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Some good news for Cowboys’ fans off and on the practice field.
Cowboys rookie cornerback Jourdan Lewis found not guilty on domestic violence charges - Dave Halprin, BtB
The Cowboys received some good news on their third-round draft pick, Jourdan Lewis. He was found not guilty on both misdemeanor domestic violence counts by a jury in his trial in Michigan. Because this occurred before he was drafted, it is likely outside any NFL review of the matter.
The Dallas Morning News was posting tweets from journalist Mike Persak throughout the trial, you can read what transpired at the proceedings here. The case goes back to a March 15th incident back in Ann Arbor when Lewis was accused of getting physical with his girlfriend during an argument at their apartment. Lewis had maintained his innocence throughout and decided to go to trial rather than entertaining any kind of settlement deal.
La’el Collins has agreed to a two-year extension with the Dallas Cowboys - RJ Ochoa, BtB
The Great Wall of Dallas 2.0 has its right tackle locked down through 2019 as La’el Collins has agreed to a contract extension. The new contract essentially pays Collins as if he was a first round draft pick and had his fifth year picked up by the Cowboys.
La'el Collins finally gets paid. He and Cowboys have agreed on a two-year, $15.4m extension thru 2019, source informed of the deal says.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 25, 2017
For Zack Martin, It’s Business As Usual During Contract Negotiations - Rob Phillips, The Mothership
Now that La’el Collins has added a couple of years to team control, it’s time for the Cowboys to get the Zack Martin extension done.
Zack Martin has watched fellow offensive linemen Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick get long-term extensions during preseason in the last three years.
During those negotiations, he watched both players continue to handle their business on the field.
Martin plans to take the same approach as the Cowboys plan to ramp up contract talks with their three-time All-Pro right guard.
“Obviously I’m really close with those guys and they’ve been through it,” he said. “They’ve given me little knick-knacks to think about. They did it the right way. They came out here and were the same guy every day. So I’m just going to try to do that.”
Dallas Cowboys 2017 training camp live updates - Day Two - with integrated Twitter feed! - OCC, BtB
Click here to review yesterday’s live feed of the training camp’s second practice. Once again, no pads. Here’s one of the tweets.
Sideline Access today focused on the Linebackers. @robphillips3 and I with the coverage. https://t.co/Pns596cF10
— Bryan Broaddus (@BryanBroaddus) July 26, 2017
Scout's Notebook: Early Thoughts On Left Guard, Gathers' Opportunity; More - Brian Broaddus, The Mothership
Broaddus’s Scout’s Notebook is required reading. This is from Day 1, not yesterday.
I didn't see anything that was a cause for concern assignment-wise from Chaz Green working with the first unit at left guard. His pickups were clean, assignments sound and technique was where it needed to be. He and Tyron Smith appeared to work well together sorting out a moving defensive front with a blitz from the secondary consisting of Jeff Heath and Orlando Scandrick. Green has a shot to win this job over Jonathan Cooper if he can just maintain his health this training camp. That's really the only question mark.
Cowboys Camp Day 2: All your highlights from the second Cowboys practice in Oxnard - Michael Sisemore, BtB
Here are all the highlights from the second practice out at Cowboys training camp.
Demarcus Lawrence is the best DL here and it's not close. Based on drills which is dumb. But he's explosive, healthy, strong.
— Jeff Cavanaugh (@JC1053) July 25, 2017
Tapper looks good too.
— Jeff Cavanaugh (@JC1053) July 25, 2017
Dez Bryant is sick and tired of the Tony Romo questions; 'This is Dak's team' - Jon Machota, DMN
Dez Bryant has some nice things to say about Dak Prescott.
"The guy is a monster," Bryant said. "I'm not trying to put a lot of pressure on him, I'm just calling it how I see it. It can only get better for him. The guys around here support him. We love him. We want to see him do great. When you got guys like that supporting you, how can you not do good? We're just going to keep standing behind him and want to see him do good. He's our leader and we're going to follow."
Dak Prescott is better than Derek Carr and it’s not even close - Ben Baldwin, Field Gulls
Speaking of Dak Prescott, he’s even getting some love from the Seahawks’ site. It’s a great read!
A recent ESPN Insider article by their illustrious panel of experts ranked the 32 teams in terms of which NFL franchises are in the best shape for the next three seasons. One of the categories was quarterback, with teams ranked #1-32 based on their QB situation for the next three seasons. It was no surprise that Aaron Rodgers ranked #1, but following behind him at #2 was Derek Carr. That’s right: these experts would rather have Carr for the next three years than players like Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Ben Roethlisberger, and the last two MVP winners, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton. However, I’d argue that none of these is the craziest omission, which is the inexplicable choice of Derek Carr over Dak Prescott.
Which NFL QBs are winning games for their teams and which are just along for the ride? - OCC, BtB
OCC chimes in with more data showing the awesomeness of Dak Prescott.
The QB, whether you like it or not, is the only player on a football team who has a W/L record in his personal stats. But that doesn't mean the QB is actually winning games for his team. Teams can win games with a strong defense and a good ground game despite the QB, yet the QB will get the win on his record.
Which is why today I'm taking a closer look the W/L records of NFL QBs to figure out which NFL quarterbacks are winning games for their teams, and which QBs are just along for the ride. To do that, I'll look at 'wins over average' (WOA) to understand which offenses, and by extension their QBs, contributed to wins for their teams.
Bell: Dak Prescott ready to take some chances on field - Jarrett Bell, USA Today
More on Dak.
As bullish as he is on the chances that Dallas will take another step after tying a franchise record with 13 victories last season, it hardly seems that his enormous success — including offensive rookie of the year honors — has gone to his head.
“I’m only one year in,” he said. “There’s a lot that I can get better at.”
He knows.
The mechanics can become more consistent. He can read defenses better. He can stretch previous limits and strike for more big plays. These are the typical challenges for a young quarterback, even one who sparkled last year by making few mistakes.
“You can never know enough,” Prescott, who was only intercepted four times as a rookie, added.
Rico Gathers flashes brilliance – but here's what he's going to have to do to get a roster spot with Cowboys - David Moore, DMN
This is a David Moore chat on a number of topics. Rico flashes brilliance, but needs to be consistent. Not unlike a few other players on the roster.
He has improved dramatically from where he was at this stage last year. He flashes brilliance. What he needs to do in this camp is show a better understanding of the offense -- he still makes too many assignment mistakes -- and more consistency in his level of performance.
After Disappointing Loss to Packers, Durant Couldn’t “Leave It Like That” - Nick Eatman, The Mothership
Justin Durant is a welcome return, as the Cowboys were thin behind their big four (Lee, Smith, Hitchens, and Wilson), and with questions about Smith’s health and Wilson’s arrest, it got even thinner. Durant can cover all three spots.
“Man, that one hurt,” the veteran linebacker said. “I felt like we left something out there. I didn’t want to leave it like that. For me, I certainly didn’t want to go out like that.”
In Durant’s case, “going out” could be referenced to retirement, something that has been linked to him for the past two offseasons. But Durant said it was more of a consideration last year than this time around.
Cowboys' quick action with Lucky Whitehead showed there was no trust in their relationship with the WR - David Moore, DMN
Lots of whining in the media about the way the Cowboys cut Lucky Whitehead loose, after he was mistakenly accused of shoplifting and missing an arraignment in Virginia, but there were plenty of reasons for the Cowboys to move on, and they did him a favor by letting him catch on to a new team early on.
The fact they believed the accusations and were willing to move this quickly shows there was no trust in their relationship with Whitehead. They believed it was true even when Whitehead told them it was not. The Cowboys have tipped their hand. Chances were he was going to be cut before the start of the season anyway.
The five best Cowboys draft classes of Jerry Jones era: Make room for Dak, Zeke and the 2016 group - Staff, DMN
A worthy look back. Which draft class do you think was best? Seems to me the jury should still be out without an answer on the impact of Jaylon Smith, Charles Tapper, and Rico Gathers.
This class enters its second year in 2017 with almost unlimited potential. All first-round pick Ezekiel Elliott did was lead the NFL in rushing as a rookie and help the Cowboys return to the ball-control style that worked so well for them in 2014. Dallas rebounded from a 4-12 season in 2015 to go 13-3 and win the NFC East in 2016.
The most important contribution from this class, however, came from the second of the team's two fourth-round picks - quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott rescued Dallas' season, which appeared to have ended before it began when starting QB Tony Romo suffered in a back injury in the preseason. Prescott played so well that Romo couldn't regain his starting job even when he was healthy. Prescott proved to be unflappable, throwing only four interceptions and providing big plays with his arm and his feet. He was named Offensive Rookie of the Year.
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