Inside full day of Dallas Cowboys minicamp: Dak Prescott talking trash, making it fun (2024)

FRISCO, Texas — At 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, a few minutes after head coach Mike McCarthy’s news conference wrapped up, the media covering the Dallas Cowboys started to make its way to the outdoor practice fields. On Tuesday — the first day of mandatory minicamp — there was some question about if the two-hour practice would take place outdoors or move to the indoor field, as was the case a couple of weeks ago for the May 22 OTA practice. It wasn’t so much the threat of heavy rain that has swept the Metroplex recently but McCarthy was monitoring the wind. With the way the outdoor practice fields are set up, boxed in around tall buildings on three sides, the wind sometimes swirls to create adverse conditions.

There was no such consideration Wednesday. Blue skies were visible. The wind was under control. The temperature wasn’t awful — at least by Texas standards in June. But pushing 90 degrees still had quarterback Dak Prescott talking afterward about looking forward to the next time the team will take the practice field together, which will be in late July for training camp in the much cooler confines of Oxnard, Calif.

The Cowboys will utilize the final day of mandatory minicamp Thursday with a private team event. Wednesday was the final chance for a view of team activities prior to training. The following is a report of the day, with a focus on Prescott and tidbits mixed weaved from throughout the day.

10:45 a.m. The Cowboys were already on the primary field, going through their typical pre-practice stretches. Prescott, along with quarterbacks Cooper Rush and Trey Lance, was on the 50-yard line, with players spaced out five yards apart. Below the baseline of the end zone, Zack Martin and Ezekiel Elliott were working with Cowboys athletic trainer Britt Brown with resistance bands.

10:54 a.m. Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel’s voice came over the loudspeaker, instructing the team to begin the day’s practice with some 11-on-11 situational football. The down and distance for each play varied and was independent of the play preceding it. The starting offensive line — as it’s been throughout the spring — was Chuma Edoga at left tackle, Tyler Smith at left guard, Brock Hoffman at center, T.J. Bass at right guard and Terence Steele at right tackle. This session didn’t feature intense competition between the offense and defense (that would come later) but it helped both units turn their mental instruction into physical reps.

After the first five minutes, Prescott stepped aside and Lance took over for a handful of plays. While the second-team offense was getting reps, Lance and Rush rotated in every few plays. Meanwhile, wide receiver David Durden and tight end John Stephens Jr. were engaged in rehab work off to the side with Brown. Later in practice, Trevon Diggs and DeMarvion Overshown worked with Brown, as did tight end Luke Schoonmaker and defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. Earlier in the morning, McCarthy spoke to the rehab work, particularly of Diggs, Overshown and Stephens, all of whom tore their left ACLs in the early part of last season.

“I don’t recall ever having a personnel meeting where we talked so glowingly about guys coming back from rehab,” McCarthy said. “It’s been impressive to watch those three young men. They’ve been in there every day together. The irony of three left knee ACLs so the rehab has been pretty much the same but I think it’s helped each and every one of them. They look great. … You could really write a book on the way they went through it. Whatever ahead of schedule exactly means in detail, those three guys definitely accomplished that all the way through.”

McCarthy said that the Cowboys will respect the timeline in terms of specifics of when the players return to full-team activities.

“Let’s be honest, we’re going to be very cautious with those guys,” McCarthy said. “We’re not going to put them out there too soon. Better later than too fast.”

The opening of training camp will be the next checkpoint, followed by the first day in full pads. After that, it’ll be preseason action and joint practices leading to the start of the season.

11:10 a.m. As the team session continued on the primary field, kicker Brandon Aubrey and punter Bryan Anger emerged from the weight room and went to the vacant secondary field. The rest of the team was split into two sides on the main field: the first-team offense on the far half of the field while the second-team offense operated on the near side. Prescott and Rush split first-team reps while Lance handled all of the work for the second unit. There were some moving parts, including rookie Cooper Beebe getting reps both at right guard and center with the second team.

11:32 a.m. As the second unit wrapped up things with a few more plays, the first unit had already dispersed. The next part of practice meant breaking out into individual positions. To start, Prescott and the Cowboys were on the far side of the second field, working on dropbacks with the centers.

After a few minutes, the quarterbacks shifted to the near side of the second field to go through accuracy drills. Quarterbacks would drop back and shuffle laterally through the pocket. In front of them was a net with three pockets, blue on their right, yellow in the middle and red to the right. As they worked through the pocket, a coach would yell out a color and a quarterback would need to immediately fire the football to the corresponding color.

Then, in a more difficult version of an accuracy drill, there was a net set up in the back left corner of the end zone. Quarterbacks would drop back and attempt to drop the ball into the net. The distance began by snaps from the 5-yard line and moved back to the 10 and the 20. Rush got a ball in from the 5 while Prescott dropped one in from the 10 and the 20. Lance came back a short time later and dropped one in from the 20, too.

Dak Prescott put the ball in the net twice on this drill, once from the 10 and once from the 20. Here was a frame-by-frame of the one from the 20: pic.twitter.com/QRtbNf5xRG

— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) June 5, 2024

11:58 a.m. Individual work continued for the offense and defense. On the far side, offensive linemen worked through drills while the skill players went through routes on air.

12:23 p.m. The final half hour of practice was the most intense, and it began with this period of seven-on-seven. Prescott’s period began quietly, with deep incompletions intended for Brandin Cooks and KaVontae Turpin before a tame completion to Jalen Tolbert in the flat. The next time Prescott was up, things got a little more exciting. He completed a 10-yard curl to Cooks before hitting Elliott for a short gain across the middle and finishing off with a pass to Jake Ferguson at the 2-yard line.

Next, it was Lance’s turn. On his final rep, Lance threw a pass toward wide receiver Cam Johnson. Cornerback Eric Scott was defending on the play and tipped the pass, immediately injecting the defensive sideline with a dose of energy. However, the ball bounced up and Johnson got back under it for a completion, which then got the offense going. Prescott immediately ran toward the defense to let them hear about it, including getting in the face of Israel Mukuamu.

“We all know, I love to compete, talk trash,” Prescott said. “So, that’s the base of it. You have to have fun doing this. And we know each and every day we’re gonna come in, we’re gonna compete against each other but we’re trying to get each other better. No better way than to compete and talking. Having energy high, celebrating after big plays. Just makes it fun.”

The celebration was short-lived. With Prescott in command on the next rep, his pass intended for Jalen Brooks was tipped by linebacker Eric Kendricks and picked off by safety Donovan Wilson. The defense popped off as Prescott regrouped the offense. On the next play, Prescott hit Tolbert for a touchdown in the middle of the field. For the final play, the offense was set up inside the 10. Fassel announced the situation was fourth down “for the world championship.” Cooks ran a crossing route and got away going right from Juanyeh Thomas, and Prescott hit him in the end zone for the touchdown.

“It makes that whole iron sharpens iron fun,” Prescott said. “Understand you’re dealing with heat, dealing with all this other stuff. But at the end of the day we’re just trying to get better and let’s have fun doing it.”

12:31 p.m. The intensity of the previous session carried into the final segment, which was seven-on-seven in a two-minute situation. The offense began with the ball near midfield, down by eight points with one timeout and 1:28 on the clock. On the first play, Prescott looked to his right and wanted to throw to Cooks, who was unable to get open. It resulted in Prescott having to pull the ball down and roll to his right. As the defense on the sideline watched the play unfold — especially after Prescott got a couple of seconds into his rollout — they started hollering in excitement that they got the sack.

Ten plays later, which included a fourth-down conversion to Turpin and a completion to Jalen Cropper that got the offense to the 1-yard line, Prescott threw a touchdown to a wide open Tolbert. It set up the offense to tie the game with a two-point conversion, but Prescott’s pass to Brooks fell incomplete in the end zone.

In a regular-season game, there’s a good chance that CeeDee Lamb would be involved in some capacity. With Lamb holding out for a new contract extension, Prescott went to work with the other receivers.

“Obviously, CeeDee’s handling business,” Prescott said. “Nobody’s more in his corner than I am. … I know him, I know he’s been working. As I said, I’ve thrown with him. He’s just fine. But the fact of him not being there, as I said, the Crops, the Brooks, some of these guys being able to get in there and take those reps, Tolbert playing all three positions and getting valuable reps with me and, honestly, growing my confidence of them. Those guys are going to have to make plays and catches in games and they’re getting more confident in each rep they’re getting.”

Practice ended at 12:48 p.m., as the team came together for the final time before the real work of training camp begins.

Cowboys’ minicamp coming to an end. Team won’t practice together again until training camp in late July pic.twitter.com/YeaqzsUpV8

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) June 5, 2024

After the large group broke out, Prescott spoke to the quarterbacks. He expressed confidence in where things were offensively going into a second season in McCarthy’s offense, encouraged by the familiarity that comes with the past year of experience. Earlier in the day, McCarthy mentioned that this had been Prescott’s best offseason yet.

“I’d agree, first and foremost,” Prescott said. “It’s what I put into this game. It’s what this game means to me. I talk about it every offseason. Any chance we talk, my focus is always getting better; getting better overall in every way that I can, every aspect of my game, making sure I push the other people around me. Mike’s comments are the results of us doing that from the time the offseason began, from before the offseason began with the team activities, us guys getting together.

“Really, the growth in my play and the jump I’m making in the second year in his offense as well, being more comfortable with the footwork. The receivers around me, their second year in it, they’re more comfortable, they’re more confident. Things are just faster off the line from the huddle through the play to the scramble drill when it doesn’t work, we are truly understanding, everybody understands, I guess. It just makes the communication, my approach and allowing me to play with more confidence.”

Now comes the Cowboys’ final break. Prescott said he has a busy upcoming schedule. He’s planning to get his receivers together for an offseason retreat, as he’s previously done. As a new father, this year Prescott plans on incorporating family time into that as well. A month and a half sounds like a long time but that flight to Oxnard will take off soon, and the Cowboys’ preparation for the 2024 season will kick into high gear.

(Top photo of Prescott: Chris Jones / USA Today)

Saad Yousuf is a staff writer covering the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Stars. He also works at 96.7/1310 The Ticket in Dallas after five years at ESPN Dallas radio. Prior to The Athletic, Saad covered the Cowboys for WFAA, the Mavericks for Mavs.com and a variety of sports at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN.com and SB Nation. Follow Saad on Twitter @SaadYousuf126