee surgery, and he was here at The Star for only the three mandatory-attended minicamp practices, choosing to rehab off campus. Diggs, the projected starter, likely begins camp on PUP as will Josh Butler. The Cowboys are hopeful third-round draft choice Shavon Revel will at least be ready early in camp. Same for last year's rookie Caelen Carson, who at least attended the offseason workouts and had gotten off to a good start in 2024, starting five games, but developed shoulder problems and ended the season on IR.
That means it's imperative Kaiir Elam, traded for during the offseason, can find a place in at least the top three if Diggs isn't ready, something that he couldn't achieve during the final two of his three seasons in Buffalo as a first-round pick. If Elam can, chances are the Cowboys could move Bland from outside into the slot on nickel downs. Corner is of concern.
Then running back. If we follow the money, can newly acquired veteran Javonte Williams become the lead back, now three seasons removed from his torn ACL during the 2022 season in Denver? And how quickly can the Cowboys integrate the speed of fifth-round draft choice Jaydon Blue into the offense?
Then there is the backup quarterback dilemma. At this point, there are only two candidates, Will Grier and Joe Milton III, after free agent Cooper Rush signed with the Ravens. The two have combined to play just three NFL games, Grier starting two of them but those back in 2019 as Carolina's third-round pick. Cowboys will keep a keen eye out on a group of veteran free agents still available.
Other questions?
Is last year's 29th pick in the draft, Tyler Guyton, after a so-so rookie season ready to take command at left tackle?
Can free agent Jack Sanborn handle the middle linebacker job, having started just 19 games of the 48 he played over three seasons for Eberflus in Chicago, then the Bears head coach?
Who emerges as the second tight end? Former second-round draft choice Luke Schoonmaker or last year's undrafted rookie free agent Brevyn Ford-Spann, who made quite the impression not only blocking but as a viable pass-catching tight end.
Backup swing tackle? Can Asim Richards handle that open job or might it be moving Tyler Smith outside if needed on a long-term basis where he started 16 of 17 games as a rookie out of necessity?
Is Williams capable of starting at defensive end, what he was projected to do last year until suffering that torn ACL early in training camp? Or might second-round draft choice Donovan Ezeiruaku, having just agreed to terms with the Cowboys for unprecedented partially guaranteed money after holding out with 30 of the 32 second-round draft choices?
Can Mazi Smith turn into The Maz at nose tackle, the free agent losses of veterans Linval Joseph and Carlos Watkins leaving Mazi the most experienced nose tackle on the roster in just the former first-round pick's third season?
Questions, questions, questions, and the Cowboys need answers. Quickly. Once they arrive in Oxnard on Sunday, they will be 46 days away from taking the field in Philadelphia the NFL opening night of Sept. 4, baring their souls before an entire national TV audience against the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, who will raise their title flag in front of a sure to be super-charged raucous crowd.
Got to be ready. No time for rhyme. The time is now.
And the clock begins ticking on Sunday.