THE COLONY, Texas — Dallas Cowboys center Travis Frederick is focusing on his strength and conditioning as he prepares for his sixth NFL season.
The All-Pro acknowledges it is strange to refer to himself as "older," but, if tight end Jason Witten's retirement made anything clear, it is that no one plays forever. The reality is the 27-year-old is entering a point in his career where he needs to maintain his body throughout the off-season.
"For this off-season, my main focus was the strength and conditioning aspect of it," Frederick said this past Tuesday at his Blocking Out Hunger event at Topgolf. "It's tough as you get older. I know it's funny to say I'm getting older after five years. But as you get older, things change and it's harder to get back to the levels that you were before. And, so, you have to modify what you're doing in the weight room and on the field to be able to provide during the season."
In addition to the strength and conditioning work, Frederick has been working on the mechanics on playing center at a high level, especially with new offensive line coach Paul Alexander embarking on his first season with the Cowboys after decades with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Said Frederick: "I'm working on the technical stuff, the high end hand placement and the foot placement. And obviously we have a new coach on the offensive line, so we're learning a few new things there. And we're excited to see how the new tools can help us in our toolbox."
Alexander is the third offensive line coach Frederick will have since joining the Cowboys as a first-round pick in 2013 from Wisconsin. Frederick believes Alexander will provide the Dallas offensive line with "new tools" for their toolbox, and teammate Joe Looney says it is their job to know them.
"We just got to learn techniques and put it all together and go win football games," Looney, a member of the Cowboys since 2016, said. "It's our job to learn these techniques and put it together on Sunday."
"You're not necessarily changing everything, but when you need to go in there, or you're facing a different opponent or you're facing a guy that you struggled with, when you have an opportunity to have somebody teach you a new way to approach it, or maybe a different way to view it, it's going to help you to become a better player," said Frederick.
Alexander brought in former Bengals All-Pro tackle Willie Anderson, who Alexander coached from 1996-2007, to help with the Dallas offensive line during their off-season workouts. According to a source, Anderson's main focus was to help with the tackles, including left tackle Tyron Smith and right tackle La'el Collins. Nonetheless, Anderson is an acolyte of the Alexander way and would help bridge the information gap during the transition from Frank Pollack, the former offensive line coach, and Alexander.
"You have mini-camps ramping up more, and then training camp, guys are ready to go," Frederick said. "It's really fun to see that sort of progression throughout the team."
Drop Mark a line on Twitter @therealmarklane to let him know how excited you are to see the Cowboys offensive line maul their opponents in 2018.
