The Dallas Cowboys could have had perfect health last season and it probably wouldn't have helped their terrible defense, but they did not have perfect health last year.
Some of that they knew by draft day when they took Shavon Revel in the third round after he tore his ACL at East Carolina, and even when he came back past the midpoint of the year, he was sucked under by all the miserable defense around him. But he's healthy now and starting to show why he could have been a first-round pick last year if he had been whole.
On the offensive side of the ball, the big starting position battle to watch at left tackle appears to be over, at least for now. Here is Dallas' day.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hints at aggressive trade moves
Shavon Revel
Dallas needs a big second year from Revel, a cornerback who was a third-round pick out of East Carolina last year but missed the first half of the season recovering from a torn ACL the Cowboys knew he had when they drafted him. There were thoughts he could have been a first-round pick if he had been healthy.
So far, he's playing like that this camp. Revel had four pass breakups in Monday's first padded practice and has turned heads with his play.
"I definitely feel like I'm getting close to my ECU self, and I say that every single day," he told DallasCowboys.com. "I watch myself on film every single day. I go back and watch my ECU film too, and see what I used to do.
"… I wasn't always perfect back then, so I take that, give myself some confidence when I come into practice to prove who I used to be, and lock in."
Tyler Guyton
The biggest Dallas Cowboys offensive starter position battle of fall camp appears to be over one week in. Third-year pro Tyler Guyton, who has been the starting left tackle when he's been healthy (which hasn't been often enough), seems to have secured the job.
The initial plan was to have Guyton and Nate Tomas rotate into that spot, but after one padded practice on Monday, Guyton has, for the moment, won the job.
"I think you feel confidence" from Guyton, coach Brian Schottenheimer said. "Obviously, we have the right to adjust some things, and so we're going to keep him at starting left tackle right now. We talked to Nate and said Nate needs to show us a little bit more consistent play to push for that. And so, I know we told you guys about the rotation, so Tyler will stay at left tackle. Excited to see how Nate handles that challenge."
Guyton missed the last seven games of last season with an ankle sprain and missed one before that with a concussion. The former first-round pick missed two games his rookie year.
Mark Cuban open to buying Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones, son of Jerry, was asked if he'd ever sell his stake in the team, and turned some heads when he said, “We wouldn’t rule it out,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan. “But we’d also be very particular in who we would bring in as a partner in terms of that."
How about Mark Cuban? Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News called up the Dallas Mavericks part-owner, and Cuban said his private equity group, the Harbringer fund, would be "open" to buying a stake in the Cowboys.
“I’m sure our Harbinger fund would be open to it,” Cuban said of buying a stake in the Cowboys.
Cuban is a long-time owner of the NBA's Mavericks, but he sold his majority stake in the franchise in 2023 to the Adelson and Dumont families. Cuban has since said he regrets who he sold it to.
At any rate, Jerry Jones is on board as well.
“That’s exactly why if you’re me, you would be open to that is because of the man,” Jones told Watkins. “I have all the respect in the world for him and I know what he did for the Mavericks and what he’s done for basketball. He’s in additional to financial boatstreams of your team, you want to associate with the highest quality of (a person) who loves the game and then also at the same time wants to do something about it. Mark leads the way in that.”
Donovan Ezeiruaku
The first real fight of training camp came Tuesday when Cowboys edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku allegedly (by coach Schottenheimer) threw a punch at Terence Steele, leading Ezeiruaku to get ejected from practice. Schottenheimer, who reasons that throwing a punch in a game can lead to ejections, has a zero-tolerance policy on that.
Princeton Fant
Dallas Cowboys tight end Princeton Fant was a long shot to make the team, but now he may make it on injured reserve. The fourth-year player, who has mostly been a practice-squad hand in his first three years, suffered an ACL and partial MCL injury in Monday's practice, according to Schottenheimer.
Fant is scheduled to have surgery in two weeks, Schottenheimer said.
"Really disappointed for him, for everything that he's put into this," Schottenheimer said. "Obviously he was very disappointed. But I told him, 'Hey look, your story's far from over.' He's been through this injury before, and the doctors feel really good about the chance for him making a full recovery."
Dallas Cowboys preseason schedule
PRESEASON
Week 1: Aug 15 at Seattle Seahawks 6 p.m. MT/7 p.m. CT
Week 2: Aug 22 at Arizona Cardinals 11 a.m. MT/noon CT
Week 3: Aug 29 vs. New Orleans Saints 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Dallas Cowboys news. Healthy second-year cornerback turning heads
