CFZ Training Camp Predictions

[Bobhaze]

I’m not a big fan of TC only because the hype far exceeds reality. But it’s football and I’m glad to see that oblong pigskin return for a hopefully great 2023 Cowboys season. For those of you who do enjoy training camp and pre-season games, more power to you. I just don’t get too excited until the real games begin. But I respect those who do enjoy.

Here are my predictions for 2023 Cowboys TC, some tongue-in-cheek of course, some serious.

• Jerry will get choked up tomorrow at some point along with setting a new world record for number of “uhs” spoken during his annual “State of the Cowboys” presser (time waste). And Stephen will giggle a lot.
• Several guys who will probably never play a meaningful down of NFL football will be raved about as “having a great camp” by beat writers, Jerry and a few coaches and players. Then get cut in early Sept.
• Deuce Vaughn will impress at TC, make some big plays in pre-season games, and become an actual legit offensive weapon during the regular season.
• Jalen Tolbert will look better than last year, make the team but remain buried in the depth chart.
• Mazi Smith will start slow. But by mid-season he will be playing 80% of the defensive snaps.
• The offense will look sluggish at first. Fans will overreact. Patience required.
• The Cowboys will lose the first PS game. It has become an annual event. Doesn’t matter anyway. We haven’t won a pre-season game opener since 2017, lol. And it means nothing anyway!
• Fans will waaaaaaaay overreact to what they see in PS games. (PS games rarely indicate much of anything regarding how the team will perform when it matters)
• This is a guarantee: We will see very plain vanilla offense and defense during ps games. Because teams don’t game plan and want to hide what they really want to do when it matters.

If you enjoy TC and pre-season games, I respect that. I hope you can equally understand why I care so little. Other than learning what some of our rookies and backups can do, most of what this team will be will remain hidden until the live bullets begin flying on Sun night, Sept. 10th in New York. For that, I will be genuinely excited.

 

[Ranching]

I enjoy any and all football, I even watched the women's football alliance championship game this weekend. Preseason has always been exciting for me wether the Cowboys or my teams. Anticipation and hope!

 

[big dog cowboy]

I’m not a big fan of TC only because the hype far exceeds reality. But it’s football and I’m glad to see that oblong pigskin return for a hopefully great 2023 Cowboys season. For those of you who do enjoy training camp and pre-season games, more power to you. I just don’t get too excited until the real games begin. But I respect those who do enjoy.

Here are my predictions for 2023 Cowboys TC, some tongue-in-cheek of course, some serious.

• Jerry will get choked up tomorrow at some point along with setting a new world record for number of “uhs” spoken during his annual “State of the Cowboys” presser (time waste). And Stephen will giggle a lot.
• Several guys who will probably never play a meaningful down of NFL football will be raved about as “having a great camp” by beat writers, Jerry and a few coaches and players. Then get cut in early Sept.
• Deuce Vaughn will impress at TC, make some big plays in pre-season games, and become an actual legit offensive weapon during the regular season.
• Jalen Tolbert will look better than last year, make the team but remain buried in the depth chart.
• Mazi Smith will start slow. But by mid-season he will be playing 80% of the defensive snaps.
• The offense will look sluggish at first. Fans will overreact. Patience required.
• The Cowboys will lose the first PS game. It has become an annual event. Doesn’t matter anyway. We haven’t won a pre-season game opener since 2017, lol. And it means nothing anyway!
• Fans will waaaaaaaay overreact to what they see in PS games. (PS games rarely indicate much of anything regarding how the team will perform when it matters)
• This is a guarantee: We will see very plain vanilla offense and defense during ps games. Because teams don’t game plan and want to hide what they really want to do when it matters.

If you enjoy TC and pre-season games, I respect that. I hope you can equally understand why I care so little. Other than learning what some of our rookies and backups can do, most of what this team will be will remain hidden until the live bullets begin flying on Sun night, Sept. 10th in New York. For that, I will be genuinely excited.

 

[Typhus]

I’m not a big fan of TC only because the hype far exceeds reality. But it’s football and I’m glad to see that oblong pigskin return for a hopefully great 2023 Cowboys season. For those of you who do enjoy training camp and pre-season games, more power to you. I just don’t get too excited until the real games begin. But I respect those who do enjoy.

Here are my predictions for 2023 Cowboys TC, some tongue-in-cheek of course, some serious.

• Jerry will get choked up tomorrow at some point along with setting a new world record for number of “uhs” spoken during his annual “State of the Cowboys” presser (time waste). And Stephen will giggle a lot.
• Several guys who will probably never play a meaningful down of NFL football will be raved about as “having a great camp” by beat writers, Jerry and a few coaches and players. Then get cut in early Sept.
• Deuce Vaughn will impress at TC, make some big plays in pre-season games, and become an actual legit offensive weapon during the regular season.
• Jalen Brooks will look better than last year, make the team but remain buried in the depth chart.
• Mazi Smith will start slow. But by mid-season he will be playing 80% of the defensive snaps.
• The offense will look sluggish at first. Fans will overreact. Patience required.
• The Cowboys will lose the first PS game. It has become an annual event. Doesn’t matter anyway. We haven’t won a pre-season game opener since 2017, lol. And it means nothing anyway!
• Fans will waaaaaaaay overreact to what they see in PS games. (PS games rarely indicate much of anything regarding how the team will perform when it matters)
• This is a guarantee: We will see very plain vanilla offense and defense during ps games. Because teams don’t game plan and want to hide what they really want to do when it matters.

If you enjoy TC and pre-season games, I respect that. I hope you can equally understand why I care so little. Other than learning what some of our rookies and backups can do, most of what this team will be will remain hidden until the live bullets begin flying on Sun night, Sept. 10th in New York. For that, I will be genuinely excited.

I will take those positives all day.

 

[Typhus]

I enjoy any and all football, I even watched the women's football alliance championship game this weekend. Preseason has always been exciting for me wether the Cowboys or my teams. Anticipation and hope!

With you on this, the TEs in that league are incredible.

 

[AsthmaField]

I love training camp. In large part because I love the draft and you hear about the rookies a lot in camp and in the preseason games. We get to see some of the UDFA’s play that we’d not get to any other time.

Like Daron Bland last year. In the very first preseason game, you could tell that Bland was just different than the other rookies (on both teams) playing in the game. He looked like a seasoned vet in preseason game 1.

Finding guys like that is a huge thing, so I pay close attention to the PS games.

Plus, I have been starving for football all offseason… So yeah, I look very forward to this time of year. Speaking for myself, it is a big deal.

 

[gimmesix]

• Jalen Tolbert will look better than last year, make the team but remain buried in the depth chart.

He should since he's a rookie. Actually, he'll probably look worse because now he's playing in the NFL.

 

[AsthmaField]

He should since he's a rookie. Actually, he'll probably look worse because now he's playing in the NFL.

Lol

 

[gimmesix]

Lol

The problem with drafting two receivers in back-to-back years with the first name Jalen. We have enough trouble just spelling our players' names right when they aren't purposely confusing us.

 

[AsthmaField]

The problem with drafting two receivers in back-to-back years with the first name Jalen. We have enough trouble just spelling our players' names right when they aren't purposely confusing us.

 

[AsthmaField]

• Mazi Smith will start slow. But by mid-season he will be playing 80% of the defensive snaps.

I’m pretty sure that Mazi Smith will never take 80% of the defensive snaps.

 

[Bobhaze]

I’m pretty sure that Mazi Smith will never take 80% of the defensive snaps.

Ok…Whatever percentage, I’m just saying I think he will be a major contributor.

 

[ESisback]

It’s a love/hate thing with me. I’m desperate for football, and I like to see the rooks and UDFA’s, but I also know they’re pretty vanilla, and I HATE the overreaction of fans if we lose in preseason.

 

[RoboQB]

Ok…Whatever percentage, I’m just saying I think he will be a major contributor.

Oh no, no, no.
You predict a specific percentage or you'll get no credit for this prediction.
Rules are rules, Bobby. (Hank Hill voice)

 

[ESisback]

Oh no, no, no.
You predict a specific percentage or you'll get no credit for this prediction.
Rules are rules, Bobby. (Hank Hill voice)

Mid-December 2023…

…“You said 80%, and he only played 78.5%! You MORON! Hahahahahahahahahaha!”

 

[AsthmaField]

Ok…Whatever percentage, I’m just saying I think he will be a major contributor.

Gotcha

 

[T-RO]

I enjoy any and all football, I even watched the women's football alliance championship game this weekend. Preseason has always been exciting for me wether the Cowboys or my teams. Anticipation and hope!

I still sometimes feel that way about a preseason game. Feeling dies after about 10 plays.

 

[jazzcat22]

I love the PS games. Even though mostly vanilla, and many players will not make the roster. But it is football. I like seeing what future players may do. IT IS FOOTBALL.
I understand why some may be bored or can't get into it. But yet here you all are posting about it, and will give your opinions good and bad. Rather totally informed or not. Rather your opinions will be formed or changed no matter what happens.

Anyway, if you think about it. With the expanded PS rosters now. We get the 53 man roster, and 16 PS players. So 69 of 90 players will be on the team in some capacity. And probably a few on IR, short term as well as PUP, that can contribute later in the season.
That leaves 21 players being released. And those 21 players can easily be predicted. Though others will be picked up from other teams cuts as we will lose a few asw well. But not as many as fans always believe.

We will have TC superstars that really aren't all that good. We will have a dark horse player(s) that will step up as well. That is fun to see develop.

Yes we will get the hype and this and that player looks great, as Bob pointed out in the OP. But what else are they going to say. However, I have heard in the past, that a player or 2 is not having a good TC. Or they started out not having one, then rebounded.

I guess I remember before moving to the DFW area, and before they did 24/7 TC coverage on NFLN, being starved for any team news. And now it is pretty much year round, and even every day now since TC's started, it is fun. As we now know, the real season is not too far away.

 

[4lifecowboy]

My prediction is Will Grier will outplay Copper Rush in camp and in PS games, and still get cut.

 

[jazzcat22]

My prediction is Will Grier will outplay Copper Rush in camp and in PS games, and still get cut.

They should have brought in a 4th QB to compete. So much for Jerry's lip service about drafting a QB.