Weeks after announcing that the annual state of the team news conference would kick off training camp festivities on Wednesday, the Dallas Cowboys announced on Monday that the press conference featuring the team’s brass will now take place on Saturday owing to “scheduling conflicts.”
Regarding a civil paternity issue, Jerry Jones appeared in court on Monday morning in Texarkana, Texas. The group is scheduled to land in Southern California on Tuesday. In Oxnard, California, on Thursday is the first practice.
The Cowboys are heading into training camp in a setting that has come to define them: a multitude of distractions, enough talent to excite the enthusiastic fan, and enough uncertainty to make some fans doubtful that the team’s postseason incompetence of the previous 28 seasons will change.
At its core is still Jones, the prosperous owner and unimpressive general manager.
Among the most well-known sports brands worldwide are the Cowboys. They will not fall off their throne, not even if some of their fan base starts to lose interest. This is especially true if they start to accumulate victories in October and November. There is a very strong bitter taste that has persisted from last season and this offseason, even though many supporters would argue there were plenty of reasons to moderate expectations through the first 27 years of wandering the championship wilderness after the 1990s dynasty years.
As The Athletic’s Cowboys fan survey indicated, there isn’t a ton of confidence in the direction of the team.
There seemed to be hope even for those who had been demoralized by years of postseason disappointment after last year. The Cowboys started to roll after a sobering reality check in San Francisco early in October. Although there were a few bumps in their performance in December, they were offset by a Philadelphia Eagles team that was on the verge of winning the division and the NFC’s second seed. The Cowboys, who had not lost since their home opener against Tampa Bay in 2022, were playing against the youngest team in the league when they opened the playoffs in excellent condition.
An enormous calamity transpired after.
Dan Quinn put up a terrible defense. Big-game problems for Dak Prescott were clearly visible. Mike McCarthy’s employment status became hazy. Perhaps the worst postseason effort in Dallas’s history was put out by the team.
The Cowboys owner stated at the Senior Bowl that the organization would be “all in” this offseason after Jones made the decision to keep McCarthy for the last year of his contract. Whatever the football operations value of their remarks, they were a clever marketing ploy. The focus turned from Jones’ remarks to the Green Bay Packers’ wild-card loss. In the upcoming months, those remarks will help the Cowboys maintain their relevancy in the sports news cycle.
The fact that it was delivered in a satirical manner did not worry Jones since he is a man who thinks all press is good press. In fact, to make sure no one forgot what he said in February, Jones smiled as he repeated the statement several times during the offseason.
The Cowboys did not, at least not in the sense that most supporters took the statement to mean, show that they were “all in” on 2024 with anything they did this offseason. The Cowboys did not make many moves in free agency, save from adding a running back who was beyond his prime and an experienced linebacker. Although the draft was good, at least on paper, it was primarily utilized to replace important parts that had left rather than to make significant improvements.
There are still three significant contract extensions looming over the franchise. The team’s inability to spend elsewhere was frequently cited as their cause. Many people anticipated that a Prescott deal would be completed quickly, particularly considering the significant cap cost that results from not having one and limits the team’s ability to spend money. After several significant dominoes in the league fell, most notably Justin Jefferson’s new contract in Minnesota, an extension for CeeDee Lamb seemed imminent. Micah Parsons also qualified for an extension at that point.
Not a single extension has been signed as the first week of training camp gets underway. Prescott will play out the last year on his deal before looking to test the open market. He cannot be traded or given the franchise tag by the Cowboys. In 2025, they do not have a quarterback under contract. It is anticipated that Lamb will not report to training camp until he signs a new contract. He did not participate in any off-season exercise. Parsons is happy to forgo a new contract, and the Cowboys will probably have to pay him even more in the upcoming season.
Except for those expensive products, the Cowboys are depending on optimism.
They are hopeful that Ezekiel Elliott has more energy left in him than what he demonstrated at the conclusion of his first Dallas trip and his most recent New England stint.
They are hoping that linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who suffered an ACL tear in a preseason game as a rookie, would bounce back and prove to be the much-heralded hero at the position.
Trevon Diggs tore his ACL, and they are hopeful he gets back to his former self.
In their second and third years in Dallas, they hope to see more from Jalen Tolbert and Brandin Cooks.
california dreamin’ ☀️#CowboysCamp | @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/djWokG280J
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) July 22, 2024
It is not all bad news, though. The Cowboys seem to be returning to their previous level of play after winning 12 games in a row during the regular season. The problem is that their formula for success in the regular season—many victories over weaker opponents and excitement—has become stale. Even Cowboys senior vice president Stephen Jones simply said earlier this year that the team’s further actions will be irrelevant until the team’s postseason performance is determined.
For Cowboys supporters, this is why this time of year might be a little perplexing. It is a happy occasion when football returns, but how can you throw open the welcome mat when you really have to wait until January? Every step of the journey important, including the upcoming month in Oxnard, for both the Cowboys and their supporters.
The purpose of training camp is to allow for inquiries. Not just the Cowboys are searching for solutions. However, they are the only team whose 81-year-old general manager needs to attend to both court matters and those pertaining to getting his star receiver onto the field.
It will be interesting to see how the Cowboys and their assortment of contract players and coaches fare this season. The fact that there will be numerous narratives to follow is not a mystery. This is a reminder in the days before training camp.
(Photo of CeeDee Lamb: George Walker / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
