Dallas Cowboys rookies set to report to training camp

The Dallas Cowboys offseason speculation will finally come to a close this week as the first two waves of training camp participants are set to report.

The Dallas Cowboys have had an offseason filled with change. From the Jason Garrett saga which wouldn’t end to the Dak Prescott contract negotiations that dominated the headlines, the Dallas Cowboys are finally going to get their players into camp.

NFL Executive Vice President of football operations Troy Vincent sent a memo to all 32 NFL teams confirming the dates of how players to report. The first wave consists of rookies reporting to teams on Tuesday, July 21st.

That means the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff will finally get their hands on the players they drafted and now have to get them acclimated as quickly as possible before the rest of the team veterans arrive.

With all of the different headlines dominating the Cowboys landscape, it is crazy to think that this unbelievable draft Dallas just produced has been on the backburner of everyone’s talking points. It is undeniable that the Dallas Cowboys had a good draft but we now can start talking about the product on the field.

It almost has a Christmas like atmosphere with owner Jerry Jones acting as the parent who has purchased the toys and his new head coach Mike McCarthy acting as his offspring ready to rip open the package and get started playing with his new toys.

The second wave of reports will come roughly 48 hours later as quarterbacks and injured players are to report on Thursday, July 23rd. That means quarterback Dak Prescott will be in the building this week preparing with the coaching staff along with fellow signal-caller Andy Dalton.

So when does the rest of the team report to training camp in Frisco?

The last wave of reports will come Tuesday, July 28th which is a full week behind the rookies. I think that having the rookies report a full week before is a fantastic idea and the NFL should look into making it mandatory moving forward.

When the team as a whole has reported, it will no doubt be tough on rookies to get the coaching staff’s attention but almost impossible for undrafted guys to get noticed. With a shortened preseason already on life support, getting rookies acclimated will only help them make the team if the preseason is canceled entirely.

The question that will be answered soon is how will the coaching staff approach the start to this season. Some teams will rest their presumed starters in hopes of keeping them fresh while others will grind them down and rebuild them to get them ready for the rigors of the NFL season.

It will be interesting to see how this new coaching staff handles this situation and it is my hope that it will be a rigorous camp with exceptions to a few veteran players. Players like running Ezekiel Elliott, tackle Tyron Smith, and linebacker Sean Lee are a few players that come to mind that don’t need to be pushed as much as the others.

The only drawback to training camp is that fans will not be allowed to attend any portion of camp. I am sure that the players get an extra boost from having fans cheer them on while they are grinding. My only hope is that the Dallas Cowboys come up with some sort of live online viewing experience.

The Dallas Cowboys are also ahead of the curve when it comes to their facility. The Star in Frisco has every amenity a football team could ask for. A hotel adjacent from their practice facility provides the players an NBA style bubble where players and I assume their families can hunker down and focus on football.

I am sure the business side of Jerry Jones has logistically put multiple measures in place to ensure players and their families cannot alter what looks to be a promising season. Safety measures keeping players off of COVID-19 injured reserve should be this teams highest priority.

There is nothing like attending training camp but we all have to make adjustments to this new world. I am just glad that we can end all of this speculation and finally get to see real results.