DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys are back in Texas after spending a month away from the team facility. The remaining practices and the final preseason game will all be held on their home turf before the regular season begins.
Camp is always a fun time to observe the team as they prepare for a new season, and there have been the expected results. Quarterback Dak Prescott is good, so is his top wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. Meanwhile, linebacker Micah Parsons is going to be a problem for other teams in his second season.
However, no training camp is without unexpected performances, and the Cowboys always have their share of surprises. It’s been an eventful time over the last month, so here’s a look at some of the biggest shocks for Dallas since camp began:
KaVontae Turpin’s emergence
The Cowboys signed the USFL MVP in the hopes that he could put a charge into their stale special teams returns units. If it wasn’t obvious that Turpin had answered the call before the second exhibition game, those doubts disappeared after his two-touchdown performance in Los Angeles.
Dallas has not only found their return man, but the team will likely be trying to get Turpin the ball more on offense as well. Turpin’s speed and quickness makes him a terror to bring down in the open field and the Cowboys will be trying to take advantage of the receiver’s ability to make defenders miss.
When training camp opened, people were wondering who would emerge at receiver, and the Cowboys perhaps found one of their answers in Turpin.
Doomsday scenario for offensive line
Cowboys observers knew getting the most out of their remade offensive line was going to be a challenge, but just a week into camp it got even tougher. Rookie tackle Matt Waletzko hurt his shoulder and has missed close to a month, while second-year tackle Josh Ball has struggled.
But then the big blow came on Wednesday evening when the Cowboys announced that eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith will be out indefinitely with a torn hamstring injury.
Overall the offensive line results had been less than encouraging and the Cowboys showed no urgency in trying to get better at the position. That’s a strange strategy when Mike McCarthy has spoken about toughness and being able to run the football as a big part of the team’s identity.
It’s baffling as to why Dallas didn’t add a better option at swing tackle with the veteran Smith becoming more and more injury prone. Now they will be without their cornerstone tackle and with few options to replace him. As Yogi Berra once said, it’s getting late, early.
Kicking situation evolution
The Cowboys opened the summer with two kickers in camp, rookie Jonathan Garibay and inexperienced veteran Lirim Hajrullahu. After both underperformed, neither are employed by the Cowboys as they return to Frisco.
Instead, Dallas was forced to bring in an old friend Brett Maher to compete. Maher, as of right now, has won the job. That’s not exactly encouraging news. Maher was too inconsistent when he kicked for the Cowboys in his first stint and he missed his only attempt in the preseason win over the Los Angeles Chargers, albeit from 61 yards.
Even if the team keeps him, Maher being the kicking option for the Cowboys before the season is not something anyone expected.
Israel Mukuamu’s leap
The Cowboys have been looking for good safety play for years, and for the first time in a long time, they seem to have a few solid options at the position. One of the biggest surprises in camp has been the emergence of second-year safety Mukuamu.
The Cowboys selected Mukuamu in the sixth round of the 2021 draft and he saw limited action in his rookie season. However, like many players in the sophomore campaigns, Mukuamu appears to have made the jump due to a full offseason and getting acclimated to NFL level football.
Mukuamu’s solid camp showed up in the preseason win over the Chargers with an interception, and two more passes defensed.
He might have been a longshot about a month ago, but Mukuamu looks like a sure thing to be on the roster right now.
Wide receivers stepping up
The Cowboys aren’t employing the same deep receiver group that they had coming into last year and there were questions about how the offense would survive with Lamb as the only top receiving option. A thin group got even thinner when veteran wide receiver James Washington broke his foot, leaving the position with fewer answers.
The Cowboys needed some receivers to step up, and that has been the case thus far in camp. Veteran receiver Noah Brown’s brought his best in his sixth season and second-year man Simi Fehoko has been one of the most impressive players since camp began. Brown’s toe injury has slowed down his progress, but he’s likely earned more snaps when the regular season opens.
Turpin’s addition has helped add some buzz, and rookie wide receiver Jalen Tolbert has had some real good moments with Prescott under center. We can also include rookie undrafted free agent Dennis Houston’s development as a plus and it appears as though the Cowboys are in better shape than imagined when Washington got hurt.
They aren’t Pro Bowl receivers by any stretch, but the Cowboys should feel better about the position with how the group has stepped up.
What has surprised you the most about the Cowboys at training camp so far? Share your thoughts with Ben on Twitter @BenGrimaldi.
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