Has word of their demise before the 2025 season kicks off been greatly exaggerated? The Dallas Cowboys have entered the final phase of their offseason program this week and the mood seems hopeful. On Monday, players arrived at The Star in Frisco to take their physicals, and on Tuesday they begin a three-day period of on-field work. They will then be allowed to go about their business for the summer, hopefully staying out of trouble prior to reporting to Oxnard, CA for the onset of a month-long training camp.
Attendance at this minicamp is mandatory, with players who do not show suffering fines for each day missed. The key members who did not attend voluntary Organized Team Activities, edge rusher Micah Parsons and cornerback Trevon Diggs, have already arrived at the team facilities, so those attendance questions are answered. But attendance and participation are two different things, and that’s where we start our list of 10 burning questions.
1) Will percent of on-field work will Micah Parsons participate in the workout?
Yes, Micah Parsons is in town. Yes, Micah Parsons will attend the manadatory minicamp. But the bigger question will be just how much he participates in the on-the-field work. Parsons has made it habit not to be a part of the OTA schedule; having skipped it every season since his rookie year. We’ve written in the past, Parsons doesn’t need the work. The bigger issue is that the coaching staff loses out on a chance to work on how to deploy everyone else around Parsons and that they don’t get to really practice how to function with a heat-seeking missle next to them.
If Parsons doesn’t do much work on the field, that means training camp is the only real opportunity to do this, and that’s opportunity lost.
2) How far along in his rehab does Trevon Diggs appear to be?
Diggs was dinged by the front office for allegedly not working as hard as they’d like in his 2024 recovery from a knee injury and it’s been hinted that caused the issue that knocked him out of last season and the need for a follow-up procedure, chondral tissue graft surgery on his left knee in January. So far, he’s rehabbed away from the team so getting him under the care of the Cowboys staff will be important as they try to gauge when exactly he’ll be able to help the team in 2025. That question could turn into an “if” instead of a “when”.
3) Are there any players who are looking like cut candidates?
The Cowboys are operating with the seventh-most cap space in the league, a whopping $32 million right now according to Over The Cap. They don’t need cap space but that does not mean they should carry heavy salaries from players who will contribute nothing but depth.
It may not make it public, but the staff is certainly taking notes on who might not be great fits for the new schemes and those guys could be traded or cut if their play doesn’t match their salary. Some players who have been mentioned as ones to watch include safeties Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker, as well as right tackle Terence Steele.
4) Who is the most likely candidate to be QB2, Joe Milton or Will Grier?
The Cowboys’ staff seem enamored with the strong-armed Milton, but could the veteran savvy of Grier force the Cowboys to carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster? Last year Cooper Rush was a practice squad guy who was elevated until those ran out, allowing Dallas to protect an extra player, but Milton may be good enough to be the backup and warrant being active on game days.
Here’s an interesting look at how he could help in a new-age red zone philosophy.
5) What are the hitting rules of Mandatory Minicamp?
Players cannot hit each other until training camp. Teams are allowed 3.5 hours of on-field work on Tuesday and Thursday, and Wednesday is limited to a walkthrough. Teams can perform 11-on-11 and special teams drills. Here’s a graphic to help.
6) Who are the top reserves at each position along the offensive line?
The Cowboys have rolled out 3 Tylers, Cooper and Terence through the OTAs and that’s expected to be how things look for their starting OL in minicamp. From left to right, that’s Tyler Guyton, Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, Tyler Booker and Terence Steele. But the real tell will be how they move once those guys start getting replaced.
Brock Hoffman, Robert Jones and Asim Richards could all be in the mix as potential starters if things start to get weird. TJ Bass and Saahdiq Charles both have starting experience. Watching that group of five and how they are deployed may be the bigger tell into how well the season will go.
7) What’s the preferred linebacker combination to start things off?
The club signed both Kenneth Murray and Jack Sanborn as free agents this offseason; are those the starting backers in a two-man group? Sanborn knows Matt Eberflus’ defense, so he has a leg up there, but Murray has the salary and draft pedigree which shouldn’t matter but does. Then there’s second-year pro Marist Liufau as well as Damone Clark.
If DeMarvion Overshown was healthy this is an entirely different conversation about who falls in behind him, but he’s probably out until at least Halloween. What’s the combo until then?
8) Who is in the lead for WR5 and WR6?
CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens get 80+ percent of the snaps. Jalen Tolbert is going to be WR3 when Lamb is in the slot, and Kavontae Turpin is the offensive weapon. The top four spots are likely sewn up. The club traded for Jonathan Mingo and he never got a chance to play with Dak Prescott so chances are he’s WR5 and a potential threat to Tolbert. But he still has to perform. Will Ryan Flournoy be able to withstand the coaching change and earn a spot in the rotation? Where does that leave guys like Parris Campbell, Jalen Brooks and others?
9) Is Luke Schoonmaker challenging for TE1 role?
Jake Ferguson flopped horribly as a the second-best target for the Cowboys in 2024. Does he bounce back? Schoonmaker had a rough two-year start, but played adequately in spots last season. Can he compete for the starter’s snaps his draft pedigree should warrant?
10) Do the Cowboys still need to look elsewhere for RB help?
After signing Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, it was clear the Cowboys are leaning heavily into the RB Don’t Matter mantra. That comes with being flexible enough to say that if either guy doesn’t have “it”, they are ready to move on. The only player who should be assured of playing time is Jaydon Blue, the team’s fifth-round draft pick.
Deuce Vaughn and even Hunter Luepke are on notice, and seventh-round pick Phil Mafah could make waves, but the Cowboys have to be ready to go seek more help at the position.
11) Do the Cowboys still need to look elsewhere for CB help?
Dallas traded for reclamation project Kaiir Elam, a former first-round pick on the final year of his rookie deal. They also drafted Shavon Revel, a player many felt had first-round tape but who suffered an ACL tear and dropped to the Cowboys in the third round. The team doesn’t have a clear solution at slot corner and the injury situation of Diggs, Revel and Josh Butler leaves some question marks through the first part of the season.
12) Does Mazi Smith look capable of preventing the Cowboys from their annual “sign multiple nose tackles over the summer” campaign?
The Cowboys have developed a new tradition: ignore the nose tackle position until the last possible minute and then sign older veterans who didn’t want to do any work over the summer. If anyone wants to know how well this has worked they can feel free to look up their team’s run defense stats.
Smith was supposed to be the solution, but he’s yet to even render himself serviceable. A Year 3 jump would do wonders for the Cowboys’ defense as a whole.
13) Does Dak Prescott show any signs of setback after looking healthy through OTAs?
Prescott looks to be fully recovered from his catastrophic hamstring injury that ended his season. With his injury history, its perfectly possible it was the result of favoring one leg while working through other assorted ailments, which is why Question 4 is more relevant in Dallas than elsewhere in the league. But the more work Prescott gets, the more assurances the team has that he’ll be full go for training camp in July.
